MLB: Brewers’ enviable rotation depth could open up trade possibilities

The rotating star trio of the Milwaukee Brewers formed by the right-handers Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and the Dominican Freddy Peralta it has attracted much deserved attention. Burnes won the National League Cy Young Award for Excellence in 2021. Woodruff and Peralta were well-deserved All-Star selections, with the former also receiving a solid amount of Cy Young support.

Essentially, no one else in the league can match that kind of firepower at the top of the rotation. But Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta weren’t the only Milwaukee starters to perform well in 2021. The fourth and fifth starters, Adrian Houser and Eric Lauer, They may not have been as electric as their rotation buddies, but they’re both overqualified for back-end roles:

Houser pitched a 3.22 ERA in a career-high 142 1/3 innings last season. Right’s 17.5% strikeout rate wasn’t impressive, but Houser is a treadmill that has had a decent amount of success despite mediocre whiff rates throughout his career.

He has a solid 3.78 ERA since the start of 2019, showing a knack for suppressing opponents’ exit speeds and keeping the ball on the field.

Lauer came from the Padres as part of the young outfielder Trent Grisham – Luis Urías trade during the 2019-20 offseason. He barely pitched in the majors during his first season in Milwaukee, but the left-hander held a spot in the rotation for most of last year.

Through 118 2/3 runs, Lauer posted a 3.19 ERA that was by far the best of his career. Their strikeout and walk rates (23.9% and 8.4%, respectively) were around the respective league averages.

Unlike Houser, Lauer doesn’t excel at keeping the ball on the ground. A SIERA of 4.24 suggests he’s probably closer to a league-average rotational arm than his ERA, which corresponds to a # 2/3 starter, might suggest. Still, the league average production would be a notable improvement for the starting staff of many clubs in the league.

There are quite a few hopeful contenders expected to seek help back from the rotation to get out of the block, and there’s not much confidence with the remaining free-agent starters. Teams like the Reds and Athletics might have notable starters available, but clubs seeking baseline help might also see the Brewers as a plausible business partner.

It may interest you: MLB Pitcher Eric Lauer Goes For Rematch With Brewers

Milwaukee is in winning mode now, and there is a case for them to maintain their depth of rotation. Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta, Houser and Lauer each made more than 20 starts last year, and the injury risk associated with any pitcher could make having a repeat of that kind of durability in the rotation risky.

Rafael Martinez

I am fond of the King of Sports, especially the Boston Red Sox in MLB and in general all of Mexican baseball. This profession has given me the opportunity to cover major events such as the Caribbean Series, the LMB All Star, LMP (uninterrupted since 2009), signings of important players. I had the chance to attend the 2013 World Classic in Arizona, USA, albeit as a fan. Apart from this beautiful sport, I love basketball, where I have also narrated games and even a friendly NBA 10 years ago, but I carry baseball in my veins. Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS) , from which I graduated in 2011. I was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa and started in the world of sports journalism in 2004 in the newspaper El Sol de Mazatlán, where I was a baseball columnist and reporter at the same time. In January 2009 I came to El Debate as a journalist reporter and it was almost six years (in the first stage), until in November 2014 I emigrated to the radio providing my services in Línea Directa-Grupo RSN. My cycle there ended in July 2019 and within days, El Debate gave me another opportunity to work and opened the doors for me again. That is how I came to Al Bat, where I have been since 2019 as a web journalist.

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