Enoli Paredes DFA opens 40-man roster spot for Milwaukee Brewers, who should take it?

The Milwaukee Brewers announced Friday afternoon that Enoli Paredes was designated for assignment and Kevin Herget was recalled from AAA Nashville.

Enoli Paredes had just returned for a brief stint with the team after spending a long period of time on the injured list going back to his last appearance on July 2nd. Paredes also had an extended rehab assignment with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Nashville Sounds.

Paredes rejoined the Brewers just over a week ago on September 12th. In that time he made three relief pitching appearances totaling four innings pitched, four hits, two walks, two earned runs and two strikeouts.

Paredes didn't pitch poorly overall but did surrender a run in two of his three appearances since returning, this move goes to show that Matt Arnold and the Brewers did not view Paredes as a player who was going to make the postseason roster.

Kevin Herget was recalled to give the Brewers a fresh arm in the bullpen that they've desperately needed as they are on their 11th game in a row as part of a 13 day straight stretch without an off day. The Brewers have also been trying to manage the innings of some of their bullpen pitchers in preparation for the postseason.

Enoli Paredes being designated for assignment means that the Milwaukee Brewers 40-man roster now stands at 39, meaning they can add a player who would then be eligible to join the big league roster in Milwaukee.

Kevin Herget is already on the Milwaukee Brewers 40-man roster, so his call up does not affect the open spot.

What does this move mean in the grand scheme of the 40-man roster and big league roster?

The question now becomes: who should the Brewers add to the 40-man roster, and by extension, possibly call up to the big leagues?

The first two obvious answers lie in the point of the Brewers needing more fresh arms in the bullpen, being Craig Yoho and Jacob Misiorowski.

I previously wrote about Craig Yoho and discussed his skill set with Biloxi Shuckers play-by-play announcer Javik Blake. Now is a great time to revisit the question, could Craig Yoho continue his rapid rise through the Brewers minor league system all the way to the big leagues?

Yoho started the 2024 season with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (and was named an All-Star even though he moved up quickly), was called up to AA Biloxi on May 30th and spent June and July with the Shuckers before being called up to the AAA Nashville Sounds on August 6th. While Yoho's numbers are slightly less dominant with each level he's gone up, his AAA numbers are still absurd.

In 13.1 innings Yoho has a 1.35 ERA, .188 batting average against and a 1.20 WHIP. He has 16 strikeouts, seven walks and has allowed nine hits. Yoho is likely at the top of the list for potential 40-man roster additions.

The 1A or 1B to Craig Yoho, whatever order you want to put them in, is Jacob Misiorowski. Jacob Misiorowski started the 2024 season in Biloxi with the Shuckers before being called up to the Nashville Sounds on August 3rd, beating Yoho to AAA by just days.

Misiorowski, to his credit, has pitched better in AAA than he did in AA, most of his work since the call up being as a relief pitcher. Misiorowski started making relief appearances in preparation for a potential big league call up on August 11th.

Overall at the AAA level in 16.2 innings Misiorowski has a 2.70 ERA, a .075 batting average against, and a 0.84 WHIP. Misiorowski has struck out 20, walked 10 and allowed only four hits.

At the point of deciding between which of these two the Brewers should call up, the case can be made for both Yoho and Misiorowski and the deciding factor may be whether the coaching staff wants to add a nasty changeup or a nasty fastball-slider combo to the bullpen.

The devil's advocate point to contest the Brewers adding Yoho or Misiorowski to the 40-man roster is Bryan Hudson. Bryan Hudson is currently in AAA getting some time to rest and prepare to potentially rejoin the team any day so he could be the bullpen reinforcement for the final week of the season.