A couple late-night trades for you. The Brewers and Rangers are getting together on a multi-player swap, with reliever Matt Bush – he’s good again! – going to the Brewers.
Mathias is not much of a loss, but Kelley is a legitimate prospect for the Brewers (top 15ish in the system, having success at High-A). Bush is 36 now, but he’s actually still controllable through arbitration the next couple years if the Brewers want to hang onto him. Obviously he will help reinforce the bullpen after the Josh Hader trade earlier today, though the Brewers also got Taylor Rogers in that deal.
Meanwhile, the Braves and Astros are getting together on a money swap deal, which is kind of interesting:
I would’ve thought the Astros could’ve done better for Odorizzi, who is owed some cash in his walk year, but is pitching reasonably well this year when healthy. Smith, by contrast, is also owed some cash in his walk year, but is not pitching particularly well. I guess the differentiating factor is that Odorizzi has a $6.5 million player option for next year, and then gets a $3.25 million buyout if he doesn’t exercise the option (which it seems like he wouldn’t). So I guess the Braves are paying more cash, in the end.