Jeremy Jeffress is coming home _ again.
The right-handed reliever has been acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers in a trade with the Texas Rangers, the Brewers announced Monday afternoon. Going to Texas in the deal is right-hander Tayler Scott, a reliever at Class AA Biloxi.
Outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis was designated for assignment to make room for Jeffress on the 40-man roster.
Jeffress was traded by the Brewers along with catcher Jonathan Lucroy last Aug. 1. In exchange for the pair, Milwaukee received its current No. 1 prospect, outfielder Lewis Brinson, along with one of its top pitching prospects in right-hander Luis Ortiz.
A third player acquired in that trade, outfielder Ryan Cordell, was traded to the Chicago White Sox last week for reliever Anthony Swarzak.
Jeffress, who will turn 30 on Sept. 21, was in the midst of a career year when he was traded to the Rangers in 2016. He emerged as the team's closer after Will Smith, who was expected to serve as co-closer with Jeffress, injured his knee late in spring training.
Jeffress went on to post a 2.22 earned-run average while saving 27 games in 47 appearances. He didn't experience the same success in Texas, going 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in 12 appearances on a team that fell short of an expected World Series run.
He also had a highly publicized run-in with the law.
In 39 appearances this season for the Rangers, Jeffress was 1-2 with a 5.31 ERA and a WHIP of 1.67. He also has 29 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings.
According to Fangraphs.com, his average fastball velocity has dipped to a career-worst 95 mph.
The Brewers and Jeffress have a history that dates back to 2006, when the team drafted him 16th overall out of South Boston, Va.
He was suspended several times for drug abuse, nearly completely derailing his career in the process, before eventually being traded to the Kansas City Royals in the 2010 offseason as part of a mega-deal for Zack Greinke.
Jeffress bounced from Kansas City to the Toronto Blue Jays and then eventually back to Milwaukee in April of 2014 after the Blue Jays cut ties with him.
Jeffress was back in the major leagues with the Brewers by late July of that season, and he went on to pitch in a career-high 72 games in 2015 before becoming the Brewers' full-time closer last year.
Arbitration-eligible through 2019, Jeffress is currently playing on a one-year deal that's paying him $2.1 million.
Essentially, it's a low-cost, low-risk gamble for the Brewers, who are hoping Jeffress can return to his former success in a comfortable environment. Even better from the team's perspective is the fact it didn't have to part with any of its highly regarded prospects to acquire Jeffress.
Bolstering a bullpen that leads the major leagues in losses with 27 has been a focus for the Brewers, who started by acquiring Swarzak. They've also shuffled several other pieces since then, bringing up minor-leaguers Paolo Espino and Wei-Chung Wang and designating Wily Peralta for assignment.
In another interesting twist on that 2016 Lucroy-Jeffress trade, the Rangers traded Lucroy to the Colorado Rockies on Sunday for a player to be named later.
Scott, 25, is 4-6 with a 2.34 ERA in 42 appearances for Biloxi. He's also struck out 63 in 61 2/3 innings. He was a fifth-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2011, and signed as a minor-league free agent by the Brewers early last July.
