Rea, Montas become free agents on busy day for Brewers

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers declined Colin Rea’s club option, and Frankie Montas declined his half of a mutual option on Monday, bringing into further focus the state of Milwaukee’s starting rotation as baseball’s offseason gets underway.

Those were two of a series of moves on a busy day for the Brewers, who extended a qualifying offer to free agent shortstop Willy Adames, outrighted two arbitration-eligible players after they cleared waivers -- first baseman Jake Bauers and right-hander Bryse Wilson -- and saw two other players claimed off waivers -- right-hander Kevin Herget by the Mets and left-hander Rob Zastryzny by the Cubs.

Rea, Montas, Bauers and Wilson all become free agents. Freeing some 40-man roster spots allowed for the reinstatement of the players on Milwaukee’s 60-day injured list, including star outfielder Christian Yelich.

With the departures of Montas (who gets a $2 million buyout of his $20 million mutual option) and Rea ($1 million buyout of a $5.5 million club option) on top of previous moves to decline Wade Miley’s mutual option and to pick up Freddy Peralta’s club option, here are the starting pitching options on the Brewers’ 40-man roster:

? RHP Freddy Peralta
? RHP Tobias Myers
? RHP Brandon Woodruff
? RHP Aaron Civale (arbitration eligible)
? LHP Aaron Ashby
? LHP DL Hall
? LHP Robert Gasser (rehabbing from Tommy John surgery)
? RHP Carlos Rodriguez

Rodriguez spent most of last season in the Minors, where the Brewers also have top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski (MLB Pipeline’s No. 3 Brewers prospect), Logan Henderson (No. 11) and Chad Patrick at the Triple-A level plus Double-A right-hander K.C. Hunt (No. 29), who was one of Milwaukee’s co-Minor League pitchers of the year (with Craig Yoho).

Of those prospects, Henderson and Patrick would have to be added to the 40-man roster by Nov. 19 to be protected from December’s Rule 5 Draft.

Looking at the Major League options, only Peralta and Myers are locks for next year’s rotation at this point. Woodruff would join them if he proves healthy; he spent all of ‘24 rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery and had just gotten back on the mound at the end of last season. Woodruff hasn’t been ruled out for the start of next season, but it would take a lot of continued progress.

“The progression with a shoulder is sometimes challenging,” Milwaukee GM Matt Arnold said last month, “but I know he's putting in all the work for it, and we'll see what it looks like in the spring."

Gasser, meanwhile, won’t be ready for the start of 2024 as he continues his comeback from elbow surgery in June. Arnold said the optimistic timeline had the Brewers “targeting the end of next year” for Gasser to pitch in the Majors.

For Civale, the question is not health but whether the Brewers plan to tender him a contract by the Nov. 22 deadline. Acquired in July from the Rays, Civale earned $4.9 million in 2024 and is in line for a raise in his final year of arbitration. He was 6-3 with a 3.53 ERA in 14 Brewers starts.

After that come some question marks. Most of Ashby’s and Hall’s success in 2024 came in relief -- especially Ashby, who emerged from two years of rehab from shoulder surgery to deliver a 2.86 ERA in 14 regular-season appearances for the Brewers and went into the postseason as one of the team’s top high-leverage relievers. But at least one prominent voice is advocating for both Ashby and Hall to spend this offseason building up to compete for the starting rotation next spring.

“I'd like for these two guys to fight it out,” pitching coach Chris Hook said after inking a multi-year contract to remain with Milwaukee. “Like, ‘Hey, man, let's go win a starting job.’”

Rodriguez will also have to win his spot. He won the organization’s Minor League pitcher of the year honor in back-to-back seasons in 2022-23 but endured a disappointing ‘24, going 0-3 with a 7.30 ERA in three Brewers starts when a chance to claim a permanent spot in the rotation was dangling right in front of him, and 9-9 with a 4.51 ERA in 25 games, 22 starts, at Nashville.

They’ll all be competing for a rotation that held its own last season despite a slew of departures and injuries. With 17 pitchers making at least one start, the Brewers ranked 17th of 30 Major League teams with a 4.09 ERA from their starters. Because some of them were “openers,” Brewers starters carried the fifth-lightest workload in MLB, combining for 794 innings.