GM David Stearns said Friday that the Brewers are still evaluating whether to use Hader as a starter or reliever in 2018, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
One thing Stearns is confident about is that Hader "is going to be put in a position to accumulate innings," whether that be as a starter or a multi-inning reliever, which is no surprise given Hader's talent. While the Brewers will be looking to maximize his innings, and he was a highly-regarded starting pitcher prospect just one offseason ago, he did throw only 99.2 total innings in 2017 across all levels, so he'd probably have a cap on his workload even if he heads into the season as a starter. With that in mind, the Brewers must weigh if it's worth even trying Hader in the rotation, especially when considering just how dominant (12.84 K/9, .156 BAA) he was working in relief last year. With Hader facing a theoretical innings limit as a starter and not in the mix for saves as a reliever, he will likely be only a fringe option in standard league formats. However, even as a full-time reliever he would stand a good chance to hit 100 strikeouts while providing quality ratios, so he can still provide some sort of value in any role for fantasy owners and the Brewers alike.