FRIDAY: Monell cleared outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com.
MONDAY: The Orioles have announced they have designated catcher Johnny Monell for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot for newly-acquired infielder Steve Lombardozzi.
Monell, 28 on Thursday, was optioned to Triple-A by the Orioles last Wednesday after Steve Clevenger won the team's backup catcher job. The Orioles acquired Monell from the Giants in November for cash considerations. He hit .275/.364/.494 with 20 home runs in 481 Triple-A plate appearances last year, his first time at that level. For the Giants' Triple-A club, Monell played 48 games at catcher, 47 at first base, and one at the hot corner.
Monell joins brief teammate Kelvin De La Cruz in DFA limbo, as well as Dodgers reliever Javy Guerra.
He is a competent player, and he will find a spot very soon
Brewers should consider Monell as the LH platoon with Reynolds. If he can play defense at 1B, then he has to be better than Overbay at this point. But Reynolds + Monell could equal a ton of Ks.
I love that idea!!!
“Could equal a ton of Ks?” Yeah, that’s a safe bet.
Wieters should count on playing 140 games again. Orioles have done pretty well filling holes, but backup catcher wasn’t one of them.
I believe Clevenger will be better than you’re giving him credit for. He’s not going to steal a job from anybody anytime soon, but I’ve watched him and he’s decent. He certainly hits better than Teagarden did.
Now to trade someone we don’t want for a backup catcher.
Probably the biggest knock against Monell is his defense and, in the end, it killed him with the O’s who wanted a strong defender to back-up Wieters. He either needs to sharpen up his catching or get out from behind the plate.
Not a bad stopgap for the Pirates in the wake of Stewart’s surgery. He can play first, serve as a backup catcher, and swings left handed. He also has the ability to throw out a runner or two. Plus, it gives the Pirates the option of having Sanchez play regularly at AAA.
Time to come back home to the Giants, Johnny! Orrrrr maybe the Rangers will pick him up…
what was the deal with Monell? they brought him in to challenge for backup but then he only started 1 game (and went 3-4 with homer) in spring training? I hear defense was suspect but it sounds like that assessment is just circulating the web but not sure if people who are posting that actually saw shortcomings with his catching or are just recycling other’s comments. Do the O’s think he is more valuable (to someone else) as a trade and that sticking with Clevenger as backup can’t hurt them that bad? Batting, both are similar over their careers although Monell seems to have more power/HR’s. I also read somewhere that Monell had a higher % of throwouts than Clevenger (not a huge difference but higher is better than lower). It just seemed weird to pick the Monell kid up and then never really give him a chance to compete only to DFA him. But I guess this is why management makes the big bucks
Cubs need to jump here. Take a chance on stashing him in AAA
glad they got to keep de la cruz and monell
clevenger has raked this spring training though. he might be a decent back up.
I hear a lot about Monell. What is the story there?
So far, he’s a quadruple-A hitter who really isn’t any better than average behind the plate defensively. At the plate he has trouble with breaking pitches but shows flashes of power.
I grew up with johnny ‘s dad & I know he’ll do good where ever he goes cause he has the baseball bug his father had growing up. SR. was the best I’ve seen growing up , Good luck Johnny!!!