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Yankees To Designate George Kontos For Assignment

By Steve Adams | August 15, 2018 at 3:39pm CDT

The Yankees will designate right-hander George Kontos for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for righty Luis Cessa, per Newsday’s Erik Boland (Twitter link). He’d only been selected to the MLB roster two days prior.

Kontos, 33, appeared in one game in his reunion with the Yankees — the organization that originally drafted him — tossing 1 2/3 shutout innings with just one hit allowed and a pair of strikeouts. He’s pitched with the Pirates, Indians and Yankees this season, totaling 26 2/3 frames with a 4.39 ERA, 15 strikeouts and seven walks in that time.

Though Kontos has generally delivered respectable bottom-line results so far in 2018, his velocity, swinging-strike rate and overall strikeout rate have dipped substantially from 2017 to 2018. He has a quality track record as a useful middle reliever over the past six seasons with the Giants (and, late in 2017, with the Pirates), though he’s already cleared waivers once this season despite that past success. The Yankees will have a week to trade him or pass him through outright waivers in hopes of retaining him, although Kontos has enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

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New York Yankees Transactions George Kontos

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View Comments (43)
Post a Comment

43 Comments

  1. xabial

    7 years ago

    WHY. He pitched GREAT!

    5
    Reply
    • xabial

      7 years ago

      Tired of the Luis Cessa era and its hard ceiling.

      No Justus for Sheffield! (Yet again)

      4
      Reply
      • playballlllll

        7 years ago

        X, lol, it never ends!!

        Reply
      • rit2940

        7 years ago

        Don’t know why yanks have such a love affair with Cessa . He’s nothing more than a minor league pitcher.

        Reply
    • slider32

      7 years ago

      Another game of musical chairs, since the Yanks have the second best record in baseball they must be doing something right.

      Reply
    • thegreatcerealfamine

      7 years ago

      Could you pick a smaller sample size?

      Reply
      • xabial

        7 years ago

        You’re right… I feel bad, the nature of this business.

        Reply
        • thegreatcerealfamine

          7 years ago

          No biggie…

          Reply
    • aceofrainbows

      7 years ago

      Always liked him while he was on the Giants.

      2
      Reply
    • MetsYankeesRedSox

      7 years ago

      Maybe the Mets are rubbing off on them.

      Reply
    • Grade_1_teacher

      7 years ago

      That was fast. With that logic, Sonny Gray should’ve been designated a long time ago.

      1
      Reply
  2. acarneglia

    7 years ago

    Saw the same thing happen with David Hale. Kontos will be DFA’d and join another team, Yankees will light him up, then he’ll return to the Bronx

    Reply
    • xabial

      7 years ago

      Enjoyed Kontos’ cameo more than David Hale’s. Try to make sense of this… Even if one was low-leverage RP who made 1 appearance and the other was a spot starter. For all the flack Cessa gets (serviceable Jekyll / Hyde SP but lacks the high-upside potential, of other SP in farm)

      2
      Reply
  3. dodgerskingsfan

    7 years ago

    dodgers???

    3
    Reply
    • Steven Chinwood

      7 years ago

      Good luck!

      Reply
    • theroyal19

      7 years ago

      Hell no. As a Dodger fan I enjoyed watching him come in from the bullpen. It felt like we were going to score every time

      2
      Reply
      • aceofrainbows

        7 years ago

        Only against the Dodgers. I always thought he was solid against other teams. I don’t have any statistics on that, don’t quote me

        Reply
        • theroyal19

          7 years ago

          His stats aren’t terrible if you do the digging on baseball reference to find his stats vs other teams. He shut down Arizona but was about 1 run every 2 games vs. COL, LA, and SD

          2
          Reply
  4. Bald Vinny

    7 years ago

    Should’ve sent Gleyber `down to AAA. He’s been horrible for over a month.

    6
    Reply
    • slider32

      7 years ago

      That’s a laugh, Gleyber isn’t going anywhere for a long time!

      2
      Reply
    • Steven Chinwood

      7 years ago

      What about Bird?

      4
      Reply
    • pinstripes17

      7 years ago

      Lol, glad you don’t run the team

      1
      Reply
    • SaberSmuckers

      7 years ago

      His first game back (after spending three weeks on the DL) was on July 25th. Today is August 15th. “Horrible for over a month”. You want to try that again and get back to us?

      Basic math, it’s a killer.

      Reply
      • thegreatcerealfamine

        7 years ago

        OK he’s been horrible over his last 30 games. Is that better?

