Davis to Arizona, Estrada to Milwaukee in 6-player deal

Tweet

The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired left-hander Doug Davis from Milwaukee on Saturday in a six-player deal that sent catcher Johnny Estrada to the Brewers. Right-handers Greg Aquino and Claudio Vargas also went to Milwaukee, while the Diamondbacks obtained a pair of youngsters, left-hander Dana Eveland and outfielder Dave Krynzel. The 31-year-old Davis is 62-63 with a 4.35 ERA in eight major league seasons. He was 11-11 with a 4.91 ERA in 34 starts last season with Milwaukee and, like Estrada, is arbitration eligible. The 30-year-old Estrada hit .301 with 11 home runs and 71 RBIs during his only season with Arizona. The switch-hitting former All-Star had the sixth-best batting average among NL catchers. Starting pitching behind NL Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb was a major weakness for the Diamondbacks last season. Davis, who has thrown at least 200 innings in each of the last three seasons, joins Webb and Livan Hernandez in Arizona's projected rotation for next year. "With the addition of Doug we have three perennial 200-inning guys who more often than not are lower ERA guys," Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes said. "I think our rotation is really stabilized at the top and we have some good intriguing younger pitchers to battle for the other two spots." Estrada was acquired by the Diamondbacks in a trade with Atlanta a year ago. Despite his success at the plate, he was unhappy in Arizona and made it clear late in the season he would prefer to move on. "It's great to have another 200 innings guy to go along with Webb and Livan Hernandez," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin. "In addition, it's nice to have a quality left-handed starter, a variable we didn't have last year." Estrada made the NL All-Star team with the Braves in 2004, when he hit .314 with 76 RBIs. He was limited to 105 games in 2005 after a collision at home plate with Darin Erstad of the Los Angeles Angels. The Diamondbacks believe minor league catcher Miguel Montero is ready for the majors, and Chris Snyder is coming off a solid season as Estrada's backup. The Brewers, meanwhile, like what Estrada brings to their lineup. "Estrada has been a very good offensive catcher during his career," Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin said. "His ability to switch hit, and his high contact-low strikeout approach is something that the Brewers offense has been missing." The hard-throwing Aquino played parts of the last three seasons with the Diamondbacks, going 2-3 with a 4.93 ERA in 111 relief appearance. As a rookie in 2004, he had 16 saves. Vargas resurrected his career after being waived by the Washington Nationals during the 2004 season. He was 21-16 with a 4.82 ERA in 52 appearances, 49 starts, for the Diamondbacks. Last season, Vargas was 12-10 with a 4.92 ERA. Eveland is 1-4 with a 6.98 ERA in 36 major league games. He spent most of last season with Triple-A Nashville, going 6-5 with a 2.74 ERA in 20 games, 19 of them starts. Krynzel has a .188 average in 21 big league games. Last year in Nashville, he hit .231 with seven homers, 40 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. He was Brewers' first-round pick, 11th overall, in the 2000 draft. AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this story.