The Yankees have acquired second baseman Wendell Rijo, who is officially the player to be named later in May’s Erik Kratz trade with the Brewers; the club’s PR department has announced the acquisition.
Nothing about the 22-year-old Rijo immediately jumps off the page. Originally an international signee of the Red Sox out of the Dominican Republic, Rijo’s played all of 374 games at the Double-A level and hasn’t been particularly impressive with the bat overall. This season, Rijo sports a .200/.304/.375 slash line with four homers across 93 plate appearances.
Notably, though, his walk rate has made a significant jump in 2018. In a limited sample, he’s walked 12.9% of the time, which is up from just 7.7% at Double-A last season. Even more intriguing is the fact that Rijo’s suffered from some severe bad luck thus far; his .214 BABIP indicates that he likely deserves a higher batting average than the mere .200 he owns at present. Rijo was also active on the basepaths in his first three pro seasons, swiping at least 15 bags during each minor league season from 2013-2015. Though he hasn’t done nearly as much of that in recent seasons, one has to imagine he’s still got the potential to kick it up a notch on the bases.
Regardless, the Yankees will be happy to get anything in exchange for the veteran Kratz, whom they re-signed to a minor-league deal during the offseason following using him mostly in a defensive replacement capacity and during just four MLB games in September of 2017. He’s been surprisingly effective for the Brewers this season: the backstop has three homers and a .511 wOBA across his 29 plate appearances in 2018.
World Series here we come!
Should we really call it the World series when its only American?
Players come from all around the world. Even though games are only played in the US (+ Toronto), I would say the level of international talent makes it fair to call it the “World Series.”
Though one could argue that it was called the World Series for far longer than it had such international (and racial) representation. It was always an American conceit to call it that but it’s a tradition at this point and has grown into being more of a “World Series.”.
Response to that is that it has always been the grandest stage with the best players in the world, so it has rightly been called a World Series, based on it’s level of talent.
My feelings encapsulate both of these opposing viewpoints
I haven’t seen anyone from Europe, Africa, or Australia play on a Major League team. Only other nations besides USA are Canada, Japan, Korea, and Latin America.
Dumb comment do some googling before you post something this stupid. Australia has produced a lot of mlb talent in recent years and good amount of the turn of the century players came from Europe.
Max Kepler(Twins) is from Germany and so is Aaron Altherr(Phillies) and Africa was just represented…
Australia has had players that made it to the majors that much i know. The problem lies in that Europe or Africa kids didn’t grow up playing baseball.
Liam Hendricks, Ryan Rowland-smith from Australia off the type of my head.
Gift ngoepe, South African, pirates and blue Jays…. max Kepler… German, twins. Peter Moylan braves/royals.. Australian… and these are just off the top of my head. You should maybe research before you post?
Grant Balfour, too
Grant Balfour is Austrailian I believe and Max Kepler is German. Just off the top of my head, I’m sure some googlin’ would come up with much more
@bradthebluefist Didi Gregorius is Dutch for one.
Dutch out of Curucao though
dovydas neverauskus
It’s called the World Series because it doesn’t matter what the rest of the world does. Euro-trash want to be included? Then they should play baseball instead of the most mind-numbingly boring sport in the history of the universe.
Love the term “euro- trash”! I use far too often.
Peter Moylan in addition to other names have come from Australia. Africa has Ngope though he is bouncing between mlb and minors. MLB has a series scheduled in Europe between BOS VS. NYY in hopes of sparking interest in the sport oversees. Educate yourself before commenting please.
Last time I checked Toronto was in Canada..
Why do you go there?
He is someone who values his opinion more than 98.98% percent of the world. Some people just need their keyboard removed from their presence.
Or their Arse
Peter moylin is Australian
Brewers already won this trade….rijo? Ok…thanks….take him.
They didn’t win anything, they now have a 38 year old catcher on their roster that the Yanks wanted nothing to do with and gladly took anything for him.
Kratz was never going to get called up by the Yankees. It was a no lose trade by the Yankees cuz they could’ve just released him and not really lost anything
It’s the Yankees. They will call him up in September and he will hit .415 with 21 homers 46 rbis and 15 stolen bases
Or he’ll be traded to the Cubs and hit .095 with 0 homers 0 RBI, then Madden will platoon him with Schwarber and Darvish…
Why you gotta take a shot at the cubs?
Same reason you are here taking a LAME shot at the Yankees.
I’d hardly call that a shot at the Yankees. I’d call it a joke based on the yankees great success with callups the last few years. If anything it’s pointing out a success the yankees have had. I would think with all of the championships, Yankee fans would have a thicker skin anyhow
“I’d hardly call it a shot at the Yankees” it most certainly is. He does it all the time!
