Brewers: Tyler Thornburg Deep Waiver Wire Add

The Brewers traded their top two relief pitchers on Monday. This created an opening at the closer position. Tyler Thornburg is the pitcher to add off the waiver wire.

The Milwaukee Brewers were big sellers at the trade deadline. They traded away their starting catcher and two top relief pitchers. As a result, this left an opening for the ninth inning job. Unless there’s a move that gets reported late, this looks to be Tyler Thornburg‘s job for the rest of the season. If you’re in a deeper league and need saves, he’s worth adding.

Thornburg has pitched well this season in a middle relief role. In 44 games, he has a 2.32 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 12.4 K/9, 3.0 BB/9,two saves and 20 holds. The high walk rate is not something you want to see, but he offsets it by not allowing many hits, 28 in 42.2 innings. He is a big strikeout pitcher, something Will Smith or Jeremy Jeffress weren’t.

Speaking of the former relief pitchers, Smith and Jeffress were both dealt on Monday. Smith will be joining the San Francisco Giants and Jeffress is going to Texas, alongside his teammate Jonathan Lucroy. 

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Both Smith and Jeffress pitched well with the Brewers. Smith was expected to be the Opening Day closer, but an injury took him away from the job, leading to Jeffress as the closer. Jeffress recorded 27 saves with a 2.22 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 7.1 K/9. Smith has a 3.68 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 9.0 K/9.

The Brewers didn’t trade all of their offensive players like many expected, so the team will still be able to score some runs and support their pitching staff. Thornburg should get anywhere between 10 and 20 saves in the final two months, and I fall in the middle with about 15.

The only thing I would keep an eye on is if the nerves of pitching in the ninth inning get to him like it has to some other relief pitchers. The pressure of closing could result in an inflated WHIP or ERA.

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Thornburg is owned in just 5.3 percent of ESPN leagues. With all of the moving pieces during the trade deadline, saves have become readily available. While I wouldn’t rush out to add Thornburg in standard 10-team leagues, he is a must add in NL-only or deeper mixed leagues.