Brewers Trade Deadline: Milwaukee Gets John Curtiss In Trade With Miami

The Milwaukee Brewers have made a trade at the buzzer, landing Miami Marlins reliever John Curtiss in a one for one deal.

Not long ago, FanSided’s Robert Murray reported the Milwaukee Brewers could look to add as many as two relievers at the 2021 Trade Deadline. They added one earlier today in Daniel Norris. Now they’ve added a second one in John Curtiss.

The Milwaukee Brewers have deepened their bullpen for the stretch run to the postseason with the trade for John Curtiss ahead of the Trade Deadline.

Jon Heyman was the first to report the deal.

In return for John Curtiss, the Milwaukee Brewers give up catching prospect Payton Henry.

This deal was reported just a few minutes ahead of the 2021 Trade Deadline.

Who is John Curtiss and why did the Brewers trade for him?

Curtiss, 28, has been a big piece in the Marlins bullpen in 2021, posting a 2.48 ERA in 40 IP for them. He has 40 strikeouts to just 9 walks on the season.

Curtiss is in his fifth season in the big leagues and is joining his fifth big league club as well, giving him journeyman status. But he’s been good for a few years now. In 2020, Curtiss was on the Rays and had a 1.80 ERA in 25 innings.

The right-hander has a fastball-slider combo that’s he mixes evenly, using each pitch about 50% of the time. His fastball velocity has ticked up this year, averaging 95 MPH on his fastball and 86 MPH on his slider.

He can come in and join this bullpen, helping the bridge from the rotation to Josh Hader to close down games. He’s mostly been the 7th inning guy for the Marlins and he could help fill that role for the Brewers down the stretch as well.

What’s extremely exciting about Curtiss is his long-term team control. Curtiss won’t reach free agency until after the 2025 season. He won’t reach arbitration until 2023. It’s because of that the Brewers had to give up a little bit more in terms of the prospect package.

The Brewers sent catching prospect Payton Henry to the Marlins for John Curtiss.

Payton Henry was drafted in the 6th round out of high school in 2016. He’s been one of the Crew’s best catching prospects in recent years, but was Rule 5 eligible this last offseason and was left off the 40 man roster. That was partly due to him not playing above High-A before the last Rule 5 Draft.

Now he’s in Triple-A, filling in while Mario Feliciano was injured. Feliciano is still the better catching prospect for the Brewers and Henry would’ve had an uphill battle to make the 40 man roster again this offseason.

So Milwaukee gives up a little bit more, but it’s nothing they couldn’t afford to lose. They have incredible catching depth throughout the organization.

This is the final deal for the Brewers at the trade deadline. They’ve doubled down on pitching, getting Norris and now Curtiss with Eduardo Escobar before that.