Milwaukee Brewers are almost there with their 2018 roster. They have a few roster spots still be filled, and it appears that Brewers manager Craig Counsell will take his time filling these roles. I don’t blame him. These are very tough decisions, and some that carry weight of getting rid of a player if they decide to let him go due to being out of options. Counsell needs to decide who gets his final bench spot between Jesus Aguliar and Ji-man Choi. He also needs to make a call on which bullpen arms he wants to stay with the team – Oliver Drake, JJ Hoover or Taylor Williams.

These decisions aren’t easy for Counsell. Keeping three first baseman seems like something the team will do for a month and realize it’s a bad idea. Or they’re trying to leverage a trade for either or both players. I could see that being a part of things. Also, the idea that Eric Thames can play left field if needed to have two of the three first baseman out there. If you look at Spring Training stats, Choi won out. He hit three home runs which was second to Travis Shaw for the team lead, but more impressively were the .509 on-base percentage as he drew 10 walks leading to an absurd 1.209 OPS. Aguliar had a decent Spring but didn’t come close to those numbers. Choi gives you the element of the walk and patience. He might be my choice considering it adds another left-hander on your bench when you may need it late in games.

The bullpen might be a little trickier. Counsell has to select two the roster to finish up what the Brewers bullpen looks like at the start of the season. For pitchers, Spring Training stats are hard to really determine a winner because a pitcher could be trying out new things leading to some awful numbers. If that’s the case for Drake then maybe he gets saved given how good he is against lefties. If he’s kept, Brewers will have a lot of explaining to do to the casual fan who saw him put up some awful numbers whilst Williams and Hoover were both dominant pitchers in Cactus League ball. It pains me to say this but I think they’ll go Drake and Williams. Hoover gets left out.

Opening Day is four days away. I can’t believe it.

Charlie.