As MLB’s winter meetings start to come to a close, the Milwaukee Brewers strengthened their bullpen on Thursday by acquiring left-handed reliever Alex Claudio from the Texas Rangers.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Milwaukee is sending a competitive-balance pick to Texas for the 26-year-old southpaw reliever.
#Rangers getting #Brewers’ competitive-balance pick for LHP Alex Claudio, sources say.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 13, 2018
Claudio struggled during the 2018 season with a 4.48 ERA and 1.52 WHIP across 68.1 innings.
Milwaukee will be hoping it can work with Claudio and get him back into the form the Rangers enjoyed from 2016-’17 when he posted a 2.61 ERA across 134.1 innings.
According to the report, Texas will receive the No. 39 overall pick from the Brewers. While the Rangers lose a cost-controlled reliever for the next three seasons, landing a top-40 draft pick is a strong return for a team that is gearing towards a rebuild.