Brewers Add Veteran Reliever John Axford from Blue Jays

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers have acquired right-handed reliever John Axford from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations. Axford will join the team tonight. A corresponding roster move will be announced later. The announcement was made by President of Baseball Operations David Stearns.

Axford will retain his uniform number 59 as bench coach Pat Murphy switches to number 00.

Axford, 38, spent the first five seasons (2009-13) of his Major League career in Milwaukee, where he went 21-19 with a 3.35 ERA and 106 saves in 268 appearances. He is the all-time franchise leader in saves for a single season (46 in 2011) and ranks second in franchise history to Dan Plesac (133) in career saves. His 43 consecutive saves without a blown save in 2011 is a franchise record.

Axford, who has not pitched in the Major Leagues since 2018, began the 2021 season as a studio analyst for Blue Jays television. He then pitched for Team Canada in the Olympic qualifier before Toronto signed him to a Minor League contract on June 24. He went 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA and 2 saves in 9 relief appearances at Triple-A Buffalo, holding opponents to a .061 batting average (10.2ip, 2h, 1r, 1er, 3bb, 14k).

Axford owns a career record of 38-34 with a 3.87 ERA and 144 saves in 543 games (1 start) during 10 Major League seasons with Milwaukee (2009-13), St. Louis (2013), Cleveland (2014), Pittsburgh (2014), Colorado (2015), Oakland (2016-17), Toronto (2018) and Los Angeles-NL (2018).