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We're less than a week away from Opening Day in Milwaukee. Today is the Brewers' last Cactus League game. And we still don't know who's going to follow Junior Guerra and Zach Davies in the Brewers' rotation.
It's not uncommon for a team's final rotation spot to still be in question during the final week of spring training, but missing 3/5 of the rotation feels a little odd, and manager Craig Counsell and GM David Stearns have been almost annoyingly quiet about their plans.
Sure, there are clues. If everyone sticks to their scheduled days off, Wily Peralta would be in line to make the third start of the season -- the Brewers are even keeping him back in Arizona an extra day to stick to that schedule -- and you can make some guesses on who's filling the last two spots based on who's making the starts in the two Miller Park exhibition games.
Wily Peralta stays in AZ to pitch tomorrow, then Brewers list Garza and Nelson for Miller Park exhibitions.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) March 29, 2017
If that holds, Chase Anderson and Tommy Milone would appear to be the odd men out, finding themselves pushed back into the bullpen. That might work out for strategic purposes, considering the Brewers optioned down their only other lefty reliever earlier this week when they sent Brent Suter to Triple-A.
Of course, all of these conclusions are being drawn in a scenario where there isn't another surprising transaction in the works. That doesn't seem too likely, given the hints being dropped by the front office. From Todd Rosiak’s Tuesday report:
"We have a lot of balls in the air, internally and externally," general manager David Stearns said. "We don't have to make those decisions yet."
Maybe the Brewers haven't officially said Peralta is the third starter because the rumors of him being scouted for a trade have something to them. Maybe Anderson could find himself in a similar situation to Scooter Gennett and could find himself on the way out. Maybe the Brewers finally cut their losses with Garza.
Season-opening 25-man rosters have to be submitted to the league this weekend, so there's still a few days left to debate the merits for each of the remaining rotation candidates (Except for Garza. There are none).