5:20pm: Minor league infielder Jadher Areinamo is headed back to the Rays, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Tampa Bay is also paying down some of Jansen’s remaining $2.667MM in salary.
5:04pm: The two sides are in agreement on a trade, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Milwaukee is sending one prospect back to Tampa Bay in the deal. Just as interestingly, Topkin adds that the Rays are working on a deal to acquire another catcher.
5:01pm: The Brewers and Rays are in the final stages of negotiation on a trade sending catcher Danny Jansen from Tampa Bay to Milwaukee, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Jansen is playing the season on a one-year, $8MM contract and is a free agent at season’s end.
Catching wasn’t a prominent need for the Brewers entering the season. William Contreras has emerged as one of the best backstops in the sport, slashing .283/.363/.472 from 2022-24. His once-panned defense has improved to premium levels in Milwaukee. However, Contreras has been playing through a fracture in his left middle finger and struggled considerably at the dish this season, slashing just .242/.342/.340 this season. Backup catcher Eric Haase hasn’t picked up the slack with the bat. Over the past month, Contreras and Haase have combined to hit .228/.294/.289.
As the Brewers’ catchers have struggled to increasing levels, Jansen has picked up the pace. He’s hitting just .204/.314/.389 on the season overall, but that’s dragged down by a brutal start to the year. Since May 11, he’s batting .232/.321/.486 in 163 trips to the plate.
Notably, while Jansen is hitting only .197 against lefties, he’s still getting on base against them at a big .356 clip and slugging .465 versus southpaws. Contreras is hitting .223/.373/.266 against lefties on the season. Haase is batting only .160/.192/.280 in his 26 plate appearances against left-handers.
Jansen has graded as a plus defender in the past, but his framing and throwing grades have dwindled in recent years. Milwaukee has a knack for vastly improving catcher defense — framing in particular — which could bode well for a Jansen rebound in that regard. He’ll presumably move into a timeshare behind the plate with Contreras, who is penciled into tonight’s Brewers lineup. That could spell the end of Haase’s time on the roster, but it’s certainly possible the Brewers will carry three catchers or that they’ll give Contreras some extended downtime to allow his ailing left hand to heal.
More to come.