22-year old lefty reliever Zach Braddock came into this season as the Brewers’ #7 rated prospect according to Baseball America. He has pitched in 84 games (30 starts) in his five years in the majors and he is 12-12 with 1 save, a 3.62 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. Braddock has pitched in 15 games (0 starts) so far for the Brewers this season and he is 1-1 with a 5.54 ERA and a 1.69 WHIP. He does however have 21 strikeouts in only 13 innings for the Brew Crew showing his potential. The bottom line is that he will have to start pitching better soon or he will likely wind up back in AAA.

42-year old righty reliever Trevor Hoffman could be nearing the end of his baseball career. He has pitched in 21 games (0 starts) for the Brewers this season and he is 1-4 with 5 saves, a 9.90 ERA and a 1.95 WHIP. He has given up 28 hits (7 homers) and he has walked 11 batters in only 20 innings pitched so far this year. He has 596 career saves which has him only 55 ahead of Mariano Rivera of the Yankees who is showing no signs of slowing down. Compounding Hoffman’s awful pitching has been rookie John Axford’s fast start as the Brewers’ closer. If Hoffman doesn’t start pitching well soon I look for the Brewers to cut him loose.

Trevor Hoffman is the all-time saves leader in major league baseball but can the Brewers afford to go with him much longer as the closer? He has pitched in 12 games (0 starts) for the Brewers this season and he is 1-2 with 5 saves, a 12.00 ERA and a 1.92 WHIP. He has walked 6 batters and he has given up 17 hits (6 homers) in his 12 innings pitched this season which shows just how brutal he has been this year. The decision would have been easier to replace Hoffman if LaTroy Hawkins were healthy but he’s on the D.L. The top choice on the pitching staff to replace Hoffman right now would be 29-year old righty Todd Coffey. Coffey has pitched in 17 games (0 starts) for the Brewers this season and he is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. Inserting Coffey into the closer’s job would also have risks involved as he has never had that job and he has walked 8 batters in 16 innings which is a tad too many. The Brewers can’t afford to keep blowing games late and I think the time is right to replace Hoffman as the team’s closer.

The Brewers have demoted veteran righty starting pitcher Jeff Suppan to the pen. He has started 2 games for the Brewers this season and he is 0-1 with a 8.68 ERA and a 2.04 WHIP. He has given up 16 hits (3 homers) in only 9 1/3 innings this season. Suppan deserves this demotion because he’s been pretty awful for quite some time for the Brewers. 28-year old lefty Clint Narveson will replace Suppan in the starting rotation. Narveson has pitched in 9 games (0 starts) so far this season and he is 1-0 with a 7.20 ERA anda 2.40 WHIP. He has given up 17 hits and he has walked 7 batters in only 10 innings so far this year. But, Narveson has been groomed in his minor league career to be a starting pitcher so he should still be better than Suppan even though that’s not saying too much.

42-year old righty closer Trevor Hoffman is the all-time saves leader in major league baseball but he is off to probably the worst start of his career. Hoffman has pitched in 4 games for the Brewers this season and he is 1-1 with 2 saves, a 13.50 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP. He has given up 7 hits (3 homers) in only 4 innings pitched so far this year. The Brewers will likely give Hoffman a little while to get going but they won’t wait forever with LaTroy Hawkins around to replace him as the closer if he’s needed to.