The Marlins have designated infielder Tommy Medica and righty Andre Rienzo for assignment, according to a club announcement. The moves were made to clear 40-man space for the signings of Chris Johnson and Edwin Jackson, both of which were made official.
Medica, 27, was claimed late last season. He might have had a chance to compete for playing time as a right-handed-hitting bench bat, but Miami seems set to give that role to Johnson. Medica struggled at the Triple-A level last year. He owns a .246/.308/.417 batting line over 338 major league plate appearances.
Likewise, the 27-year-old Rienzo was displaced by the addition of Jackson. Both players profile as swingmen, and Miami obviously decided to give Jackson the first crack at that role. Rienzo has thrown 140 1/3 MLB frames, working to a 5.90 ERA with 6.7 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9.
Brewers should get Medica to solve LF problem.
They probably will, remember Pat Murphy is the new bench coach and he was Medica’s manager at AAA El Paso last season before getting promoted when Bud Black was fired. They already brought over Will Middlebrooks, so I think you are right on track with your though process. Medica has pop but just never got enough playing time with the Padres other than 20-30 game spurts at the end of ’13 and ’14, good signing for whoever can play him and be patient.
They don’t have a LF problem, they have a CF problem because their top three outfielders are corner outfielders.
The Padres are obviously going to use Upton in CF until his contract is up in 2018. He put up poor numbers last year, but not like the terrible numbers he put up in Atlanta. With that much salary going to him, they would be drunk not to use him
Wrong “they.” He’s talking about the Brewers.
Secondly, Upton’s numbers were hardly poor last year. A 746 OPS from a (sorta) CF-capable player is quite above average.
That said, he collected those numbers in limited action as a platoon player. Which is exactly what he will be as long as he remains in San Diego. Best case for the team is he produces similarly in the first half of 2016 and someone with a need for a RHH outfielder takes him off their hands.
Thank you for reading my post clearly and explaining. You are exactly right, Upton played well in the second half of the season in limited duty. So if he gets off to a hot start and someone needs a good defensive outfielder with speed and good Right handed splits against lefty’s I wouldn’t put it past a team to take him on and throw a low level prospect at the padres. To hit on the Medica situation once more, baseball is politics like any other business or job. Guys are inclined to go to places where they see familiar faces or people they have performed well for in the past. Hint this offseason, Zobrist going back to play for Joe Maddon, Kazmir signing with Andrew Friedman, Lackey going to pitch with his best friend Jon Lester.. Money has a big part to do with decisions guys make but so does relationships they have in the game. Pat Murphy was Craig Counsell’s manager at Notre Dame so it makes a ton of sense that when Counsell had his choice of a bench coach that he went with what he knew. Now Murphy has started to recruit a little crop of guys he had a good relationship with in AAA for the Padres, like I mentioned Middlebrooks and maybe more tweeter guys to make the roster to come. Tommy was good during his short sample size with the Padres and if he was given playing time in that batting order behind Lucroy, Braun, Carter and Davis, he could do some damage. He hit 14 homers in 150 or so at bats in 2014 with the Padres so giving him a shot wouldn’t be the worst thing for the Brew Crew during their rebuild.
Tweener guys*