Cleveland Guardians trade OF Bradley Zimmer to Blue Jays for RHP Anthony Castro

The Cleveland Guardians have traded former first-round pick Bradley Zimmer to the Toronto Blue Jays for help in the bullpen.

The Bradley Zimmer era in Cleveland is officially over.

Following the Guardians’ 3-1 Opening Day loss to the Royals, the team announced it traded their outfielder and former first-round pick to the Toronto Blue Jays for right-handed reliever Anthony Castro, who had a 4.74 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings last year.

Castro was at one point a highly touted prospect in the Tigers’ system, and Toronto claimed him off waivers in 2020. He obviously strikes out plenty of batters and displays solid control (he issued just eight walks last season), so Castro should be able to provide some depth in a bullpen that needs it in the absence of James Karinchak – and really, even when he does come back into the fold.

For Zimmer, it ends a deeply disappointing career with Cleveland, marred with injuries and an inability to cut down on strikeouts in order to provide consistent offensive production. For his five seasons with the Guardians, Zimmer was fantastic defensively and had a few prodigious home runs here and there, but he leaves with a career 79 wRC+ in 858 plate appearances and has struck out 33% of the time. With a number of outfield prospects waiting in the wings – along with the emergence of Steven Kwan – it was obvious Zimmer’s time in Cleveland was coming to an end sooner than later.

For the Guardians to be able to get a major-league-ready reliever out of the deal, it’s a win, and hopefully a fresh start is what Zimmer needs to get his own career back on track.