According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Brewers are trading for catcher Danny Jansen from the Tampa Bay Rays. Milwaukee will also receive cash in the deal, and is sending the Rays MLB Pipeline team No. 24 prospect infielder Jadher Areinamo.
The Rays will receive INF Jadher Areinamo (Milwaukee’s No. 24 prospect) for Jansen, per source. Tampa Bay will also send some money to Milwaukee to pay down part of Jansen’s salary.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 28, 2025
Jansen, who attended Appleton West High School, is 30 and in his eighth major league season. He has mostly worked in tandem in his career, notably with Alejandro Kirk in 2022 when the pair combined for 6.9 WAR. Jansen has typically been more than just a “backup catcher,” but has also reached 100 games in a season just once in his career. Jansen signed a one-year, $8 million deal with the Rays before this season that includes a mutual option for 2026 at $12 million (with a $500,000 buyout).
Jansen has typically been viewed as a defense-first catcher. That tracks whether you trust Baseball Reference’s defensive numbers or Fangraphs’, though Fangraphs’ numbers — which include pitch framing — have dipped in the past two seasons. Our friends at DRaysBay covered Jansen’s framing issues earlier this season.
Offensively, Jansen is about league average for his career, but that hasn’t been a straight line. Jansen excelled in that previously mentioned 2022 season when he hit .260/.339/.516 with 15 home runs in 248 plate appearances, and he popped 17 homers in 301 plate appearances in 2023. But he’s been below average by the measure of OPS+ in four of the seven seasons in which he’s played at least 40 games. This year, Jansen has shown solid power (11 home runs in 259 plate appearances) and good on-base skills (a 12.7% walk rate) but is hitting just .204. His OPS+ for the season sits at 97.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Curt Hogg, this does not mean that William Contreras will go on the injured list. That’s bad news for Eric Haase, whose roster spot is likely in peril after this move.
William Contreras is starting at catcher tonight. Club has said that if they were to place him on the IL it would be for season-ending surgery. https://t.co/mwgp56t7ZI
— Curt Hogg (@CyrtHogg) July 28, 2025
With Contreras and Jansen on the team, that means one of two things will become immediately necessary: either Contreras will get more time off, or Christian Yelich will spend more time in left field. The Yelich solution harms the Brewers’ outfield defense, and it’s not exactly clear that Jansen is a defensive upgrade over Contreras. But time off for Contreras is probably good at this point, as his offensive struggles have become somewhat dire of late.
Areinamo is a 21-year-old Venezuelan who was signed as an international free agent in 2021. He has spent the last two seasons at High-A Wisconsin, where he posted an OPS of .791 in 2024 and .818 in 2025. Areinamo has a solid hit tool and fields well, though he isn’t likely to hit for much power and could show better plate discipline. Adam wrote about Areinamo in today’s minor league roundup:
Areinamo (No. 24), who’s been one of Wisconsin’s best hitters each of the last two seasons, is now 28 for his last 96 (.292). The 21-year-old shortstop now has an OPS of .818 on the year. Areinamo could very well get called up to replace Cooper Pratt if/when Pratt moves up to Triple-A. He could also be used as trade bait if the Brewers end up making a move before the trade deadline, given the Brewers’ organizational depth in the infield.
The Brewers and Rays have done notable business before, as they paired up for the Willy Adames/Drew Rasmussen trade in 2021. That one obviously had higher stakes, but it’s a trade that more or less worked out for both sides (though Rasmussen’s injury issues would have you lean toward Milwaukee). These two very smart organizations make for interesting trade partners.
