MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers regained a key reliever on Wednesday when right-hander Nick Mears returned from a back injury, but they lost a starter after left-hander Jose Quintana landed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left calf, ending his regular season.
The Quintana move was retroactive to Monday, the day after the 36-year-old was injured in a loss to the Cardinals. He was able to play catch on Tuesday without incident and did some running on Wednesday, after which the Brewers opted to make the IL move.
Signed during Spring Training, Quintana went 11-7 with a 3.96 ERA in 24 starts for the Brewers this season. He will still be eligible for the postseason if needed, which could especially come into play should Milwaukee make it to a best-of-seven National League Championship Series and require starters beyond top arms Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff, Quinn Priester and possibly rookie Jacob Misiorowski.
The tradeoff was the return of Mears following a minimum IL stint for a back injury. A key high-leverage arm for most of this season, he last pitched on Sept. 1, and his comeback is especially critical given the continued absence of closer Trevor Megill with a right flexor strain.
Megill’s timetable is uncertain at this point. The Brewers had earlier hoped to have him back for the start of this series against the Angels, but that was before Megill reported soreness in the wake of a live batting practice session.
“He doesn’t obviously want to pitch with a flexor strain,” manager Pat Murphy said. “Nobody does. We don’t want him to. His health is paramount. He’s working through the process of trying to hurry up, and that’s not always the best thing for a flexor strain.
“So we’re disappointed. Not in him, in the situation.”
The best-case scenario, Murphy has said, is that Megill returns to pitch in the Brewers’ final series of the regular season against the Reds. That would allow him to tune up for huge innings in the postseason.
“It’s got to have some time to heal,” Murphy said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have that time.”
Another pitcher to watch is left-hander Robert Gasser, Milwaukee's No. 18 prospect (per MLB Pipeline) who impressed after making his Major League debut last season but wound up going down with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. He is healthy again and has been pitching multi-inning relief stints for Triple-A Nashville, including a 36-pitch, 2 2/3-inning outing on Wednesday in which Gasser struck out three and didn’t allow a hit or a run.
He’s expected up with the Brewers “soon,” Murphy said, for what could amount to an audition for the postseason roster. Milwaukee loved the flexibility that multi-inning lefties Aaron Ashby and DL Hall provided, but Hall is currently on the IL with a right oblique injury and his timetable is very tight to be ready for the end of the regular season or the start of the postseason.