The Milwaukee Brewers used 17 different starting pitchers a season ago, tying a franchise record. This off-season, they added Nestor Cortes and Jose Quintana while retaining Aaron Civale. All three will be free agents at seasons end and figure to be staples in the rotation this year.
When you combine Cortes, Quintana, and Civale with Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, DL Hall, Aaron Ashby, Tobias Myers, Robert Gasser in August/September, and a prospect or two such as Jacob Misiorowski or Logan Henderson, on paper their starting pitching depth looks incredible.
Unfortunately, Hall, Ashby, and Myers are all currently injured, Gasser is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Woodruff will begin the year continuing to build up at the teams training facility in Arizona. Additionally, Quintana, who signed late, will need two more build up outings before being big league ready, which means he won’t be available until April 8.
This puts the Brewers in a tricky spot to begin the year as they need to fill the fourth and fifth pitcher spots in their rotation. They could go with a 40-man roster option such as Henderson, Carlos Rodriguez, Elvin Rodriguez, or Tyler Anderson. Another option would be to add a player externally and there is a player available that Matt Arnold should not pass up.
Milwaukee Brewers must pursue this waived starting pitcher to address early season depth concerns
Recently, the Texas Rangers waived 2023 World Series champion Dane Dunning. The 30 year old has had several ups and downs with the team, but all together has had a 4.38 ERA over four years. Last year was tough for Dunning as he finished with a 5.31 ERA and was moved to the bullpen.
One reason for Dunning’s struggles a season ago may have been due to him not playing to his strengths. His ground ball rate was the lowest of his career at 44.7%. As a sinker baller, this is far from ideal. If the Brewers could get him back into the 52-54% range and let their gold glove infielders get outs, Dunning could see significantly better results.
In addition to Dunning potentially benefiting from the Brewers stout defense, he could be claimed for a cheap price of $2.66 million, comes with a minor league option remaining, and is under team control through the 2026 season.
Given Milwaukee’s current starting pitching arrangement, signing Dunning makes a lot of sense. He would benefit them in the short term and they could also invest in him as he would be controllable.
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