Who Survives the Next Wave of Cuts?

Adam McCalvy checks in this afternoon with a report saying we should expect the next wave of Brewers roster cuts on Monday.  He says the cuts will be made with the intention of “paring down the pitching staff to those with a legitimate chance to make the Opening Day roster,” adding that starters are starting their third trip through the rotation and pitch count limits have risen to around 70, meaning there’s less need for extra arms to suck up innings.

So with that in mind, who’s likely to be sent down?  McCalvy mentions two candidates in Mark Rogers and Amaury Rivas, and Alex Periard, Cody Scarpetta, Eric Arnett, and Kyle Heckathorn have all been sent down in the past week.

Monday could be a bad day for quite a few of the Brewers’ non-roster invitee pitchers — a list that Arnett and Heckathorn belonged to. If the Brewers are cutting down to those still alive for Opening Day spots, those in jeopardy could include Chris Capuano, Tim Dillard, John Halama, Kameron Loe, A.J. Murray, and Chris Smith. Zach Braddock and Scott Schoeneweis are also NRI’s, but if recent comments by Ken Macha are any indication, they both could be very much alive for the last spot in the bullpen.

As for those on the 40-man, Josh Butler (who’s struggled to get onto the mound in Maryvale) and Marco Estrada may be entering their final hours in camp. There’s also been rumors that the Brewers have begun the process of offering Rule 5 pick Chuck Lofgren back to Cleveland, but Doug Melvin is refusing to comment.

I’ll admit that the names above are a lot of cuts to make in one day, but they’re honestly the guys I don’t see making the team. If all of those pitchers are cut, we’d be left with the following 17 pitchers:

John Axford (another young arm Macha seems to like), Dave Bush, Todd Coffey, Doug Davis, Yovani Gallardo, LaTroy Hawkins, Trevor Hoffman, Chris Narveson, Manny Parra, David Riske (injured), Mitch Stetter, Jeff Suppan, Claudio Vargas, Carlos Villanueva, Randy Wolf, Braddock, and Schoeneweis.

Considering Riske is still hurt and unable to pitch, and Hoffman hasn’t made his debut yet, it’s possible that they keep a couple more relievers around for another week or so. What do you all think, though?  Who’s likely to get cut, and who makes it another week by the skin of their teeth?