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Dodgers Claim Peter O’Brien, Designate Jason Wheeler

By Connor Byrne | June 18, 2017 at 2:36pm CDT

The Dodgers have claimed outfielder Peter O’Brien off waivers from the Rangers, according to an announcement from Texas. To make room for O’Brien, the Dodgers have designated left-hander Jason Wheeler for assignment, tweets Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Additionally, right-hander Dillon Gee, whom the Rangers designated on Friday, has cleared waivers and elected free agency.

The Dodgers are already the fifth organization of 2017 for the 26-year-old O’Brien, who spent time with the Diamondbacks, Royals and Reds before joining the Rangers in a waiver claim last month. O’Brien only collected 15 plate appearances with the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate before the club designated him Saturday, and has stumbled to an overall minor league line of .167/.254/.301 in 209 PAs this year. Although he’s prone to striking out, teams continue to take flyers on O’Brien because of his prodigious power, as the former Yankees farmhand has swatted 122 minor league home runs – including six this season. He saw brief major league action with the D-backs in 2015 and ’16 and hit six long balls in 79 PAs, though he slashed just .176/.228/.446 with a 40.5 percent strikeout rate during that time.

Wheeler, 26, has only been in the Los Angeles organization for two-plus weeks. Since the Dodgers acquired him from the Twins for cash considerations on June 2, Wheeler has thrown 8 2/3 frames of 10-earned run, 16-hit ball with their Triple-A affiliate. Wheeler made his major league debut with Minnesota earlier this season and surrendered three earned runs on six hits and four walks, with no strikeouts, causing the Twins to boot him from their 40-man roster before dealing him to the Dodgers.

As for Gee, the only somewhat established big leaguer of the three, he made four appearances (one start) for Texas this year and tossed 13 innings of 4.15 ERA ball, but he yielded 17 hits and walked six during that short span. Gee fared better with their Triple-A affiliate, logging a 3.88 ERA, 7.59 K/9 and 2.29 BB/9 across 51 frames. The Rangers originally added Gee on a minor league deal over the winter, which came after a 2016 in which he racked up 125 frames of 4.68 ERA pitching with the Royals and then underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. The 31-year-old has spent the majority of his career with the Mets and owns a 4.13 ERA, 6.47 K/9, 2.85 BB/9 and a 45.1 percent ground-ball rate in 817 1/3 big league frames.

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Los Angeles Dodgers Texas Rangers Transactions Dillon Gee Jason Wheeler Peter O'Brien

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View Comments (32)
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32 Comments

  1. ronnsnow

    8 years ago

    O’Brien has not gotten rave reviews as a Royal or a Red

    1
    Reply
    • ronnsnow

      8 years ago

      or a Ranger

      1
      Reply
    • champions67

      8 years ago

      What is this ravr reviews thing all about? I know it’s a joke but why did it start

      Reply
      • IACub

        8 years ago

        When he was first designated by the D-backs over the winter a commenter wrote in all caps, “DOES NOT RECEIVE RAVE REVIEWS IN THE OUTFIELD OR AT CATCHER.” about 10 times in a row. Lucky for us he got designated about 30 times since then and the joke took on a life of its own

        Reply
      • ReverieDays

        8 years ago

        Its not a joke. Jokes are funny.

        1
        Reply
        • TheMichigan

          8 years ago

          You don’t get rave reviews in the criticism department.

          1
          Reply
    • dutch91701

      8 years ago

      Yes! The return of the rave reviews!

      Reply
  2. t-bacon77

    8 years ago

    The Dodgers currently rank 10 of 15 NL teams in fielding, it’s clear why they have interest in O’Brien.

    1
    Reply
    • Cam

      8 years ago

      Depends what metric you’re using to rate them.

      5th in NL in UZR/150 (12th in MLB)
      3rd in NL in Fangraphs DEF (4th in MLB)

      They’ve looked good with the eye test too.

