Predicting Milwaukee’s 26-man roster, and a look at what’s left to do

The Milwaukee Brewers have had a fairly quiet offseason thus far. Just to quickly recap the few major transactions they have made, here’s the list:

From the 40-man roster to close out the season, that means only five losses (Jansen, Hoskins, Quintana, Mears, and Collins) and three additions (Crow, Baddoo, and Zerpa). Woodruff is a net-zero, and Miller, Montgomery, and Fedde were all either on the 60-day IL (Miller & Montgomery) or DFA’d (Fedde) by the end of the regular season.

Adding in the players who were activated from the 60-day IL at the conclusion of the season (Garrett Mitchell & Logan Henderson), and the Brewers 40-man roster sits at 39. Let’s take a look at the layout of those 39 players as it stands.

Among the 21 pitchers on the current roster, 13 of those players could reasonably start games for Milwaukee. That includes (alphabetically, by last name):

At least a couple of those guys will likely not be in the majors come opening day; Crow and Rodriguez are the obvious answers, and it’s possible Milwaukee could start Myers, Patrick, and Henderson in Triple-A as well. The team could also be looking to trade an arm or two from this list (Peralta is obviously top of mind) to add depth elsewhere or in what is already a deep farm system.

On the relief side, the eight remaining names from the 40-man roster include:

Let me just emphasize again that this group will change before opening day. There will be a few injuries, and odds are somebody will have a bad enough spring to warrant a DFA. But as it stands right now, here’s my prediction:

Anderson, Hall, Patrick, and Zastryzny are probably the biggest question marks among that group, and any of them could reasonably be swapped for Robert Gasser, Logan Henderson, Chad Patrick, and Sammy Peralta. Gasser, Henderson, Myers, and Peralta all have options remaining, while Zastryzny is the only bubble player listed here out of options, making him a lock unless Milwaukee wishes to DFA him.

One consideration that could be taken into account is the amount of lefty options. While the starting rotation is short on lefties (Ashby, Gasser, Hall, and Zerpa are all candidates to be in both the rotation and the bullpen), the bullpen has Koenig and Zastryzny along with any of the aforementioned four players who don’t slot into the rotation. Most teams carry three-ish lefty options, so it seems unlikely the Brewers would carry five, let alone six. Food for thought.

The Brewers only have two catchers on their current 40-man roster, with William Contreras and Jeferson Quero. Given that Milwaukee still has a 40-man spot open, my money would be on the Brewers adding another catcher before the season to give Quero at least a little bit more time to develop in the minors. If Matt Arnold and Co. opt to stick with Quero as the backup option, I think he’d perform well enough to warrant some playing time, especially given his plus-plus defense.

The Brewers have eight players in the infield on their 40-man roster:

I’d expect Black and Seigler to start the season in the minors, giving Milwaukee six infielders on the active roster.

With two catchers and six infielders on the active roster, that leaves space for five outfielders. Here are the eight currently on the 40-man roster:

Chourio, Frelick, and Yelich are all locks for the roster, leaving five players for the last two spots. Berroa is the clear odd man out, and frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was DFA’d before the season. Lockridge seems likely to start the season in the minors, meaning we have Baddoo, Mitchell, and Perkins to discuss for that final spot.

I could reasonably see any of them being the odd man out, depending on if the team is prioritizing offense (Baddoo and Mitchell over Perkins) or defense (Perkins would be the top fit in that scenario). I’ll take Mitchell and Perkins over Baddoo, with a short leash on both players, especially if Baddoo keeps playing as well as he did in Triple-A in 2025 (.281/.385/.483 with 15 HRs, 48 RBIs, 71 R, and 25 SBs over 103 games).

That leaves us with this roster of 13 pitchers and 13 position players:

What are your thoughts on this roster? Any glaring holes? Would you swap somebody I left off for somebody listed? Chime in in the comments!