Projecting the Brewers' 2025 bullpen after trading closer Devin Williams

The Milwaukee Brewers have lost two stars from their roster this offseason in Willy Adames and Devin Williams. We've taken a look at how the Brewers infield should look following the loss of Adames, and a look at the starting rotation following the addition of Nestor Cortes. Now let's look at the Brewers' bullpen.

Milwaukee has had a high quality bullpen for years, usually led by an elite closer. In this era of Brewers baseball, starting with Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress, then Josh Hader, and then Devin Williams. Every time the Brewers moved off of one closer, they had someone waiting in the wings to take over.

Heading into 2025, the Brewers have no shortage of options for that closer's role to replace Williams, but there is a clear leader in the clubhouse. When Williams missed the first four months of the 2024 season, it allowed the Brewers to get an early look at life without Devin Williams and get an idea on who their next closer would be. Trevor Megill was ultimately the one who stood out.

Brewers projected 2025 bullpen following Devin Williams trade

CL: RHP Trevor Megill
Set up: LHP Jared Koenig
Set up: RHP Joel Payamps
LHP Bryan Hudson
RHP Nick Mears
RHP Abner Uribe
LHP Grant Wolfram
Long relief: LHP Connor Thomas

The final bullpen spots are always the last spots up for grabs in spring training. There's a ton of candidates for a small number of spots and the players that impress the most tend to earn those spots. Minor league options come into play, there's a lot of factors for manager Pat Murphy to consider. This is how I would imagine the bullpen would look based on the players the Brewers have right now.

There are arguably five locks provided everyone is healthy. Megill, Koenig, Payamps, Hudson, and Mears are the locks to make next year's bullpen. Whether Williams was back in 2025 or not, those guys were going to be on the roster. Now everyone moves back up the depth chart one spot without Williams with Megill sliding back into the closer's role. Koenig and Payamps are likely to get the important setup spots early on.

The final three spots are toss ups. Currently, I have the flamethrowing Abner Uribe returning from injury to make the team, plus the recently signed towering lefty Grant Wolfram, who would be the third pitcher in this bullpen that's 6'8" tall, joining Megill and Hudson. The final spot goes to Connor Thomas, who was selected in the Rule 5 Draft earlier this month.

If the Brewers want to keep Thomas, they have to put him on the Opening Day roster. I think he's going to make it until he proves that he can't.

Some names that missed the initial cut here are Elvis Peguero, JB Bukauskas, and Tyler Jay from the 40 man roster. There's also Craig Yoho, Jacob Misiorowski, and Deivi Garcia that aren't on the 40 man roster that could push for spots.

Obviously a lot is going to change between now and when the Brewers break camp and decide on their eight relievers to start the year, but this is where things seem to stack up right now in the bullpen.