The Yankees have announced a series of roster moves to clear space for September call-ups. Outfielder Zoilo Almonte has been designated for assignment, while righty Matt Daley has been released.
Almonte, 25, has struggled in limited playing time at the major league level over the past two seasons. At Triple-A this year, he owns a .261/.311/.437 line over 454 plate appearances. Daley, meanwhile, threw 14 1/3 frames of 5.02 ERA ball this year. The 32-year-old reliever also saw 35 2/3 innings at Triple-A, posting a 4.54 ERA.
The Yankees will bring up a group of younger players, including John Ryan Murphy, Preston Claiborne, Bryan Mitchell, and Chase Whitley, and have selected the contracts of veterans Rich Hill and Chris Young. The club also agreed to new, major league deals with outfielder Antoan Richardson and recently-acquired righty Chaz Roe, both of whom will join the club’s reserve mix.
That funny sound you hear is the bottom of the barrel being scraped.
Every team calls up their prospects during September. Are you saying they are scraping the bottom of their minor league barrel? I’m confused.
I will never understand why Yankee fans were so adamant that Almonte should be on the team. He has over 3,000 minor league PA’s with a .763 OPS – he has never torn it up and the organization clearly didn’t see a future for him as anything more than an injury fill in. I’m sure someone will pick him up and let him play in their minor league system, but no team is going to give him a starting MLB job.
And who were these fans? Most Yankees fans only wanted him on the team if Ichiro was traded and only then he would have been a 4th outfielder at best.
Arguably, the second greatest Zoilo in MLB history.
Matt Daley will always be remembered as the guy who relieved Mariano Rivera in Mo’s last game.
“Matt Daley? Who the fudge is that?”
“You know, the guy who relieved Mo in his last game ever.”
“Oh, that guy? I thought his name was Steve or something.”
Zoilo has talent, he’s bound to be picked up by a team with a weak outfield.