Bullpen shuffle continues as Barnes gets recalled
Continuing the merry-go-round with the last spot in their bullpen, the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday recalled right-hander Jacob Barnes from Class AAA Colorado Springs and optioned right-hander Adrian Houser back to Class AA Biloxi.
The move was made to once again give the Brewers a fresh arm, with Houser having thrown two innings in their 17-6 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday. It was Houser who'd earned the callup from Biloxi on Friday, replacing Jorge López after the righthander had pitched two innings a night earlier.
Barnes had become something of a fixture in the Brewers' bullpen since first making his major-league debut in June of 2016. He made his first opening-day roster in 2017 and spent the entire season with Milwaukee, going 3-4 with a 4.00 earned run average and 80 strikeouts in 73 appearances (72 innings).
He saved the Brewers' 2-1, 12-inning victory in San Diego on opening day on March 29 and was unscored upon in 12 of his 13 appearances. But after compiling a 12.00 ERA over his first four appearances in May, he was sent to Colorado Springs to work out his issues while Milwaukee got a day's worth of coverage in the bullpen from Alec Asher.
Barnes is 0-1 with a 2.84 ERA and two saves in 17 appearances for the Brewers this season.
"That's what happened to (Barnes) the last time — we needed a pitcher and he had options, so he was the guy," manager Craig Counsell said. "When we need a pitcher, we need a pitcher. You need a pitcher to try to win the game the next day or to protect yourself in the game the next day.
"I don't think that spares players with options. That's just the way it works."
Barnes pitched a total of 4 1⁄3 innings at Colorado Springs, compiling a 4.15 ERA with one save to go along with four walks and four strikeouts. It was his solid work at altitude there early in 2016 that earned him his initial promotion to the Brewers.
"Triple-A was fine," he said. "Just kind of worked on a couple of mechanical things while I was down there. I didn’t really throw much in games. It was more like bullpen work and stuff like that when I was down there.
"I feel good, and pretty fresh, so I’m ready to go."
Barnes did admit to being surprised by his demotion.
"Yeah, it was tough. I was not expecting it," he said. "If you struggle, you kind of expect it. When you didn’t necessarily struggle, it was a little bit of a surprise. (There was) the shock value of it. But it is what it is. It’s part of it.
"The only thing you can do is go down there and try to get better, and try to work on what you think you can improve on. Hopefully I did that, and I showed them I did that."
Barnes will try to work his way back into the mix in a bullpen that entered Sunday leading the major leagues with a 2.44 ERA and already has a well-defined back end that includes closer Corey Knebel, Jeremy Jeffress, Josh Hader as well as veteran presence in Matt Albers, Dan Jennings and Boone Logan.
"Jacob has certainly shown the ability to get outs at the big-league level," Counsell said. "His outings at Colorado Springs weren’t clean, but he’s gotten outs at the big-league level and we know he can get outs at the big-league level.
"I think there’s certain things Jacob will continue to work on as he was working on them down in Colorado Springs, but he’s a big-league pitcher and he’s gotten outs here and he’s gotten big outs here for us this year."
The hope for Barnes is he'll pitch well enough moving forward to not have to jump back onto the Colorado Springs shuttle.
"It’s something you try not to think about," he said. "I hope I’m not part of that. I think, hopefully, if I showed I corrected those things, I’ll stay up like I have in the past couple of years.
"It’s something you can’t worry about. At the end of the day, whether you agree or not, they’re going to do what they think is best. All you can do is your best to try to perform."
Fluid situation: The Brewers have made 45 roster moves and counting so far this month, including a whopping 10 in the Mets series alone after swapping out Houser for Barnes earlier Sunday.
They've used 40 players already this season compared to 51 for all of 2017.
"I’m not completely shocked by it," Counsell said. "(General manger) David
(Stearns) says it every year and he talks about it in spring training with the guys — we’re going to use over 50 players on our big-league roster this year.
"They come at different times and for different reasons, but it’s a part of the way we’ve kind of structured things around here and structured the roster. It’s by design, I think, and it gives us depth in places where when the unforeseen happens – which you kind of know is going to happen – then we’re covered."