White Sox trade Anthony Swarzak to Brewers

The Brewers have acquired reliever Anthony Swarzak from the White Sox for outfielder Ryan Cordell, per FanRag’s Jon Heyman and CSN Chicago’s Dan Hayes. The discussions were first reported by FOX’s Ken Rosenthal.

Swarzak was a surprise trade candidate after signing a minor-league deal with the ChiSox over the winter, posting a 2.23 ERA and 9.7 K/9 in 48.1 innings this season. He is the latest trade chip to be utilized by general manager Rick Hahn this summer, joining new Cub Jose Quintana and new Yankees Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle.

Swarzak, 31, is only under control for the rest of this season and is earning just $900k. Milwaukee has been aggressive in its pursuit of relief help so far this summer, being linked most prominently to Tigers reliever Justin Wilson and other available options like San Diego’s Brad Hand and Philadelphia’s Pat Neshek.

Swarzak joins Jared Hughes, Carlos Torres and Jacob Barnes as righties in the back end of Milwaukee’s bullpen ahead of All-Star closer Corey Knebel. It’s unclear if the Brewers, who entered play Tuesday with a half-game lead in the NL Central, will look to add more relief pieces before Monday’s trade deadline.

Cordell, 25, was the Rangers’ 11th-round pick in 2013 and was sent to Milwaukee as the player to be named later in the deal that sent Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress to Texas last summer. He has hit .284/.349/.506 with 10 homers and nine steals in 68 games with Triple-A Colorado Springs this year and is viewed as close to being major-league ready.

Cordell was ranked by MLB Pipeline as Milwaukee’s 17th-best prospect at the time of the deal. He has the ability to play all three outfield positions in the majors but may project as a fourth-outfielder type.