Yesterday's roster moves offer clarity on who will remain in the rotation when everyone is healthy

Major league teams always hope to have as little movement in their starting rotation throughout the season as possible. Minimal fluctuations generally mean that the teams' starters are performing well and staying healthy. For context, the starting rotation with the lowest ERA during the 2024 season was the Seattle Mariners, according to StatMuse. Seattle used just six starting pitchers to cover all but one start. More often than not, less starting pitchers equate to a better staff. Unless, of course, you are talking about the ever-odds-defying Milwaukee Brewers.

The Crew has already used nine starting pitchers in 2025, but as of Monday morning, the team had the lowest starting pitcher ERA (2.14) in the month of April, according to FanGraphs. The sustained success with a rotation consisting of veterans, prospects, and recent trade acquisitions, each of whom has spent a different amount of time in the Brewers organization, is a testament to Chris Hook, Jim Henderson, and the rest of the Brewers pitching department's ability to get the best out of players.

Even still, the Brewers will continue to search for stability in the starting rotation as they work to piece together the best combination of five (or maybe six) starters that they can rely on for a majority of the season. Unfortunately, Monday afternoon's roster moves narrowed their options, but did offer clarity about how they will approach the many difficult decisions that they will face as their injured starters begin returning to the major league roster.

Brewers' promising young arms could be left in unfortunate position as rotation starts to crowd

There's an unwritten rule in baseball that an injury can't take away a player’s spot on the roster. In other words, a player that was performing well before an injury must be given the opportunity to prove he still belongs on the roster following his return, before he is sent down to the minors or designated for assignment. However, these situations grow complicated when the player’s replacement performs at a level that makes it impossible for them to be removed from the roster. The Brewers could face such an uncomfortable situation if their young pitchers, who have been given a shot at the big leagues due to injuries to many of the Brewers' veteran starters, continue to perform at the impressive level they have been.

In the end, minor league options could be the sole determinant of who remains on the big-league roster, as the team demonstrated on Monday afternoon. The Brewers made the difficult decision of optioning Logan Henderson back to the minor leagues after his unbelievable MLB debut on Sunday, with the team expecting Tobias Myers to return for Thursday's series finale against the San Francisco Giants. However, this decision previews the several even more difficult decisions that the Crew will face sometime in the next few weeks.

With Brandon Woodruff and Aaron Civale's returns approaching, the Brewers will have to decide which of their current starters they will replace. With Freddy Peralta and Jose Quintana not having minor league options, they can essentially be ruled out (not that the team would want to option them anyways). That leaves Quinn Priester, Chad Patrick, and Tobias Myers as options to be demoted to make space for Woodruff and Civale. Myers posted a 3.00 ERA in 25 starts a season ago, Patrick has allowed two earned runs or less in four straight starts, and Priester, a former first-round pick, posted a 1.50 ERA in his first three starts with Milwaukee. That means two starters who are undeserving of a demotion will end up in Triple-A Nashville at some point.

Myers' track record should earn him the spot even if he gets off to a slow start in his return to the big leagues, leaving a rotation of Peralta, Quintana, Myers, Civale, and Woodruff, until Nestor Cortés returns sometime in late June or early July. With Priester, Patrick, Henderson, and top-pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski all pitching for the Nashville Sounds, the Brewers Triple-A rotation might be better than some big-league rotations. Mark that down in the "good problems to have" column.

Crazily enough, there are two more starting options that have yet to be mentioned: Aaron Ashby and DL Hall. Ashby, who has been on the 15-day IL for much longer than 15 days, went down with an oblique injury in early March, but the latest reports indicate that Ashby will try to make his return as a starting pitcher. Hall, on the other hand, was placed on the 60-day IL with a lat strain in early March as well and isn't expected to return until late May at the earliest. Oh, and by the way, the Brewers expect Robert Gasser, who posted a 2.57 ERA in five starts last year, to return at some point before the season ends.

For those of you counting, that's 13 starting pitching options mentioned in this article, with options such as Tyler Alexander and Elvin Rodriguez, both of whom have already started games for the Brewers this year, serving as important depth options. As clearly demonstrated throughout the first three weeks of the 2025 season, roster decisions will generally be determined by injuries, and it's unreasonable to expect all 15 starting options to be healthy at the same time. Regardless, the Brewers will have to get creative with how they manage their pitching staff this season.