Brewers Opening Day Roster Projection 1.0: Which Newcomers Make the Cut?

The Milwaukee Brewers shook up the roster quite a bit in the past month, and when they open the season against the Chicago White Sox on March 26, we know some of the familiar faces that won't be there.

But rather than relitigating whether it was right to trade away Freddy Peralta and Caleb Durbin, we've got to quickly shift focus and figure out which players from those trades will be in uniform at American Family Field that day. And those aren't the only tricky decisions that will need to be made.

So without delay, let's project all 26 of the players that will suit up on the 26th for a Milwaukee team that believes it can once again win the National League Central with a less talented roster on paper than at least one of its rivals.

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Starting lineup:
1. Jackson Chourio LF
2. Brice Turang 2B
3. William Contreras C
4. Christian Yelich DH
5. Andrew Vaughn 1B
6. Sal Frelick RF
7. Luis Rengifo 3B
8. Garrett Mitchell CF
9. Joey Ortiz SS

It felt like signing Luis Rengifo to be the stopgap third baseman (and maybe more, if the Brewers can unlock some defense) was the finishing touch to the Game 1 lineup. It would be a surprise to see this same lineup every day in September, just because that's the nature of how a roster turns over, but for now, this feels like the group.

Bench:
C - Gary Sánchez
1B/OF - Jake Bauers
INF - David Hamilton
OF Blake Perkins

Still no real surprises here. Perkins can become the everyday center fielder if Garrett Mitchell's injury concerns resurface, while Hamilton makes more sense as a backup/pinch-runner than a contender for the starting third base job.

Two youngsters, catcher Jeferson Quero and infielder Jett Williams (from the Peralta trade) should be banging on the door early and often to make their debuts.

Rotation:
1. Brandon Woodruff (R)
2. Quinn Priester (R)
3. Jacob Misiorowski (R)
4. Chad Patrick (R)
5. Kyle Harrison (L)

Woodruff gets his chance to prove he can shoulder a full workload again on the biggest single-season salary for a pitcher in franchise history. And as great as Priester was last year, Misiorowski is probably the guy here with the highest potential to get Cy Young votes.

Harrison, from the Durbin trade with the Boston Red Sox, will have to tussle with the likes of Logan Henderson, Brandon Sproat, and Robert Gasser for that last spot.

Bullpen:
CL - Trevor Megill (R)
SU - Abner Uribe (R)
Jared Koenig (L)
Angel Zerpa (L)
Aaron Ashby (L)
Grant Anderson (R)
Rob Zastryzny (L)
Craig Yoho (R)

The bullpen has become the toughest to call by far. The first six names on the list should be locked in, and the battle for the final two spots could include anywhere from five to eight names.

We're keeping Zastryzny for now because the Brewers won't want to risk losing him to waivers. But rather than putting a fifth lefty in the group, we'll option DL Hall to Triple-A for now, which is a real risk to his development, and slide in Yoho, whose changeup could be a game-changer.

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