Will a standout Brewers catcher be too good to designate for assignment this time?

Heading into Opening Day this spring, the Milwaukee Brewers had to make one of the tougher roster decisions of any team. And it was at a position that doesn't often come with as much scrutiny as others that time of year.

Catcher Eric Haase was one of the Crew's top performers all spring, position player or pitcher. He hit almost .400 and had an OPS over 1.000 in 18 games and had three doubles and five home runs to boot. Small sample size, yes, but impressive nevertheless.

And yet it wasn't enough to earn the offseason signee a roster spot. Fellow offseason acquisition Gary Sanchez ended up as the team's backup catcher and, since it's rare for teams to carry three catchers at any point in a season, Haase wound up being designated for assignment before the season began.

Haase would accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Nashvile where he would bide his time. Sure enough, when Sanchez ended up going on the injured list last month, Haase got his contract selected and was back with the Brewers and picked up where he left off in the spring as one of Milwaukee's hottest offensive players. Now, with Sanchez set to return, it's deja vu for Brewers fans, not to mention manager Pat Murphy.

Once again crushing it on offense, is catcher Eric Haase be too good for the Brewers to get rid of the second time around?

Haase has an even smaller sample size to review in his second stint (first of the regular season) with the Brewers in 2024, but it has once again been impressive. He is 9-for-21 in six games of action with a third of his hits being homers, two of which taking place in a road win over the Twins on Sunday. That's good for a 1.312 OPS, which isn't sustainable but is a fantastic start to his Milwaukee tenure.

And yet, here we are having the same conversation. Though once thought to be out for much longer, Sanchez saw the timeline for his return shortened significantly and now, according to Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, will be activated prior to tomorrow's game against the Cubs.

But does that mean the Brewers should part ways with a strong offensive piece once again? There are ways to make things work. Haase can play certain outfield positions in a pinch and the same can be said about Sanchez at first base (though you wouldn't want to do that often). And there is always the designated hitter position that needs to be staffed.

But by doing that, you still take depth away at another position. If you option the lowest offensive performer in Haase's place, you'd be looking at Andruw Monasterio, who's the only big utility infielder off the bench for the Crew. In the outfield that might be Blake Perkins, who is arguably the strongest defender at that position on the team.

So once again, the Brewers find themselves in a bit of a roster pickle. Might that issue be solved with a second DFA for a hot offensive player? We'll find out in the next 24 hours.