The Brewers have acquired minor league right-hander J.P. Feyereisen from the Yankees in exchange for minor league infielder Brenny Escanio and international bonus pool space, per announcements from both clubs. Both Feyereisen, 26, and Escanio, 16, were eligible to be traded by virtue of the fact that neither has been on a 40-man roster at any point in 2019.
New York originally acquired Feyereisen alongside Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield in the the trade that sent left-hander Andrew Miller to Cleveland back in 2016. The 2014 16th-round pick needs to be added to the 40-man roster this winter, lest he be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft, and this trade likely signifies that the Yankees didn’t feel they had room to do so.
That’s not for any lack of performance on the part of Feyereisen; to the contrary, in fact, he’s had a terrific season with the Yankees’ top affiliate in Scranton. Through 61 1/3 innings, the righty has pitched to a 2.49 ERA with 13.8 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.88 HR/9 and a 36.7 percent ground-ball rate. That’s Feyereisen’s third tour in Triple-A, but he’s yet to receive a call to the bigs despite owning a collective 3.12 ERA and 195-to-76 K/BB ratio in 164 2/3 frames at that level.
The Yankees have prided themselves on ludicrously deep bullpens in recent seasons, and that depth hasn’t made it any easier for Feyereisen (and other potentially deserving arms) to crack the Major League roster. He’ll have a clearer path to the Majors in Milwaukee, though it’s not clear if the Brewers plan to bring him to the Majors. Even if the Brewers do promote him, the fact that the Feyereisen acquisition didn’t occur until September would render him ineligible for postseason play, should Milwaukee qualify.
The amount of bonus money acquired by the Yankees wasn’t specified, though international allotments must be traded in blocks of at least $250K. The international funds acquired here were the primary get for the Yanks, as Escanio was a relatively low-profile signing just two months ago on July 2 when this year’s international signing period kicked off. The Yankees spent the vast majority of their international pool to sign top outfield prospect Jasson Dominguez, and their lack of additional funds acquired to this point ultimately cost them the opportunity to sign another well-regarded outfield prospect: Jhon Diaz.
While it was reported on July 2 that Diaz had agreed to a roughly $1MM bonus with the Yankees, the organization needed to acquire additional pool allocations in order to make that agreement a reality. Just last week, though, Diaz signed with the Rays for a similar amount. With the Yankees having dedicated roughly $5MM of their $5.398MM pool to Dominguez, today’s deal will help them to further explore the market for remaining talent.
