Blue Jays Trade John Axford to the Milwaukee Brewers

Simcoe, Ontario product John Axford continues his adventurous year in professional baseball as the Toronto Blue Jays announced earlier today that they have traded the right-hander to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash considerations.

Axford started the 2021 season as a baseball analyst for the Blue Jays and Roger’s Sportsnet breaking down games.  He still had the fire to continue his play and joined Team Canada for their bid at entering the Tokyo Olympics.  The 6’5” reliever was reported by SI.com to be registering between 95-98 mph on his fastball at the Olympic Qualifiers and after Canada failed at their attempt to move on, he was signed to a minor league deal by the Blue Jays.

Axford first joined the Blue Jays Rookie Ball affiliate in the Florida Complex League where he threw one shutout inning before being called up to Triple-A Buffalo to play for the Bisons.  Axford made 10 appearances with the Bisons, collecting one win and a pair of saves over 11.2 innings.  What was extremely impressive was he allowed just three hits and three walks, while striking out 15 to post an ERA of 0.77 and a WHIP of 0.51.

John Axford continues his adventurous 2021 calendar year after he was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash considerations.

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Some may wonder how the deal was able to happen after the trade deadline.  Since Axford was on a minor league deal and he had never been put on a team’s 40 man roster this year the trade could go through.

Brewcrewball.com reported that Axford will be joining Milwaukee’s 26-man roster for Monday night’s game.  Brewers fans must have some excitement over one of the franchises best relievers returning to the team.  Axford spent the first portion of his career with the club and pitched parts of five seasons and 268 games in Milwaukee, which included a 2011 seasons that saw him lead the National League in saves (46), while posting a minuscule 1.95 ERA which had him garner votes for both the Cy Young and MVP awards.

With the recent additions to the Blue Jays bullpen at the trade deadline, Axford may not have had an opportunity to make it back to the major leagues this season with the organization.  The trade will now give him an opportunity at one last attempt at a big-league life.

Axford last pitched in the major leagues in 2018 for the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.