Brewers and Rays Strike Another Trade As Crew Acquires RHP Javy Guerra

The non-tender deadline has come and passed. The Brewers tendered 14 of their 18 arbitration eligible players. They also added another pitcher by striking another trade with the Rays, who have become a familiar trade partner over the past few seasons. This most recent trade sends reliever Javy Guerra to the Crew in exchange for a player to be named later.

Who is Javy Guerra?

Javy Guerra is 27 year old right-handed reliever who was recently designated for assignment by the Rays. With the Rays in 2022, he pitched 16.0 innings and had 3.38 ERA. He made just one appearance with the Padres in April of 2022 before being designated for assignment.

Prior to the 2022 season, Guerra had been in the Padres organization since 2015. He came over as a part of the package deal that sent Craig Kimbrel to the Red Sox. Packaged with Guerra, a shortstop prospect at the time, was 3B Carlos Asuaje, LHP Logan Allen, and CF Manuel Margot.

Guerra initially signed with the Red Sox in 2012. At that time he was a shortstop and he continued on that path until the conclusion of the 2018 season. In 2019, he switched to being a pitcher.

In year one of pitching, Guerra made his MLB debut as a reliever that September. He then appeared in 14 games during the shortened 2020 season and spent most of 2021 on the injured list. A big contributing factor as to why he was designated for assignment by the Padres in April of 2022 is that he was out of minor league options.

What is Guerra's pitch arsenal and contract status?

On the mound, Guerra throws heat. Last year his sinker and fastball averaged out at 98 MPH. To complement that, he throws a slider in the high 80s. He's a high velocity pitcher, but so far he has not generated a ton of strikeouts or swings and misses.

Contract wise, Guerra is in pre-arbitration for two more seasons. He will become arbitration eligible in 2024 and is under club control until 2027. The only caveat, as mentioned earlier, is that he has no minor league options remaining so if the Brewers want to move him to the minors he will have to pass through waivers.

On the peripheries, there is a lot to like about what Guerra could bring to the Brewers. Hopefully they plug him into the pitching lab as soon as possible. There is a chance that he could become a solid bullpen player for the Crew next season. All for the cost of a player to be named later that's likely a low-level prospect at best.