Brewers News: Milwaukee Trades RHP Lucas Erceg To Oakland

The Milwaukee Brewers have made a trade in the middle of May, sending infielder-turned-reliever Lucas Erceg to the Oakland Athletics.

Fansided's Robert Murray was first to report the transaction.

This brings an end to the tumultuous tenure of Lucas Erceg in the Brewers organization.

The Milwaukee Brewers traded RHP Lucas Erceg to the Oakland A's for cash considerations.

Milwaukee drafted Erceg out of Menlo College in the 2nd round of the 2016 Draft. He was a power hitting third baseman back then with a cannon for an arm. He quickly became one of the Brewers top prospects.

As Erceg moved up the organizational ladder, his offense began to regress. Eventually, the Brewers took Erceg's 70 grade throwing arm and put him on the mound, transitioning him to a reliever. Erceg had the raw talent, reaching the upper 90s from the mound but has needed some time to harness and refine himself on the mound.

Erceg went from a top prospect, to a non-prospect, to a legitimate relief option. But he had yet to make it on to the 40 man roster and he wasn't going to anytime soon with the depth the Brewers currently have with bullpen arms. There are five relievers in Nashville right now that are already on the 40 man that will continue to get opportunities over someone like Erceg. The Oakland A's however, will likely have plenty of opportunities for someone like Erceg on the big league roster.

This season, Erceg has a 6.46 ERA in 13 games for the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. However, he had a 3.07 ERA as recently as a week ago. Then he had one bad outing where he allowed six earned runs without recording an out and his ERA skyrocketed. Overall, he's been solid.

This will be a great opportunity for Erceg to potentially earn a big league call up in Oakland. They are a rebuilding franchise who's only clear direction is south, both literally and figuratively as they plan to move south from Oakland to Las Vegas in a few years and they are in the bottom of the standings. Oakland will take a flier on Erceg and his velocity and just give up a little bit of cash for him.

While Oakland doesn't have to immediately put Erceg on their 40 man roster or their 26 man roster, it wouldn't be surprising if they called him up for his MLB debut at some point soon.