Diamondbacks send Chafin to Brewers, acquire Pham from Mets at trade deadline

Updated Aug. 1, 2023 8:00 p.m. ET

Associated Press

Milwaukee and Arizona swapped relievers Tuesday as they continue their playoff pushes, with the Brewers acquiring left-hander Andrew Chafin from the Diamondbacks in exchange for right-hander Peter Strzelecki.

Both teams stayed busy all the way up to the trade deadline.

The Diamondbacks also added outfielder Tommy Pham from the New York Mets for 17-year-old minor league shortstop Jeremy Rodriguez.

“We felt like we addressed some areas that we sought to address,” Arizona general manager Mike Hazen said. “Most notably the back end of the bullpen.”

Milwaukee made a couple of minor moves later Tuesday. The team acquired pitcher Evan McKendry from Tampa Bay for minor league catcher Alex Jackson and sent minor league infielder Luis Urías to the Boston Red Sox for minor league pitcher Bradley Blalock.

McKendry will report to Triple-A Nashville and Blalock was assigned to Class A Wisconsin. The Red Sox optioned Urías to Triple-A Worcester.

Hazen called it an “interesting” deadline in the immediate aftermath, saying there were “a lot more buyers than sellers.”

The Brewers and Diamondbacks were tied with the Miami Marlins for the NL’s third and final wild-card position as the trade deadline arrived. Milwaukee trailed the first-place Cincinnati Reds by 1 1/2 games in the NL Central and Arizona was 3 1/2 back of the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 33-year-old Chafin has been a consistent, durable reliever for 10 years in the big leagues. The left-hander has a 2-3 record, 4.19 ERA and 49 strikeouts over 34 1/3 innings this season, which was his second stint with the Diamondbacks.

Chafin’s numbers were even better for most of the season, but he gave up five earned runs and got only two outs in a game last week against the Cardinals, sending his ERA soaring.

“I feel lucky to get a guy like that and put him in the mix of this crew,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s a guy who just gets outs. I feel like every day in those big spots, we have somebody to go to. It’s probably going to lead to a little more less-defined roles for guys, but that’s OK. That means you have a lot of good pitchers.”

Milwaukee added Chafin four days after left-hander Justin Wilson sustained a potentially significant lat injury while warming up in the bullpen before making what would have been his Brewers debut Friday night at Atlanta.

Chafin will join Hoby Milner as the Brewers' only left-handed relievers.

“He's somebody that we've obviously faced for many years and has a long track record of success and is a guy that fortifies our bullpen hopefully in a way that we were hoping Justin Wilson would be able to,” Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold said.

Strzelecki, 28, was 3-5 with a 4.54 ERA in 36 games with Milwaukee.

The Brewers recalled Strzelecki from Triple-A Nashville on Sunday. He had been Milwaukee's main setup man earlier this season and had an 0.66 ERA at the end of April, but his May and June struggles got him sent to the minors.

The deal continued the Brewers’ flurry of trade-deadline moves after they already acquired first baseman Carlos Santana from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday and added outfielder Mark Canha from the New York Mets on Monday.

“I think we added three very solid major league players that all address places that we could upgrade the team,” Counsell said.

The Brewers also dealt Urías, who hit a combined 39 homers for Milwaukee from 2021-22 before a miserable 2023 season. Urías injured his hamstring in the season opener, missed two months and struggled upon his return.

Urías, 26, was hitting .145 when he got sent to the minors at the end of June.

“We've had a number of guys that can handle the infield that have played well this year," Arnold said. "I don't think that's really anything against Luis because he's been a great Brewer here, been a part of some really good teams and a really good player and been a great person. Unfortunately for him, I think he had moved down our depth chart a little bit, and it gave us a little bit more flexibility to move him, at the end of the day.”

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AP Baseball Writer David Brandt in Phoenix and AP freelance writer Patrick Stevens in Washington contributed to this report.

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