So saying a guy will rake with the Yankees is a shot? I don’t understand that. But saying a guy has to platoon with Schwarber isn’t really all that bad either. Any team that’s platooning that bat is amazing.
Saying that the Yankee callups are all very successful is a shot? I really don’t see how you can spin that into hurt feelings. Maybe if the Yankees had had bad luck with prospects it would be a sarcastic shot. I feel that you all feel that you have been victimized by this person and barely read what is posted anymore
What shot do I take at the Yankees? When do I ever talk about the Yankees negatively other than to say they are gonna win the World Series? Jeez learn to take a compliment man. Your team if you even like the Yankees are pretty much unstoppable. Chill
You “won” an Eric Kratz trade? Hey, aim high!
Lol, no kidding
Eric Kratz :
One of the most productive Yankees ever !
(just simply didn’t get enough AB opportunities with the Yanks) …
Good Luck in Milwaukee !!!
What’s he hitting this year …
with the Brewers ?
.385
…..with an OBP of .448
ANYTHING you got for the minor league vagabond Kratz is a plus….the fact that he’s put up some good numbers in Milwaukee is just proof positive how silly stats can be…..ANY minor leaguer can come up and produce over a short period of time…..
Kratz will be a minor league free agent this winter….again……
Not to pick on the guy… he has defensive value, and has been rumored more than once as having coaching/managing possibilities…..useful deal on both sides of the table…..
Erik Kratz is like the Everyready Bunny,he just keeps going,and going,and going.Every time it seems that he is done he pops up somewhere else.He is the third string catcher of the old days.Fact is,he usually plays just good enough to repeat the cycle somewhere else.I always give these guys credit because it seems like somebody sooner or later needs them.
It does,however,speak to the lack of catching depth throughout the major leagues in that most backup catchers are relatively weak hitters.
How Much Will It Help If Either Right Now Or Sometime Before My New York Yankees Host The Boston Red Sox On June 29 For A 3 Game Series At Yankee Stadium,Brian Cashman Trades Albert Abreu,Domingo Acevedo,Freicer Perez,Clint Frazier,Billy McKinney & Estevan Florial for either Madison Bumgarner,Cole Hamels,Patrick Corbin,James Paxton,Danny Duffy,J.A. Happ,Jacob DeGrom,Chris Archer,Felix Hernandez,Tyson Ross,Lance Lynn or Michael Fulmer.
That’s too much for any of those pitchers first of all. Bumgarner, Corbin, and especially Paxton aren’t getting traded for reasons that are so obvious. Why did you come up with these names?
Fairly obvious troll attempt, especially with the grammar.
How about Felix Hernandez for Jacoby Ellsbury straight up with the Yankees kicking in $15m to offset the salary? I am sure Ellsbury’s phantom injury will clear right up if the rumor mill gets going. Maybe the Yankees can avoid offsetting the salaries and entice DiPoto if they include Jordan Montgomery. He won’t be back for a year and a half and they have the talent in the pipeline to replace him. The M’s need quality young pitching and Montgomery is a nice young lefty. Ellsbury can take over LF and can possibly create the 1-2 punch with Gordon that Cashman envisioned him doing with Gardner. I bet the injuries clear up once he gets out of New York. Felix would be a nice option to replace CC next year as a veteran leader of the staff..
Felix is being considered for the pen and he’s way on the downside of his career. Why in the world would the Yanks want to take on the age and financial burden when it would solve none of their needs?
Because they would get rid of Ellsbury (2 years left on contract against the 1 owed to Felix) at the same time.. Felix is only 34 and can still transition into a pitcher similar to what CC has become..
Yanks need Starters now that can make a difference and not someone that hopes to regain their once glory. They don’t seem to care about the money owed to Ellsbury, so why should you. King Felix has too much wear and tear on that arm to even consider. Repeat the Yanks need a quality starter right now…
There’s doubt that Ellsbury would even play this year so that wouldn’t appeal to the M’s. I’m sure they would rather have Felix out the pen vs a fragile OF that can’t stay healthy.
Won’t happen because of Ellsbury’s NTC. Why would the Mariners want a pitcher they can’t use until the end of 2019 at best, but more like the 2020 season. The Yankees are looking for a good starter to help against the likes of Boston and Houston. Why would the Mariners subtract a starting pitcher that is on a contending team. All of your post is a real head scratcher for both teams, even if it could be pulled off.
Rijo was a highly regarded international prospect when the Red Sox signed him for $575,000 out of the Dominican republic in 2012. If not for a torn ACL, he probably would have received a higher bonus. While he never figured to stay at shortstop, the thought was that he would hit for average and use his speed on the bases while playing a passable second base. The bat, though, didn’t develop as hoped.
Bottom line is a guy the Yankees don’t need has been a good pickup for the Brewers and the Yankees get a prospect. A trade that made sense for both teams.