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.
O’Brien has not gotten rave reviews as a Royal or a Red
or a Ranger
What is this ravr reviews thing all about? I know it’s a joke but why did it start
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
Its not a joke. Jokes are funny.
You don’t get rave reviews in the criticism department.
Yes! The return of the rave reviews!
The Dodgers currently rank 10 of 15 NL teams in fielding, it’s clear why they have interest in O’Brien.
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.
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.
It was sarcasm, in reference to not having rave reviews on defense.
Damn sarcasm alert isn’t registering today. Rave reviews never gets old.
The Rave Review legacy contonues
I hope it never dies
I hope it dies now
You can rave, but you cannot rant.
Isn’t he a catcher?
Was – not very good, had to be shifted.
He didn’t get rave reviews
at C or in the OF
Can someone explain why everytime Obrien comes up in the news people say “rave reviews”
Unfunny middle aged guys on the internet?
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.
Never said it wasnt funny. Learn how to read
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.
Here it is: link to mlbtraderumors.com
Thank you
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.
Is this a record being on 5 teams and dfa’ on 4 teams maybe 5 if dodgers d f a him
He’s the current Richie Schaffer
He’s been designated 10 times this yeAr
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..
)