Brewers acquire Rowdy Tellez from Blue Jays, per report

Up until fairly recently, the NL Central was not exactly inspiring a ton of awe or fear in the National League. The beginning of the season felt like every team was trying to give up the division instead of trying to win it. The Cubs had a fun run for a bit but have since lost ten games in a row to fall below .500 again. The Reds have perennially hung around .500 thanks to their offense, but weren’t able to establish themselves as clear frontrunners.

And then the Brewers went on an absolute tear. A recent 11 game winning streak put Milwaukee a full six games up in the division as of today and thinking that they can continue to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division. As a result, they decided to hit the trade market early and shore up their depth a bit.

On the Blue Jays’ end, this deal made a ton of sense as Trevor Richards, who was a part of a trade just a few weeks ago in a trade with the Rays, helps Toronto shore up their bullpen as they try to hang around in the playoff race in the American League. Tellez was already without a spot on the Blue Jays’ roster, so dealing him for a real asset made all the sense in the world. Toronto also got minor league pitcher Bowden Francis in the deal.

For the Brewers, they get a talented, but inconsistent young power hitter who has shown glimpses of breaking out (particularly against the Red Sox). Clearly Milwaukee thinks that he can help them and they can get him on track, particularly with his approach which has been suspect at times in his young career.