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Update: The Brewers got one dollar for Mills. On the plus side, they can now get anything off the dollar menu at McDonalds to help lure Juan Francisco back!
The Brewers have traded minor league pitcher Brad Mills to the Oakland Athletics for cash considerations, the team announced on Twitter.
Mills, a left-hander, has been pitching well in Nashville. In fact, 'well' is probably an understatement. In 14 appearances (12 starts), he had a 1.56 ERA and 0.92 WHIP with 77 strikeouts in 75 innings. A former Blue Jay, Angel and Orix Buffalo, the 29-year-old Mills hasn't had this good of a season since he was in Toronto's farm system in 2008.
However, when Mills signed with the Brewers on a minor-league deal, his contract included an opt-out clause that would have allowed him to become a free agent very soon. Because there was the possibility of him walking with no return, Derek recently pondered whether the Brewers could see some sort of small return for him in a trade.
Looks like Derek was right. How big of a return the Brewers will get is unknown, however. It could be as little as $1, which was the return when the Brewers traded away Wil Nieves. Or it could be some actually-relevant sum of money. Is $1 even worth making a trade unless you desperately don't want a player anymore? Are there, like, processing fees that the MLB charges teams so such a trade ends up being a monetary loss for the team?
Anyway, the Brewers didn't have any place for the on-fire Mills. Not with Wei-Chung Wang pitching his way to a roster spot. So it's good to see him get an opportunity with a team that wanted him so badly that they were willing to pay rather than just sign him when he opted out of his deal.
And the Brewers won't get much out of the trade, but at least they got something. All in all, it sounds like a win for all involved parties.
