4:34pm: Casali has not been placed on the MLB roster to this point, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic (via Twitter). Presumably, though, the team will select Casali’s contract or otherwise bring another catcher up before its next game, which is tomorrow evening.
4:20pm: The Reds have acquired catcher Curt Casali from the Rays, per a club announcement. Cash considerations are heading to Tampa Bay in return.
Casali, 29, has seen action in four MLB campaigns. He’s a .199/.285/.385 hitter with 19 home runs in 466 career plate appearances. This season, Casali is off to a solid start to the year at Triple-A, where he’s slashing .283/.330/.467 in one hundred trips to the plate. He has also typically graded as a solid performer at framing pitches, blocking balls in the dirt, and handling the running game.
It seems that the Reds will be adding Casali to the MLB roster, as the club announced that fellow backstop Tony Cruz has been optioned down to Triple-A. The 31-year-old Cruz has struggled in limited action this year at the MLB level, with 11 strikeouts in his 26 plate appearances.
Makes me scratch my head a bit. Pretty sure Ramos is gone by the deadline. Why would they not hold on to Casali for that reason alone?
No one’s ever really lauded the Rays front office on its forward thinking or intelligence.
They did for the Friedman-era front office, but nothing they’ve done since he left has seemed to make any sense
They probably got like 700k in cash or something which is like 50% of their payroll at this point…
Huh? They’re above .500 with a ton of injuries and one of the lowest payrolls in baseball. Blame the owner for not spending. The Rays FO has done a very solid job overall (outside of the Dickerson for Hudson debacle)
Yeah!!! Something positive posted about the Rays. I thought no one has noticed how they’re again doing it with smoke and mirrors.
blame the fans for not going to games
Because they have more than one catcher in their system?
Unless Ramos wants to stay. I think the Rays are closer than most think.
Been fun, Curt. All the best!
Maaaaan, 199/.285/.385 is one of those lines where the walk and power rates are good enough that if he juuuuuuuuust made a little more contact he’d be an All-Star