Brewers send DFAed reliever to Yankees in trade for lottery ticket prospect

Clayton Andrews' tenure in Milwaukee was short, as the 5'7" lefty made just four appearances for the Brewers last season, but there may be a long term impact from him.

Following the free agent signing of Jakob Junis, the Brewers designated Andrews for assignment and the New York Yankees had interest in him, so the Brewers swung a trade. Andrews goes to New York and the Brewers get back an interesting young prospect.

In return for Andrews, the Brewers receive 19 year old right handed pitcher Joshua Quezada. Quezada is a Nicaragua native, a country the Brewers have been scouting more extensively on the international market in recent years as an untapped market for talent.

Quezada was signed in the 2023 international period by New York, a year the Brewers signed four other pitchers from Nicaragua. They likely were interested in signing Quezada then but were ultimately unable to land him. Now, he's in the Brewers organization.

Quezada spent last season in the Dominican Summer League, pitching to a 3.69 ERA with a 6-0 record in 11 games covering 46.1 IP with 48 Ks and 18 BBs.

Heading into this season, it's likely Quezada will join the Arizona Complex League Brewers and if he continues to pitch well, we could even see him in Low-A Carolina by the end of the season.

Andrews was a 17th round pick by the Brewers back in 2018. The diminutive lefty faced long odds to make the majors, but he continued to put up great numbers in the minors, working his way up the system and ultimately making his MLB debut in 2023. However, the success he had in the upper minors did not translate in his small sample size in the big leagues. Andrews was called upon four times, covering just 3.1 IP, giving up 10 earned runs and posting a 27.00 ERA.

Because of his size and lack of outstanding stuff, Andrews operates with a slim margin for error, especially at the big league level, a margin he was not able to stay within. That, ultimately led to his DFA once there was a roster crunch with the addition of Junis.

The fact the Brewers were able to squeeze a lottery ticket prospect out of the Yankees for Andrews is a major win. Quezada is a long way from the big leagues, but he has some upside and just maybe he could turn into a solid big league pitcher some day.