Milwaukee Brewers option Adrian Houser to AA Biloxi

Earlier this afternoon, there was another knot added to the long string of bullpen moves made by the Milwaukee Brewers after the last few days:

Houser was called up to Milwaukee on Friday, marking his first return to the big leagues since September 2015 after he missed a year between 2016-17 with Tommy John surgery. He made to trip up to the big club after Corey Knebel was placed on the disabled list in case Craig Counsell needed some length from his bullpen, and he provided just that in today’s 3-0 loss to the Cubs. Houser looked impressive across two scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and no walks with three strikeouts. It never seemed likely that he would stay with the club long, at least during this stint, and he’ll now return to AA in order to get stretched out in tandem with Kodi Medeiros.

Even without Houser, the Brewers still have eight relievers in their bullpen until Wednesday, when a fifth starter is needed. That means it’s possible that a position player could get the call tomorrow prior to the start of the St. Louis series and stay a few days to give the team an extra bat off the bench after losing Christian Yelich to the DL. Speculatively, adding Brett Phillips’ left-handed bat to the outfield mix, even for a brief stint, could make some sense.