Milwaukee Brewers are currently at DEFCON 1 when it comes to their starting pitching staff. They only have two healthy starters – Zach Davies and Chase Anderson. Other than that, they’re all hurt. Jhoulys Chacin is on the IL with a lat injury, Brandon Woodruff is on there with an oblique injury, and Gio Gonzalez might be joining them with a shoulder problem. It’s a mess and not exactly fixable with a snap of the finger. Brewers have some options, and they’re worth considering this week.

1. Start Adrian Houser – I don’t think the Brewers should stretch him out to be a starter, but this feels like an obvious go-to solution for Milwaukee. He can start the game for the first two innings then give way to the rest of the bullpen. I don’t think this cashes your bullpen. It is obviously a risk, but any opener is going to be a bit risky. Houser could start then give to the rest of the bullpen. The negative here is you use pretty much your entire bullpen on night one or night two of a nine-game road with no days off.

2. Bring someone up from AAA – Taylor Williams is the easy one to move as Milwaukee will be playing in the American League and having an extra bat for a DH is a good thing. The one problem with this idea is there isn’t one guy that stands up. Trey Supak is probably not ready to be a big leaguer, but he may be your best option. Even if you like Supak go for three innings then turn it over to the bullpen, that might not be the worst idea.

3. Make a trade – Here’s the thing about if the Brewers made a move for a starting pitcher, they’re not going to be ready to pitch tonight or tomorrow. It’s likely they’ll make their debut on Sunday facing Chicago. Who could join the Brew Crew? A guy like Mike Minor makes some senses. Same with Mike Leake of the Seattle Mariners. I doubt they’ll go after a big fish, but you never know with David Stearns.

These seem like the three logical options for the Brewers. In a weird way, I’m excited to see what they end up going with for Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s a tough way to start a road trip, but if Milwaukee can be 1-1 in those games, they’re off to a good start.

Charlie.