2:38pm: The Rays acquired Rodriguez as the player to be named later in the Kazmir trade, according to Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse (via Twitter). Rodriguez, 24, is hitting a robust .299/.400/.616 at Triple A this year. A few days ago the Rays acquired Alexander Torres and Matt Sweeney as initial pieces of the Kazmir deal. My question: why didn't another team claim Rodriguez on waivers, just to prevent the Rays from getting a look at him in September?
The Rays seem set in the middle infield for 2010 with Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett, and Rodriguez. Just speculating, but they could choose Akinori Iwamura's $250K buyout over his $4.25MM option.
TUESDAY, 12:33pm: The Angels promoted Wilson but not Rodriguez, causing Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times to speculate that the former is in the Kazmir deal.
MONDAY: Triple-A infielder Sean Rodriguez and catcher Bobby Wilson are candidates to be the player to be named later in last weekend's Scott Kazmir trade, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com. It is unclear if those two are part of a pool of prospects the Rays could consider, or if they've already made their decision.
Both players have big league experience. Rodriguez, 24, is a .282/.381/.502 career hitter in the minors, and has gotten 216 plate appearances with the Angels spread out over the last two seasons. Wilson, 26, has hit .283/.338/.423 in his minor league career, but he's come to the plate just seven times for the Angels over the last two year. Baseball America's 2009 Prospect Handbook notes that he "draws praise for his game calling ability."
