The shocking roster move the Brewers need to make before the postseason

The Milwaukee Brewers' trade deadline performance was never treated as revolutionary, though to say it has aged poorly is an insult to poorly aged things.

Brandon Lockridge drew all of 53 plate appearances (posting an 86 wRC+) before being sent down to the minor leagues. Shelby Miller, on the other hand, impressed in his 9 2/3 innings of work... and then promptly suffered a season-ending elbow injury.

At this point, it looks like Jordan Montgomery, who has been on the 60-day injured list since well before the Brewers acquired him in the Miller trade with the Diamondbacks, has the best chance to positively impact the team's playoff chances.

That's hyperbolic, of course, but that's how things feel right now, especially with the way Danny Jansen has been playing of late. The backup catcher was brought in with the intention of adding some pop to the lineup on days in which William Contreras rests his legs; instead, Jansen has been a net-negative addition to the best team in baseball.

Danny Jansen's struggles could necessitate a return of Eric Haase

Through 54 plate appearances in Milwaukee, Jansen is hitting .213/.296/.277. That comes out to a 65 wRC+, which is 33 points below his career mark (and 32 below what he recorded with the Tampa Bay Rays prior to being traded).

Most alarmingly, Jansen is experiencing a significant power outage. Just three of his 10 hits with the Brewers have gone for extra bases, and none cleared the fence. Considering he hit 11 home runs in 259 plate appearances for the Rays, it's worrying that his signature tool has yet to show up in Milwaukee.

Given that he's a backup and a recent acquisition, it's not terribly surprising that Pat Murphy and the front office have extended Jansen, an eight-year MLB veteran, something of a long leash.

But it's time for this experiment to end. He brings nothing to the offense -- prior to his multi-hit performance against the Texas Rangers on Sept. 10, Jansen was hitting .167/.265/.233 in his previous 11 games -- and his defense remains below-average behind the dish.

The obvious replacement would be Eric Haase, the backup catcher who was DFA'd to make room for Jansen on the 40-man roster.

He hasn't been that much better than Jansen in 2025 -- he has just a .648 OPS in Triple-A since being DFA'd, and he slashed .229/.289/.357 (82 wRC+) in 30 games in the majors this season -- but he's a proven commodity with the glove, and it was just one year ago that he injected the lineup with a 126 wRC+, despite a laughable 40.6% strikeout rate.

It's hardly the most important position on the roster, but considering that keeping William Contreras fresh before the postseason should be on the team's prime directives, the Brewers can't afford to keep letting Jansen take spot starts as the backup catcher. Give Haase a chance to rediscover his lightning in a bottle from last year, and move on from a failed trade deadline project.