Rays trade Adames to Brewers in 4-player deal

The Tampa Bay Rays traded shortstop Willy Adames and right-hander Trevor Richards to the Milwaukee Brewers for pitchers Drew Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen, the clubs announced Friday.

Adames is a lifetime .254/.320/.420 hitter across parts of four big-league seasons with the Rays. He enjoyed a career year at the plate during the pandemic-shortened campaign but has struggled to start 2021, sporting an 81 OPS+ with five homers through his first 41 games.

The 25-year-old was a key player for the Rays over the past few seasons, helping them to consecutive playoff appearances and the 2020 AL pennant. General manager Erik Neander acknowledged that trading him was difficult.

In Milwaukee, Adames will be called upon to provide an upgrade at shortstop, where the Brewers rank 28th out of 30 teams in total production. Luis Urias, who has started at shortstop for most of the year and struggled on both sides of the ball, will move into a super-utility role, Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said, according to Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Also headed to Milwaukee is Richards, a right-handed reliever with four seasons of big-league experience. The 28-year-old owns a 4.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP with 16 strikeouts and three walks in six appearances this year.

Rasmussen, 25, has made 15 relief appearances this season, posting a 4.24 ERA and 1.47 WHIP while averaging 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings. The Oregon State product was drafted by Tampa Bay in the first round in 2017, but did not sign with the organization at that time.

Feyereisen, 28, owns a 3.26 ERA and 1.09 WHIP with 20 strikeouts and 11 walks in 21 appearances for Milwaukee this year.

The Rays will call up Taylor Walls, their No. 7 prospect, from Triple-A Durham to replace Adames at shortstop Saturday, according to Adam Berry of MLB.com. Walls, who has played just 14 games above Double-A, is one of several highly touted shortstop prospects in the Rays' system, a list that also includes the top prospect in all of baseball, Wander Franco.