        5
        Reply
        • SaberSmuckers

          7 years ago

          Yes, that’s a much more informed way of putting it. Thank you.

          Anyone who says a month+ on 8/15 and then starts going back to 5/26 hasn’t got it all figured out.

          Reply
      • Bald Vinny

        7 years ago

        Since May 26th he has a .216 .288 .411 .698. I may be wrong, with my basic math, but that seems more than a month to me. 54 games to be exact. Then again…. you guys think that batting line for your catcher is amazing.

        5
        Reply
        • SaberSmuckers

          7 years ago

          If on 8/15 I was trying to go back to 5/26, I would have went with 2+ months. But that’s just me. I think it would have made more sense, it’s how the calendar works. But if that’s what you meant, that’s fine. It’s my bad.

          “You guys”? So you generalize all possible Yankee fans into one cohesive agreeable group? We all think the same way?

          For the record I don’t care for Sanchez. He pulled the same thing he did the day he was injured back when he was in the minors. That’s a red flag. It’s bad enough not to hustle in the majors, but when you do that in the minors when you’re trying to show your worth, it’s problematic.

          I had the audacity to suggest to the “Pope” Francesa that we offer Sanchez to the Marlins for Realmuto and I got my ass handed to me because in the easiest terms to quote, I was an “idiot”. Couldn’t even finish my thought before I got blasted on air.

          So again, I misunderstood your initial post and that’s on me. But do me a favor and don’t lump all Yankees fans in the same boat. I just went to the game on Monday, and even though we were rooting for the same team, I was more annoyed at them than some of the Mets fans.

          Reply
      • Bocephus

        7 years ago

        Dude was rushed, he needed more time at AAA, some people just do.

        Reply
  5. Gwynning's Anal Lover

    7 years ago

    Pirates should grab him, then designate him.

    2
    Reply
  6. playballlllll

    7 years ago

    Luis Cessa a is an automatic
    Lossa!!
    Try another kid already, geeze…

    1
    Reply
  7. GOP Lizards

    7 years ago

    Maybe Freidman will pick him up and LA media will continue calling him a genius.

    Reply
  8. bravesandcrewfan

    7 years ago

    What’s the record for most teams a player gets a major league appearance in a season? Cuz i think he should go for it. He couldn’t be too far…

    1
    Reply
    • Paul Heyman

      7 years ago

      I think it’s five and I Oliver drake set it this year. I know the most teams played for over a career is 13.

      Reply
      • Monkey’s Uncle

        7 years ago

        Correct on both counts, Octavio Dotel is the guy with 13 teams played for. As for Oliver… “Love the Drake”.

        1
        Reply
  9. User 3617846742

    7 years ago

    Has Cessa ever pitch a good game? I’m tired of the lines…he’s got great stuff….or he’s almost there from Boone and the front office.

    Reply
    • playballlllll

      7 years ago

      Jim,
      No, He is one the worst I have ever seen.. He belongs in the trash pile as Gray. Herman, oh, Ex pitcher Larry
      Rothschild..Has he ever helped anyone???

      Reply
      • PopeMarley

        7 years ago

        Yea, how about looking it up.

        Reply
  10. Monkey’s Uncle

    7 years ago

    Kontos doesn’t strike out a lot of guys, and it seems like a lot of teams aren’t interested in pitchers who don’t strike out a man per inning. The only other issue with Kontos is that he’s going to be more expensive than a less experienced reliever, so teams must figure they can save a couple of bucks and get the same results. If he’s your setup guy like the Pirates experimented with, your bullpen isn’t good, but he’s still a very capable bullpen spare part

    Reply
  11. GarryHarris

    7 years ago

    The new Yankee modus operandi

    Reply
    • PopeMarley

      7 years ago

      Bruh, that is some pure geriatric referring

      Reply
  12. imgman09

    7 years ago

    Sorry stats do lie in this case,long man at best,he will let down in big moments,seen it MANY times.

    Reply
  13. Mr. E Team

    7 years ago

    Perennial 25th man now. Kontos performs better than AAAA type player but gets kicked around like one.

    Reply
  14. mrnatewalter

    7 years ago

    I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some rules regarding DFAs in future CBAs.

    It doesn’t serve the players, in any capacity, to be grabbed for 1-3 games, used in some temp role, then cast aside.

    They have rules that state once a player is sent down to the minors, he can’t be brought up for 10 days. Why not require all teams to hold onto a rostered player for a certain amount of days, barring injury?

    Reply

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