NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran catcher Danny Jansen was traded by the Tampa Bay Rays to his hometown Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night for minor league infielder Jadher Areinamo.
Jansen was in Tampa Bay’s original lineup against the New York Yankees but got pulled about 45 minutes before the first pitch. The trade was announced shortly after the Rays ended a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 win at Yankee Stadium.
Jansen said he found out about the deal after meeting with manager Kevin Cash and president of baseball operations Erik Neander.
“I was getting ready to play the game, and I understand that side of baseball,” said Jansen, in his eighth major league season. “Just grateful for the time spent here with the guys.”
Tampa Bay signed Jansen to an $8.5 million, one-year contract on Dec. 13. He batted .204 with 11 homers and 29 RBIs in 73 games for the Rays, who also sent cash to the Brewers as part of the deal.
“He’s a leader. He’s a hitter. He’s been in big games. I’ve gotten great reports,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said after his team's 8-4 victory at home over the Chicago Cubs.
Brewers catcher Eric Haase was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for Jansen.
“It’s a hard day for the Brewers in some ways because Eric Haase for two years has been an incredible team member. When he plays, he helps us win. Anytime we subtract a guy who’s been a leader in that clubhouse, too, it’s a really tough day," Murphy said. “I don’t know Danny Jansen. I know his reputation. I know he’s a great player. And I trust our front office. I just do. They’re trying to make upgrades in every little area they can.”
The 30-year-old Jansen grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin. He is joining the NL Central leaders to serve as a backup to William Conteras, who is playing through a fractured finger. Conteras is hitting .245 with six homers and 42 RBIs in 100 games.
“I don’t live too far,” Jansen said. “That’s going to be something that my wife and I had never experienced.”
Jansen was moved right around the MLB trade deadline for the second straight season.
Toronto dealt him to Boston on July 24, 2024, and he wound up making baseball history by playing for both teams in a game at Fenway Park that got suspended June 26 and resumed two months later.
“Having gone through a trade last year will probably make this process a little bit easier for me, going into a team as a catcher learning pitchers and all that,” Jansen said. “So, looking forward to the challenge and task at hand with that. I think having a little bit of experience helps.”
Areinamo, 21, was batting .297 with 11 homers, 51 RBIs and 15 stolen bases in 94 games for Class A Wisconsin of the Midwest League. He has started at third base, shortstop and second base.
Last season, Areinamo hit .301 with 30 doubles in 110 games for Wisconsin and won the Midwest League batting crown. He was rated the No. 10 prospect in Milwaukee's system by Baseball America and No. 24 by MLB.com.
The Rays are 8-18 in their last 26 games following a 25-9 stretch from May 20 to June 26. Tampa Bay is 2 1/2 games back of the final wild-card spot in the American League.
AP freelance reporter Rich Rovito in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
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Tampa Bay Rays' Danny Jansen, right, celebrates his solo home run with third base coach Michael Johns (9) while rounding the bases during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.
“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards' body cameras.
Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.
Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.
Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.
The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York's prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.
Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison's infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn't intervene.
“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.
Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”
“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.
Even before Brooks' death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.
Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi's death in April, including two charged with murder.
There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.
“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher's trial.
Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.
The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.
FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)
