The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired Milwaukee Brewers slugger Jesus Aguilar:

Rays right-hander Jacob Faria will go to the Brewers in the deal, giving Milwaukee added bullpen depth to supplement Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress.

Tampa Bay has repeatedly asserted its desire to add production to a lineup that is in the bottom-half of the American League in terms of runs scored.

The team made a play for former Toronto Blue Jays infielder Eric Sogard on Sunday, and now they will bring Aguilar into the fold to add some more slugging.

On the surface, Aguilar has struggled mightily. He is slashing .225/.320/.374, and he has hit just eight home runs after clubbing 35 last season. However, he may have turned a corner.

Aguilar is having easily his best month of the year, slashing .298/.346/.574 in July while hitting three homers. His strikeout rate has decreased, while his hard contact rates are up considerably compared to his seasonal average.

The Rays had a number of expendable assets in the bullpen. Faria had initially come up to the bigs as a starter, but he has since found more success coming out of the bullpen. However, Tampa Bay had more pressing issues in the lineup.

The likes of Yandy Diaz  and Brandon Lowe have hit the injured list, and the Rays do not have a ton of depth to make up for the losses in run producers.

Aguilar provides not only a hitter who can slug, but a first baseman who could prove to be a better replacement player for Ji-Man Choi.