      Reply
      • Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA

        8 years ago

        Well he’s using the outdated idea of fielding % mattering. Plus it doesn’t really hurt the major league club when he’s sitting in AAA standing on first. I think what’s interesting is the leader in E that coincides with Fielding % is not playing much of 2b making the statement kind of irrelevant. You do give up a bit def when Kikè is playing middle inf and Taylor in the OF, but beyond that the team is pretty steady defensively. Maybe not continually making highlight reel plays, but that’s not the way they were constructed. If Taylor continues to hit and Kikè continues to pile up xbh you can more than live with it. It’s not really as though LF is a spot designated for defensive marvels. Add onto that everyone is looking for RH power and Ike Davis hasn’t lit the MiLB world on fire. With all that being said I know Wooten is highly regarded by the Dodger players, but I’m not sure he can turn a miracle out of this. So O’Brien sort of seems short for this roster. Unless of course the Dodgers find a way to catch lighting in a bottle. But then again they have a couple AAAA guys down on the farm that offer similar profiles. Plus they still need to field a team at AAA, and O’Brien is not really a guy that’s hard to DFA if and when Verdugo and Calhoun seem fit to add to the 40 man.

        1
        Reply
        • t-bacon77

          8 years ago

          It was sarcasm, in reference to not having rave reviews on defense.

          Reply
        • Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA

          8 years ago

          Damn sarcasm alert isn’t registering today. Rave reviews never gets old.

          Reply
  3. strostro

    8 years ago

    The Rave Review legacy contonues

    Reply
    • angelsinthetroutfield

      8 years ago

      I hope it never dies

      Reply
    • Joe Kerr

      8 years ago

      I hope it dies now

      Reply
    • BlueSkyLA

      8 years ago

      You can rave, but you cannot rant.

      Reply
  4. johnny53811

    8 years ago

    Isn’t he a catcher?

    Reply
    • Cam

      8 years ago

      Was – not very good, had to be shifted.

      Reply
      • IACub

        8 years ago

        He didn’t get rave reviews

        1
        Reply
        • angelsinthetroutfield

          8 years ago

          at C or in the OF

          Reply
  5. dodgerfan711

    8 years ago

    Can someone explain why everytime Obrien comes up in the news people say “rave reviews”

    Reply
    • ReverieDays

      8 years ago

      Unfunny middle aged guys on the internet?

      2
      Reply
      • dodgerfan711

        8 years ago

        I am not middle aged. And im not saying its not funny. I just have no idea why people always say it and just wounder why.

        Reply
      • dodgerfan711

        8 years ago

        Never said it wasnt funny. Learn how to read

        Reply
    • CubsFanForLife

      8 years ago

      Sometime early this year MLBTR wrote an article about O’Brien when he was DFA’d by the Diamondbacks? I can’t remember what team it was. Someone in the comments section wrote “O’Brien doesn’t draw rave reviews ar catcher or in outfield for his defense” three times, as in in three completely different threads. I’ll never forget the reply to his third comment – “So nice you had to say it thrice!”

      I’ll have to see if I can find the article.

      Reply
      • CubsFanForLife

        8 years ago

        Here it is: mlbtraderumors.com/2017/01/royals-acquire-peter-ob…

        Reply
      • dodgerfan711

        8 years ago

        Thank you

        Reply
      • layventsky

        8 years ago

        The commenting function gets real buggy sometimes and it causes comments to double or triple post. That’s probably what happened to the poor guy who unintentionally started the rave reviews meme.

        Reply
  6. tropicaldelivery

    8 years ago

    Is this a record being on 5 teams and dfa’ on 4 teams maybe 5 if dodgers d f a him

    Reply
    • Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA

      8 years ago

      He’s the current Richie Schaffer

      Reply
  7. bsteady7

    8 years ago

    He’s been designated 10 times this yeAr

    Reply
  8. xabial

    8 years ago

    If the baseball career doesn’t work out, mlbtraderumors should hire him as a writer and give him his own “rave review” series. Been through the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Royals, Reds, Rangers, and Dodgers since January, the man has seen it all.

    I do hope he succeeds. Massive power potential. (hope I coin a new term.. 🙂 )

    1
    Reply

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