7:28pm: Montero has indeed been placed on waivers, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). The Mariners will make an official announcement tomorrow once the 48-hour waiver period has passed, according to MLB.com’s Greg Johns (Twitter).
12:46pm: While there is no official word on the matter, it appears that the Mariners have placed Jesus Montero on waivers, as Bob Dutton of The News Tribune writes. The Mariners declined to speak about Montero’s status on Sunday morning, but his locker in the clubhouse was empty.
When asked about Montero’s whereabouts, manager Scott Servais told reporters that the designated hitter is “spending a day with his family.” Montero’s absence on Sunday coupled with the news that Dae-Ho Lee has been added to the 40-man roster seems to suggest that former top prospect is out of the picture in Seattle.
The Mariners traded right-handed pitcher Michael Pineda for the 26-year-old prior to the 2012 season. Since then, he’s disappointed by accruing -1.4 WAR over parts of four seasons. He did enjoy an extremely successful stint at Triple-A last season, hitting .355/.398/.569 in 430 plate appearances.
Brad Johnson contributed to this post.
Time for Seattle to cut the loss, he’s AAAA and a failure as a big leaguer. Hope he saved his money.
If you’re asking me, I don’t really know.
Yes, odd headline
Ha!
Just amazing a guy can put up that slash line in AAA and not be able to translate that to even reasonable big league numbers. Not easy being a AAA hitter with DH level defensive ability, and a past of questionable commitment to the game. So many teams are atleast minimally in the race anymore…just hard to see a team with nothing at stake giving him a run of full season at bats.
Joins then Boston catcher Ryan Lavarnway as a AAAA DH who can rake in the minors and not hit MLB pitching.
Take note the PCL, where Montero is hitting stats ALL need to be taken with a grain of salt. stadiums are junior sized for most part, same with California league A ball numbers when quoting those.
That in mind? An organizational switch and Montero attempting to work with someone redefining himself (working on the flaws in his catching) might save his career, he’ll never make it as a DH.
Lavarnway is with the Braves not Boston
Hence “then-Boston catcher” Ryan Lavarnway.
It wouldn’t be the comment section at MLBTR without everyone’s favorite game: Six Degrees of Boston Red Sox.
Would be a good pickup For Yankees, maybe he can rebuild his value there. would be good option if Tex goes dl
They just optioned Refsnyder to AAA. Rumor has it last bench spot is going to Kozma or Torreyes
I think Ackley would serve as the backup 1B
McCann and Headley could also serve as backup 1B, maybe ARod in a super emergency. I think the Yankees are fine at first
I wish things were different and he could be given one last chance but the fact is, he’s been given PLENTY and this is still where he’s at 4 years later. I’m tired of the mariners waiting forever for Ackley, Saunders,smoke,Montero types to come around. And Paxton and hultzen are starting to creep onto that list as well if you ask me. Let’s quit messing around, it’s the big leagues, it’s time to admit the Yankees won this trade. It’s not Dipoto’s baby anyways. He’s got Lind, Lee, clevenger, Navarro, Romero as options at first, not to mention he also at one point had an agreement with Travis Ishikawa and gabby Sanchez as backups. Montero was never an option unless he tore the cover off the ball all of spring training. He’s done. Finally.
He’s still just 26 years old! His value IMO was his ability to catch. Maybe another organization can give him a shot to develop that aspect of his game.
Problem is he tried that for 10 years and it hasn’t come together. Now you have to waste a 40 man spot hoping he does what he hasn’t been able to be in a decade.
The teams that could take the chance on him don’t have the DH.
Plenty of teams looking for a backup catcher with upside.
Problem is he’s not really a catcher anymore.
I’m sure he’s still got it in him. With the right coach aiding him, the upside is there.
Still? The reason he had doubt’s as a prospect s because no one thought he could stick at catcher.
Seattle seems to be the one place that is a general mlb unknown…late games possibly. Montero just hasn’t been a catcher for awhile.
The games here aren’t any later than those of the L.A. teams, or San Francisco, or even Oakland. The reason is because the Mariners haven’t been a contending team for so long, and haven’t made the playoffs since 2001.
Romero has out played him this spring and has several advantages that he’ll never over come. He was acquire by Z, can’t run and can only play DH and first.. Still if no one picks him up, he’ll go to AAA Tacoma as depth.
Well, Mets are looking for a backup. He can come in Kevin Long works with him and he could be a good backup for d’Arnaud.
Why would they want him? Seriously?
