Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy is the new man in charge of lineup construction and bullpen usage. He served as Craig Counsell’s bench coach for several seasons, but now he gets the final say in these decisions. On Opening Day we learned a few things about how he may operate to begin the season.
Sal Frelick and Brice Turang are not the preferred starters against left-handed pitchers.
In the Brewers Opening Day contest, which they won by a score of 3-1, Jose Quintana was on the mound for the New York Mets. With the southpaw on the hill Pat Murphy placed a switch hitting Blake Perkins in center field, right-handed hitting Joey Ortiz at second base, and Andruw Monasterio at third base. This could be normal going forward and will mean that Sal Frelick and Brice Turang will not start against lefties.
Jake Bauers was utilized as a pinch hitter late in this game for designated hitter Gary Sanchez.
Left-handed hitting Jake Bauers did not start this game, but he did replace designated hitter Gary Sanchez after Jose Quintana was removed from the game. Having him replace Sanchez is interesting because the Brewers elected to designate Eric Haase for assignment. This meant that there was no true backup catcher left on their bench. It will be interesting to see if Sanchez or Bauers get starts with right handed hitters on the mound.
The Milwaukee Brewers preferred seventh through ninth inning bullpen players were revealed.
With all arms available Pat Murphy turned to Trevor MeGill in the seventh inning, Joel Payamps in the eighth, and Abner Uribe in the ninth. As long as Devin Williams is out it may be common to see Uribe be used as the closer. Murphy may also mix and match at this position, but right now the order of MeGill, Payamps, and Uribe appears to be the preferred high leverage arms.
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