For non-roster invitee to closer to trade bait. The circle closes.
In a rather more unexpected bit of trade deadline news, Robert Murray reports that the Milwaukee Brewers have traded for relief pitcher Shelby Miller. That’s something of a surprise, since Miller is on the Injured List with a forearm strain, having last pitched on July 5. While it is rare for injured pitchers to be dealt, there’s nothing to forbid it, and indicates that Miller should presumably be back in action before long. He threw a bullpen session on Friday, so might not be too far off a rehab appearance in the minors. When he pitched he was very effective. Initially a non-roster invitee, he made the roster out of spring, and as all about him fell apart, took over as closer, with a 1.98 ERA across 36.1 innings of work.
Will Sammon then followed up with the real shock: that Jordan Montgomery is also part of the deal. Consider he underwent Tommy John surgery before the season even began, I’m a little unsure quite what this is about. I guess getting him off the books will bring the D-backs a little bit of salary relief, for the balance of the season. Roughly 7-8 million dollars, if my math is right. But we’ll know more when the details of this emerge. As ever, we’ll update this as and when we get that information! But John Gambadoro suggests that the Brewers will pay some, not all, of the Montgomery contract, as the price for getting Miller.
Update. Mark Feinsand says the Brewers will send a player to be named later or cash considerations to the D-backs. If that’s it, then this is a nice exercise in clearing a bad contract off the books, by attaching it to a decent but also expiring contract. It certainly seems to be better than the last time Arizona made a deal involving Shelby Miller…