Brewers trade Jake Petricka to Texas Rangers

Jake Petricka’s brief time with the Milwaukee Brewers is officially coming to an end. Without a spot for him on the 40-man roster, general manager David Stearns is trading the veteran groundball specialist to the Texas Rangers.

The Athletic’s Robert Murray was the first to break the news, which was officially announced by the team minutes later.

Petricka signed as a free agent this past winter and only made six appearances for the Brewers and pitched well (3.38 ERA, 136 ERA+) despite being up and down from Triple-A multiple times in April before ultimately being outrighted at the start of May and accepting his minor league assignment, likely figuring he’d be back on the 40-man roster — and in the majors — at some point later in the season.

Now halfway through June, that never quite materialized, even as arms like Taylor Williams struggled. With Jimmy Nelson back, this may have simply come down to there not being a 40-man spot left for Petricka — or at least Stearns not wanting to use a spot on him if he was unsure Petricka would stay in the majors for the rest of the year.

The Brewers could still get a player back in return, but the cash option could end up being more likely for the journeyman reliever.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference