Milwaukee Brewers: In-house solutions to the bullpen woes

The Milwaukee Brewers started to address their bullpen woes by sending Rob Scahill packing. Here are some in-house solutions for the Brewers to fix their pen.

Whether David Stearns thinks the Milwaukee Brewers are playoff competitors or not, he has to fix the bullpen. They have been a dumpster fire, and each of Torres, Peralta, and Feliz have been given ample chances to improve.

Peralta and Feliz got tagged for more runs on Tuesday, and their ERA’s are both currently at 6 or above. I can see Stearns’ reasons for keeping both guys around.

Feliz was a low-risk high reward signing, who he probably planned on flipping. Peralta has really good stuff and had a good season once upon a time.

However, enough is enough. Both cannot get guys out, and can’t pitch in a blowout let alone a high leverage situation. Stearns has to bite the bullet and send them both packing.

As for Torres, I wouldn’t bail on him just QUITE yet. He was good last year and has already pitched a lot this season. He has been appearing in low leverage situations lately, and maybe that will help him out of this funk.

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Now, with Feliz DFA’d in my scenario, the Brewers could really use another high leverage guy. The Brewers should give Wei-Chung Wang a shot.

Wang gets a bad rap with some Brewers fans because of his 2014 performance when he was a AA pitcher at the MLB level after the rule 5 draft. He has been extremely effective out of the bullpen at AAA, with a 1.78 ERA and just 11 walks in 30+ innings.

He also has five holds and has shown the capability to pitch in some higher leverage situations.

Onto Wily’s replacement. He has pitched in a high leverage situation or two, but he’s mostly been an inning eater, and a poor one at that. Peralta and the recently DFA’d Scahill are really the only two long inning guys the Brewers have out of the pen.

Brent Suter and Michael Blazek should get the looks to take the long inning spot. Paolo Espino could also get a look, but I like him at AAA coming up in case of an emergency start.

The Lefty Suter has been nothing extraordinary at the major league level. He’s made some starts but mostly pitched out of the pen. He owns a 5.25 ERA this season, but he got roughed up in one relief appearance and that one appearance against Chicago accounts for a majority of his ERA. For his Major League Career, he owns a 2-3 record, with a 4.01 ERA.

Blazek has been doing it all for Colorado Springs this season. He started as a reliever but recently has been stretched out as a starter.

According to Fangraphs, Blazek has cut his HR/9 down from 2016, but his walks/9 is still around 5 on the season. His control hasn’t been great, but he’s still managing a 3.41 ERA, and 9 K/9. He’s not the perfect replacement, but he can pitch better than Peralta.

If the Blazek control problems are scaring the Milwaukee Brewers, they could also look to Paolo Espino to pitch out of the pen.

He has been a good starter for Colorado Springs, but he could easily come to Milwaukee and give the Brewers spot starts, along with long relief appearances.

Espino has a 5.63 ERA in two starts with the Major League club. He has also only walked two guys and opponents are hitting .286 off of him. It’s been a small sample size, and one of his starts was during a rainstorm at Wrigley.

So, the Brewers do have options for replacements. If Torres continues to struggle, the Brewers could also pull up Tristian Archer, who has pitched well at AAA. Regardless of who they bring up, they need to make changes.

In this situation, if I am David Stearns, my first call is Wang. The Milwaukee Brewers need another late inning guy, and he can do that. For the longer relief spot, I would look to Suter or Blazek first. It’s a close call, but Blazek’s walks worry me a bit, so I’d keep Suter up.

New Bullpen

Closer- Knebel

8th inning- Barnes

Middle Relief- Josh Hader, Wei-Chung Wang, Hughes, Drake, Torres

Long Relief- Suter

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