In May of 2021, Willy Adames was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for two MLB ready pitchers. The arms that Tampa received were JP Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen. Here we re-visit how the deal panned out for each side nearly four years later.
Why did the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays make this trade in the first place?
In April of 2021, the Brewers elected to move on from shortstop Orlando Arcia by trading him to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for pitchers Patrick Weigel and Chad Sobotka. This opened the door for Luis Urias to be the everyday shortstop. Unfortunately he struggled making throws over to first base and his offensive production went down as well.
Executive at the time David Stearn ultimately realized that a change was needed. His solution was to trade for a sure-handed defender in Willy Adames. Back then, Adames was far from a proven offensive threat, citing the poor lighting in Tropicana Field as a contributing factor. However, Tampa was unlikely to retain him through all of his arbitration years and elected to deal him for a pair of arms still in pre-arbitration.
How did Willy Adames perform with the Brewers?
Adames provided an instant spark to the Brewers in 2021. That team went on an incredible run once he was acquired, often with him delivering a big hit late in ballgames, and won the National League Central division that year. Before inking a seven year, $182 million deal with the Giants this off-season, he mashed 107 home runs, 119 doubles, and collected 348 RBI while he was in Milwaukee.
JP Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen with the Rays
Both Feyereisen and Rasmussen experienced success with the Rays, but also lost significant time due to injury. Feyereisen threw just 61.0 innings over two years with Tampa, had a 1.48 ERA, and had a streak where he threw 33.2 consecutive scoreless innings. Recently, Feyereisen agreed to a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Rasmussen has thrown 278.1 innings over four years with the Rays, has a 2.72 ERA, but has missed a lot of time each of the past two seasons as he underwent his third elbow surgery in the summer of 2023. He remains under contract with the Rays, through at least 2026, and has an $8.0 million club option for the 2027 season.
In conclusion, both the Brewers and Rays got players who excelled while in (or still in) their organization, but Adames was much more durable than Feyereisen and Rasmussen.
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