The Brewers made a flurry of roster moves before the game,
The Milwaukee Brewers’ official return to Miller Park on Monday night was preceded by a flurry of roster moves affecting both their 30-man active roster and 60-man player pool.
Joining the 30-man roster was Brett Anderson, the left-hander who finally started against the Chicago White Sox after seeing the weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals scrapped due to that team’s COVID-19 outbreak.
Recalled from the team’s alternate training site in Appleton were infielders Ryon Healy and Mark Mathias, who took the spots of Lorenzo Cain (opted out on Saturday) and Ryan Braun (placed on the injured list Sunday).
Jacob Nottingham was optioned to the alternate training site to make room for Anderson.
Healy found himself in the starting lineup as designated hitter and in the leadoff spot, of all places. Regarded as more of a slugger with seasons of 25 and 24 home runs to his credit in 2017 and ‘18 with Oakland and Seattle, he now has hit in all nine positions in the lineup over four-plus seasons in the major leagues.
“You see what Ryon’s doing tonight. He’ll do some of that,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I like that he’s righthanded and we’re facing a left-handed pitcher. I think that’s what I’ll say, and you can figure out the rest.”
Healy, 28, can play first and third base in addition to DH. Mathias, who turned 26 on Sunday, is capable of playing second, shortstop, third and left field and showed well in spring training. He’ll be making his major-league debut after playing all of last season at Class AAA Columbus in the Cleveland organization.
“Mark’s got the ability to play a bunch of positions, so that’s where he’ll be useful,” Counsell said.
It may not be long before Luis Urías finally debuts with the Brewers, Counsell indicated. He’s back to work in Appleton after being an asymptomatic positive for COVID-19.
“At this point I still feel like he’s got some work to do,” Counsell said. “He’s getting close, for sure. I think we’re getting closer with him but I think at this point he’s basically a little less than two weeks in.
“I think with all the time off, we felt like we used three weeks for these guys for camp, and we’re still a little bit shy of that.”
The Brewers’ pitching depth took another hit with veteran right-hander Shelby Miller opting out of the remainder of the season. He’d signed a freeagent deal with the Brewers in late January and was in the mix as a possible long man in the bullpen.
“Losing players is obviously never good,” Counsell said. “We just lost (Mike) Morin (to Miami) and two guys already, the numbers is what starts to chip away. But those spots are now (open), and we’ll have to replace them with guys.”
Nottingham had been on the active roster less than a week after Manny Piña banged up a finger.
Braun’s stint on the IL, meanwhile, was caused by an infected finger.
“There’s no exciting story to tell,” he said. “I just got an infection, it got progressively worse and I had to go to the ER. They cut it open, so now we have to wait for the wounds to heal.
“I’m hoping to be back as soon as possible, but that obviously depends on how fast the wound heals.”
The Brewers filled the open two spots in Appleton by adding minor-leaguers Hedbert Pérez and Justin Topa to their 60-player pool.
The addition of Pérez, an outfielder, means eight of Milwaukee’s top 10 prospects are training in Appleton. Topa, a right-hander, posted a 3.38 earned run average and 41 strikeouts in 40 innings split between advanced Class A Carolina and Class AA Biloxi in 2019.
From ‘scary’ to ‘great’
From Counsell’s perspective, Saturday when from a ‘scary day’ to a ‘great day’ after bench coach Pat Murphy, one of his closest friends, suffered a heart attack during the team’s workout at Miller Park.
“We had a little infield session and he sat down for a while, wasn’t feeling good,” Counsell said. “Thankfully, he was in the right spot. Rafael Freitas, our (assistant athletic) trainer, was standing nearby and noticed it and escorted him back to the clubhouse. Dr. (Mark) Niedfeldt was in the building, fortunately, and diagnosed what was going on and got him to the hospital.”
Murphy was taken to Froedtert Hospital, where a stent was inserted into a blocked artery.
He is expected to have a full recovery, which Counsell said totally changed his outlook on the episode.
“The way I look at it is, when I was driving home from the hospital Saturday night after seeing him, you think to yourself, ‘Man, this is a great day,’” Counsell said.
“My friend just had a heart attack, and I got to go see him and he’s out of the procedure, and he’s doing pretty good, and the doctors are giving him a good diagnosis.
“That’s the only way you could think. There’s so much going on and there’s no other way to think about this. There’s certainly been a lot happening but your friend survived a heart attack. He’s home and out of the hospital already, so you just feel thankful. That’s how you feel.”
Counsell said “right now” there are no plans to replace Murphy on the coaching staff.
Gamel sorry to see Cain go
No player on the Brewers roster will get to play more in the absence of Cain than Ben Gamel, who was the fourth outfielder on the original roster.
But Gamel said he was sad to see Cain go.
“It was kind of a surprise,” Gamel said. “I was pretty bummed at first. Losing a guy like that is never good. The competition he brings to the field every day, we’re going to miss.
“There’s not many people like him in center so we’re definitely going to miss that.
“We’ve got to pull together as a group and kind of (fill in for) what we’re going to miss with ‘Lo’ not out there every day.”
Gamel was in the starting lineup in the opener against the White Sox but not in center.
Counsell opted to go with Avisaíl García, who had been playing right field, with Gamel starting in right.
“My thought at this point is to let ‘Avi’ play center. He’s the one who’s going to be in the game the most and play the most,” Counsell said. “Leave him in one spot.
“So, he’s going to play the bulk of center field. You’ll see Ben out there but Avi will probably be the guy out there regularly.
“Ryan is going to play more outfield for us now (when he returns from the IL). He should be back Monday. That will put Ryan and Ben in right field, generally.”