AUG. 30: Jennings has now cleared release waivers and is officially a free agent, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
AUG. 27: Tampa Bay has officially released Jennings, according to Bill Chastain of MLB.com.
AUG. 26: The Rays will release veteran outfielder Desmond Jennings tomorrow, the club has announced. He had been on the 15-day DL with a knee injury.
This isn’t the first time that Jennings has succumbed to leg problems. The 29-year-old was shelved earlier this year with a hamstring strain and underwent surgery last year on his left knee.
Injuries have coincided with a rather notable decline in performance of late, and Jennings no longer profiles as the quality everyday player he once was. Between 2011 and 2014, he contributed nearly 2,000 plate appearances of .249/.327/.402 hitting while swatting 47 home runs and stealing 86 bases. In the two seasons since, Jennings owns a .222/.295/.347 batting line with eight long balls and seven swiped bags in only 333 turns at the plate.
Jennings was earning $3.3MM in his second season of arbitration eligibility. Even if he catches on with another organization and makes it back to the majors this year, Tampa Bay will remain on the hook for the remainder of that less a pro-rated portion of the league minimum salary. Jennings profiled as a likely non-tender candidate at year end, but will instead hit the open market a bit early.
While there’s obviously plenty of reason for pessimism with regards to Jennings’s future in the game, there are still some positives. Defensive Runs Saved rates him as a quality defender, though that assessment wasn’t shared by UZR. And Jennings is still relatively youthful, as he won’t turn 30 until October. Clubs looking for a bounceback candidate or fourth outfielder will surely consider him this winter, at least assuming he is able to show that he’s back to full health.
Remember when he was decent?
Not really.
So much talent never put together. Imagine that OF if they lived up to potential, Upton, Jennings and Crawford.
Let down city
Lets not forget Delmon Young,
And before him Rocco Baldelli
Joey gathright
josh Hamilton
Quinton McCracken
Anyone remember Elijah Dukes?
Which of these ones is not like the others?
The rays have been so unlucky with their prospects. Lol
The cubs had traded for Hamilton and traded him to the reds then he became a stud. Only to be even better with the rangers who recently fired him.
The crazy thing is that the Cubs didn’t even trade him to the Reds – they just sold him to them.
Incorrect City. From 11-14 he put up 11.9 fWAR over 457 games, that’s a 4.2 fWAR/year guy – that’s a good ballplayer.
If he could get healthy, maybe he should sit a year and just heal everything fully, or even a half year and sign in July, he’d be a nice piece. Or maybe the injuries really have had their way with him and he’s pretty much done, that’s the question.
his 2011 wasn’t awful , but wasn’t great. Always had great speed just never got on base enough to show that.
Except Carl Crawford and BJ Upton did live up to their potential during their years with the Rays.
Crawford did play to his potential in Tampa bay he was a perennial al star
LF Crawford-CF Baldelli-RF Hamilton-DH Young would’ve been better.
1B Huff-2B Cantu-SS Upton-3B Longoria.
METS please pick him up!! Speed and pop needs new scene it’s worth a shot… yes I realize he’s been awful lately but talents there and before you poke fun at the idea look at our depth chart and who we run out there in a wildcard hunt smh
Especially with Ruggiano down…again.
He could be a decent pinch runner
He was never decent
That look on his face in the picture says it all lol
If this doesn’t scream Angels all over it then I don’t know what does.
Angels probably looking to acquire JB Shuck
Never forget him robbing Joey Bats and finishing 5th in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2013.
No on HB Sucks. They already have enough players who can’t catch or throw
5th huh? I think I finished 7th ?
Wtf .. 5th? how bad things are in Tampa.. People remember who finished 5th in ROY 3 years ago?
Sadly, he is done .. California Angels of Anaheim , your move!
Yeah, LAA is one of the few teams with playing time available and disposable enough fringe players on their 40-man roster to sacrifice one of them for a short look at Jennings.
Finally! What a waste of talent. Didn’t seem like he was trying when he was playing. Glad they finally cut him loose.
why not take a flier on him Angels. No loss and I’m sick of the current left fielders. At least they should see what he can do for the rest of the year
Exactly what I was thinking. Solid defensive player.
Super small sample size, but I’ll always remember the 2010 doubleheader in Durham in which Jennings seemed to drive every pitch into the power alleys and run crazy long distances into those same gaps on defense in one of those classic MLB Top 10 prospect breakout performances.
Seems like a great buy low candidate this offseason. I could see a bunch of place where he could go to try and salvage his career. The Angels, the Phillies, the White Sox, the A’s, the Twins, the Reds, or the Giants could all use help in the OF. I could see the Giants signing him now depending on Pence’s health.
Desmond Jennings’ health is no better.than the SF OFers. It looks like the ChiSox are sellers now so Avisail Garcia or Melky Cabrera may be better choices.
The teams other than the Giants I referred to would be potential homes for him in the offseason, not currently. I doubt anyone signs him now except for maybe SF.
Someone will sign him and make sure he’s healthy and give him a shot next year. Watch out for the Cubbies
Padres?
Definitely a Padres or Braves kinda pickup.
Hopefully not the Padres. They need to stop blocking their prospects.
Whitesox OF sucks
They sign Jenning and sox fans will talk like they are in the wildcard hunt again
A mall disguised as a ball park, Tropicana Field, and it’s horrendous turf has claimed another victim. It won’t be long before we start seeing Kiermaier on the DL regularly with ankle, knee and hip problems. It’s a shame the Rays are still in that dump of a stadium.
Beyond the issues with the field – I think the bigger problem is that he just isn’t very good.
Except that isn’t true at all. Through 2014, Jenning’s first 3.5 years in the league, he was worth 11.8 rWAR and 12.0 fWAR. He was an above average hitter, excellent base runner and average to above average defensive OF. His average season was .327/.401./.728, 105 OPS+ with 25-2B, 6-3B, 13 HR and 25 SB. Combine that with his defense and baserunning and you have a player worth 3.4 WAR/season.
Unfortunately, since going on the DL at the end of 2014 with a knee injury he has only played in 93 games with 333 PA in the past two seasons and has looked like a shell of his former self. The silver lining for any team looking to pick him up, before his latest injury, he was starting to turn it around at the plate after missing almost all of last season. Since June 1, he has a .344/.469/.813 with a 122 wRC+ and has been good defensively in LF this year.
Dude had injury issues. I love how you guys think talent that fails is just a floppy bad pan-flash player.
Bring him to dc we need a fourth outfielder
He wouldn’t play much in DC. Chris Heisey is good enough and they’re able to move Turner around. Once Michael A. Is able to be consistent at an okay level he’ll be up too. Then they may even need to get rid of a guy.
Desmond Jennings never lived up to the hype. Great defensively but average offensively.