Why did the Milwaukee Brewers option history-making rookie Logan Henderson back to Class AAA?

One day, Logan Henderson became a part of major-league history.The next day, he became a Nashville Sound.

The Milwaukee Brewers turned heads with a surprising roster decision prior to taking on the Boston Red Sox on Memorial Day by optioning Henderson to Class AAA in order to make room for left-hander DL Hall, who was activated from the 60-day injured list.

Henderson, with five one-run innings in the Brewers victory in Pittsburgh the afternoon prior May 25, became only the second pitcher since 1901 in Major League Baseball to strike out at least six and allow two or fewer runs in each of his first four career starts.Additionally, the rookie right-handers marks of 29 strikeouts and four runs allowed through his first four big-league outings have been matched or exceeded by only one pitcher in MLB history: Hendersons teammate (or, at least at the time), Freddy Peralta.

The kid has been so good, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.

He wasn't quite as sharp yesterday, but he's been so good, and he's handled it so well.

The conversation about going down, he's just, I totally get it.

I totally understand.

I know how this works.

I'm expecting it.

Just know I'm going to go down there and work my tail off, and I'm going to improve this and that, and talk about a few things.

I mean, the kids a delight to have around.No longer, though, will Henderson be around at least for a while.

Henderson has impacted winning in his short time in the majors, with a 1.78 ERA on the mound and the Brewers going 4-0 in his outings, yet the Brewers made the decision based primarily on depth, Murphy indicated in his office after the move was announced.With Jose Quintana and Brandon Woodruff, set to make rehab starts May 27, on the mend and Hall and Aaron Ashby freshly off the IL, Milwaukee finally is getting healthy on the pitching side.

Its just a tad ironic that led to the club removing one of its top performers from the roster.

More: Assessing the trade market: If the Brewers decide to sell, who might be moving on?I think it's more about the timing of it all, too, because we need to get DL Hall a spot on our roster, Murphy said.

He's part of our now and our future.

We need to have spots opening up for Jose Quintana and Woody.

So I think more of it is about the guys with options and more than one option, because if you only have one option left, what does that mean going into your future year you have no options left, so you got to make the team or you lose the player.

So this is very fragile times where you have to make good decisions that are based on winning and based on preserving starting-pitcher depth.

Does that give you any insight?Optioning Henderson was not the only path the Brewers could go down to make room for Hall.

The Brewers now have four lefties in the bullpen, but moving one of them out likely would mean designating for assignment either Rob Zastryzny or Tyler Alexander.

They also could have optioned out Quinn Priester or, less likely, Chad Patrick following his start May 26 against Boston.

Priester has only one option year left and already has spent time in the minors with the Red Sox prior to being traded to Milwaukee, and Murphy hinted that the right-hander being down to just the final option was a factor.It's solid thinking, and if you look at the whole aspect of who we might lose and what it sets up for, he said.

It's a longer conversation, but you can see it.

I'd be willing to have it with you, and you can see why it, why it transpires this way.Murphy also confirmed Henderson, whose career-high as a professional is 8113 innings last season, is on an innings limit and the decision was quite frankly, for some of these young guys to get a blow, get a rest, because they're just not machines.

Still, its the second difficult conversation Murphy has had to have with Henderson in the span of just over one month, the first being when the Brewers optioned him after six innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts in his debut April 20.

Milwaukee, sitting 612 games back of first place on Memorial Day, needs every win it can come by at this point.

Henderson has inarguably contributed to that cause, and the Brewers are making a bet that the pitching staff will be in no worse shape without him for the near future.

Either that or theyre willing to sacrifice a chance at winning now in the name of preserving depth with the other arms on the roster.This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Milwaukee Brewers sent Logan Henderson back to minor leagues.

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