The Brewers made a trade Thursday, their first before the July 31 deadline, though it wasn’t the kind of deal many were expecting. Milwaukee acquired right-handed reliever Joakim Soria from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for left-handed starter Kodi Medeiros and right-hander Wilber Perez. The announcement was made by general manager David Stearns.
The Brewers – reported to be involved in trade discussions for superstar shortstop Manny Machado, who was dealt last week from Baltimore to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and rumored to be interested in New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom – have multiple positional needs, including starting pitching, second base, shortstop and even catcher. The Soria addition bolsters an already-strong bullpen, and it’s unlikely to be the only move the Brewers make.
Soria, 34, was 0-3 with a 2.56 ERA and 16 saves in 40 relief appearances with the White Sox this season. He recorded 49 strikeouts in 38.2 innings pitched as opponents batted just .230. Over his last 25 outings, Soria posted a 0.74 ERA (24.1 innings pitched, two earned runs) and held opponents to a .161 batting average with 32 strikeouts.
The two-time All-Star (2008 and 2010) has a career record of 28-34 with a 2.84 ERA and 220 saves (seventh among active pitchers) in 613 games, all in relief. He has produced 662 strikeouts in 612.1 innings pitched and opponents have batted just .222.
The 22-year-old Medeiros was the Brewers’ first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft. Pitching at Double-A Biloxi this season, Medeiros was 7-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 20 games, including 15 starts. Perez, 20, signed with Milwaukee as a non-drafted free agent last July and had been pitching this season for the Dominican Summer League Brewers, where he was 5-1 with a 2.01 ERA in eight starts.
In Milwaukee, Soria will join one of baseball’s best bullpens. With All-Star relievers Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress, as well as Corey Knebel, Matt Albers and Dan Jennings, the Brewers’ bullpen has a 3.31 ERA (fifth-best in MLB) with 433 strikeouts (second) and a .230 opponents batting average (third).
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
