Milwaukee Brewers: Recent deadline trades for pitching

2017: Anthony Swarzak

Anthony Swarzak has been passed around the league, spending very short stints with seven different teams since leaving the Minnesota Twins after the 2014 season. He has been one of the most hit-or-miss acquisitions for every different team that he has gone to. He has a modest career ERA of 4.22, but he is not a consistently average pitcher as that number would suggest.

Of the seven teams he’s played for since Minnesota, he has had an ERA over 5.00 for three of them including 6..15 for the New York Mets. He has also had extreme highs, as he has given three teams an ERA under three, including his current stint with the Atlanta Braves where he has an astonishing 0.52 ERA in 17 appearances. The only team that he has been average for is the Cleveland Indians, where he had an ERA of 3.38.

Thankfully, the Milwaukee Brewers got the good side of Anthony Swarzak in 2017. His 2.48 ERA after coming over from the Chicago White Sox helped a bullpen that had very few reliable options outside of All-Star closer, Corey Knebel.

Unfortunately, he was not quite able to help enough to get the Brewers into the postseason, and in 10 seasons in Major League Baseball, he has never pitched in the playoffs. That will likely change this year as his Braves sit comfortably atop the NL East.

Both acquisitions of Jeffress and Swarzak were wins for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017. However, two relief pitchers just weren’t quite enough to propel Milwaukee to a postseason birth. So what’s better than two relievers? Two relievers and a starter.