Ken Rosenthal might be a busy guy today. He has this…
Source: #Reds trade Broxton to #Brewers.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 31, 2014
One area that team will always look to improve as they hit September (and providing they are in contention for a playoff spot) is the bullpen. Milwaukee sits in the bottom half of the NL in most bullpen stats. The addition of Jonathan Broxton does offer depth and flexibility. Broxton can close should Francisco Rodriguez stumble (which right now doesn’t look like to be the case). Broxton had been serving the set-up role for the Cincinnati Reds. Depends on what manager Ron Roenicke will require.
I have a feeling Broxton may not be the only reliever on the move today.
For the season, Broxton is 4-2 with a 1.86 ERA and 1.014 WHIP. He also owns seven saves as at the onset of 2014, he filled in for Aroldis Chapman as Chapman recovered from taking a line drive off his head during a spring training game.
But the month of August has not been kind to Broxton. In 11 appearances covering 10.1 innings, he has a pair of losses, and opponents have hit him to the tune of a .326 batting average and .988 OPS. In the first four months of the season, he allowed a total of 18 hits. For August alone, he’s served up 14.
Broxton is currently in the second year of a three-year, $21M deal. With the trade, what was a 2016 club option worth $9M (with a $1M buyout) now becomes a mutual option. In exchange for Broxton, the Reds will receive two players to be named later.