Is it time for Brewers to cut Lohse loose?
Kyle Lohse has not been good this season.
The veteran Milwaukee Brewers starter has been among MLB's worst pitchers in 2015. Through 14 starts, his 6.44 ERA is the highest among qualified pitchers.
His 0.1 WAR is the eighth-lowest, and less than the 0.2 of Tyler Cravy, who has made just one start for the club this season. Others on the team worth more wins above replacement than Lohse: Mike Fiers, Francisco Rodriguez, Will Smith, Jimmy Nelson, Michael Blazek, Jeremy Jeffress, Wily Peralta and Taylor Jungmann.
And those are just the pitchers.
Lohse is tied for the most home runs allowed (16) and most losses (8), and he has given up an MLB-high 57 runs. His average game score has been below average at 44, with a low of nine on opening day.
Digging through his stats, it's hard to find any redeeming factors for Lohse. After two strong outings in mid-May, he's in the middle of his worst four-game stretch of the season. Since May 25, Lohse has given up 24 runs on 40 hits over 26 innings for an 8.31 ERA and 0-4 mark. Opposing batters are slashing .357/.392/.545 with six home runs over his last five games.
So what do the Brewers do with Lohse?
Given the state of their season, there's likely little to lose by keeping him in the rotation. Lohse could make up to eight starts before the July 31 trade deadline. That could be enough time for him to sort things out and regain at least a little trade value.
But how much value can he gain in six weeks? And what if he doesn't get better?
What if Lohse keeps going out there every fifth day and continues to further reduce his trade value? It can't get much lower, but if he doesn't turn things around, no team will even take a flyer on him. The Brewers certainly won't get anything of significant value in return.
If they can't trade him, Lohse is worth nothing to the Brewers on the mound. His continued presence in the rotation would simply prevent prospects like Cravy or Tyler Wagner from showing what they can do at the big league level.
More likely than not, Lohse will make those eight starts before July 31. But the Brewers might be better off cutting him loose.
Playoffs
Projected to win 69 games, the Brewers entered Wednesday with a 0.1 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to Fangraphs. In their season-to-date stats model, the Brewers have 0.4 percent odds, with a projected win total of 65.
Baseball Prospectus put Milwaukee's chances at 0.1 percent with 70 projected wins.
Stat of the week
0: The number of series sweeps this season for the Brewers. They swept three of their first four series last year.
Power rankings
Another decent week kept Milwaukee 29th in both USA TODAY Sports' rankings and ESPN's list.
They said it
• Lohse on his struggles: "I'm not that far away. I know it is ugly, but it is just make a pitch here and there."
• Brewers manager Craig Counsell on Tuesday's loss: "We can't have nights like this. How we play is important. That's the one thing we can control, how we play. That's easy to control."
• Carlos Gomez on breaking up Max Scherzer's perfect game Sunday: "I got lucky, I got lucky. He pitched unbelievable. He's one of the best pitchers and probably the best pitcher that I've ever faced."
— Quotes via Associated Press
Top tweets
Squared up
What's Brewing
• The Brewers have no plans right now to promote top prospect Orlando Arcia.
• Brewers broadcaster Bob Uecker was hospitalized overnight after Monday's game due to a mild concussion suffered during batting practice.
• 10 Brewers players are listed among Jon Heyman's top 40 trade candidates, including Gomez and Ryan Braun in the top 10.
— jschelling@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @jordanschelling.