White Sox trade Soria to Brewers for pair of pitching prospects
In 2017, the Chicago White Sox signed veteran relief pitcher Anthony Swarzak before the season and flipped him to the Milwaukee Brewers on July 26.
Exactly one year later, the Sox and Brewers matched up again.
Closer Joakim Soria - along with cash considerations - was traded to Milwaukee Thursday in exchange for two pitching prospects, left-hander Kodi Medeiros and right-hander Wilber Perez.
Medeiros is the key addition for the White Sox.
The Brewers' first-round draft pick (No. 12 overall) in 2014 out of Waiakea High School in Hawaii, Medeiros was 7-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 103⅓ innings this season for Class AA Biloxi.
The 22-year-old pitcher appeared in 20 games for Biloxi, 15 of them starts. In his last 10 games (9 starts), Medeiros was 3-3 with a 2.04 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 53 innings.
According to MLB Pipeline, the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder was Milwaukee's No. 13 prospect.
"This is the price of poker," Brewers general manager David Stearns told reporters. "You have to give up value in order to get value. We view Soria as one of the better available arms on the market this year and he fits our team well."
Medeiros has limited left-handed hitters to a .160 (16-for-100) batting average this season, and he could be a future fit with the Sox as a left-handed relief specialist.
Perez, 20, was 5-1 with a 2.01 ERA in 8 starts with the Dominican Summer League Brewers.
The 34-year-old Soria was 0-3 with a 2.56 ERA in 40 relief appearances with the White Sox. The right-hander was also 16-for-19 in save opportunities and allowed only 2 earned runs in 24⅓ innings in 25 outings since May 21.
Soria was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a Jan. 4 trade.
"I enjoyed my time here," Soria told reporters. "I like the guys in here; the chemistry in here was really good. I always had fun with this group, but this is business and I'm going to a new team and new family. I'm going to try to get to the playoffs.
"That's what it's all about. This is our job, but at the end of the day, we are competitive people, competitive players and you want to win, you want to be part of a group that makes it to the playoffs and wins their championship."