Well Mets are looking for a backup catcher. He can come and work with Kevin Long and fix his hitting maybe. Could be a decent backup for d’Arnaud.
Montero looked like the real deal at the time of the Pineda deal .328/406/.590 in 69 PA. Just didn’t work out, although it’s hard to believe that his Triple A numbers are a fluke.
Pineda looked like the real deal at the time also
True, but at least he has a career, and has shown the ability to be dominant.
Should check his locker on the third day.
I would like see the Rockies taking a chance on him as a backup 1B / 3rd catcher. Why exactly did we sign Mark Reynolds again?
To hit 40 HRs at Coors?
Why not the Pirates… I mean they are willing to give anyone a shot at 1B
Sounds good to me. I’d rather give a guy like Montero a shot over Mike Morse, especially with Freese in the picture now as a safety net and Josh Bell 2 months away
Seems the best fit for Jesus would be a bottom feeder who can give him regular playing time in the majors… Rockies or Brewers.
The Jesus Montero for Pineda deal was supposed to be great for both teams.
Turns out it hasn’t worked for either. Granted the Yankees “won” the trade, but that is just mostly because of how bad Montero has been, and not a complement towards Pineda
Exactly. Pineda was really bad in 2015 and has never been healthy.
Lol. Pineda had a 7.43 K/BB ratio (again, that’s K/BB ratio. Not K/9 and ranked 2nd in all of baseball ), a 1.226 WHIP, 3.34 FIP and a 3.5 fWAR which was ranked 25th. Ahead of pitchers such as Noah Syndenguard and former teammate King Felix
I disagree. I still think the Yankees have benefited fairly well from the deal. Pineda didn’t post great numbers overall last season, but he’s shown flashes of dominance. If he can harness that over the stretch of the season he can easily boost his value to a solid 2 or 3 in a rotation. He just needs to avoid those clunker games. They still control him for two more seasons.
Pineda isn’t a complete loss, but they did lose him for two whole seasons and he missed time both years in 14-15 because of injury.
Granted he was great in ’14 when he pitched and the Yanks still have time to get value out of him, just not nearly the amount of value they hoped when they traded for him 4 years ago
Seattle is generally horrible developing hitters. Mind you there would be more opportunities had this happened two months ago but there will be a team that will take a shot with him as a 1b/dh bat off bench guy
They were, I think know that they arnt teaching them all or nothing they will start doing better
Turns out this trade basically didn’t work for either team. Pineda has been good in the very limited time he’s been healthy, although he was terrible in 2015. Montero was great in 2015 in AAA but has no defensive position.
In his first and only full season he had an ops+ of 94 which is pretty solid for a catcher. The problem was he couldn’t catch. I still think his bat will translate into the majors if he was given a solid chance to adjust to MLB pitching. His AAA stats show that he can hit upper level pitching. Only giving him a game here and there in the majors and expecting good results is counter productive to a young hitter. I would like to see the White Sox pick him up to take LaRouche’s spot. Tampa and Baltimore would be a decent fit as well. IMO he needs a hitters park to build confidence.
Tampa Bay doesn’t have any room on their 40 man for him. They already have Loney, Morrison, Shaffer and Pierce for 1B/DH and you can add Dickerson for DH.
Releasing Jesus in Easter… How rude!
They cut Jesus on Easter? What the heck!
I think, the key thing people need to remember is – Jesus Monetero is in no way, shape or form, a Catcher anymore. Even when he was a prospect, sticking behind the plate was a longshot, and we are years removed from him being a blue chipper.
This backup catcher/3rd stringer stuff needs to stop – there’s a better chance of A-Rod playing 3B everyday, than Montero catching in the bigs.
Tjeck109 I was thinking the exact same thing. I personally would love to see Huntington snatch him up and throw him at first base and see what he can do… If he flames out, dump him. To me it’s worth the risk. The kid has flashed potential.
C’mon braves. 3rd catcher/rhand pop on the roster would make our roster a lot more complete.
Jesus
How much does he weigh now ?
Was putting on alotta poundage…
Losing, steady, or puffing-up ?
What a blown opportunity on Easter weekend. They could have waived Jesus on Friday, to let another team sign him on Sunday.
Absolute best thing I’ve read in weeks!
The Cheater Trade. Pineda for Montero. One rubbed the pinetar, the other rubbed the clear.
Makes me wonder about Seattle more than Montero. If they couldn’t figure him in a trade after his last year in AAA after already trading Pineda for him, how mediocre is their GM?
Maybe he’s off to Japan?
He’d bloom in Japan, if healthy. Probably Orestes Destrade type numbers.