The Reds have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne, as first reported by HalosHeaven’s Rahul Setty (Twitter link). Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (also via Twitter), the contract comes with an $875K base salary in the event that the righty cracks the MLB roster in Cincinnati. Despaigne is represented Movement Management Group.
Despaigne, 32 in April, split the 2018 season between the Marlins and Angels, struggling to a 6.69 ERA with a 35-to-19 K/BB ratio in 39 innings of work. He finished out the 2018 campaign on the Halos’ active roster but was outrighted and elected free agency early in the offseason.
The journeyman right-hander had a strong showing as a rookie with the Padres back in 2014 and enjoyed solid results with the Marlins in ’17, but Despaigne has generally been inconsistent at the big league level. Through 349 2/3 Major League innings, the Cuban-born righty has a 4.94 ERA with 5.6 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.85 HR/9 and a 46.7 percent ground-ball rate.
Despaigne has experience pitching both as a starter and a reliever, and he’s logged a 4.11 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 in 225 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level. He’ll serve as a depth addition for the Reds but isn’t likely to be counted on early in the season with a slew of arms on the depth chart ahead of him.
Alex Wood, Tanner Roark, Luis Castillo and Anthony DeSclafani are penciled into the first four spots in the Reds’ rotation, while the bullpen will feature right-handers Raisel Iglesias, Michael Lorenzen, Jared Hughes, David Hernandez and left-hander Amir Garrett, at the very least. The Cincinnati organization also has no shortage of 40-man options who’ll compete for those final few spots on the staff, including Tyler Mahle, Robert Stephenson, Matt Wisler, Brandon Finnegan, Wandy Peralta, Sal Romano, Cody Reed, Lucas Sims and Matthew Bowman, among others. Of that bunch, Stephenson and Wisler are out of minor league options.
C’mon Redlegs, ONE MORE GUN to head up the rotation! Depth pieces at AAA are okay, and this one….well….meh. Keuchel please.
What are the odds that Keuchel will go from a perennial playoff team to the Reds? And if he does, what does that say about him?
Only way the Reds will dig themselves out of the bottomless pit they’re in is by building a good team. They can’t buy one.
Lol, don’t tell every other team in baseball that. BTW they have been rebuilding for the last 5 years.
With the addition of Wood, and Roark the rotation the rotation is still lacking a #1. If they can’t trade for a #1 then they have to buy one.
The batting order was already good, but with the addition of Puig and Kemp they have a more balanced order.
The back of the pen is also set with Iggy, Hughes, Hernandez, and Lorenzen.
So yes, they can buy one, just like everyother team in baseball. The question is will they buy one.
Save for Castillo (who could be a #2 with his skills but likely not), their rotation is a bunch of #5s. They need a lot more than a declining Keuchel.
Lmao wrong
Idk about 5s. It’s full of middle of the rotation arms. 3s and 4s.
Alex Wood with a career 3.29 ERA and 117 ERA+ is a 5? That’s crazy talk.
I do agree that Keuchel is no lock to be a #1. I don’t think he’ll get the 5 year contract that he’s looking for from anyone. 4 years probably 18 to 22 million a year. Depends on how the market shapes up.
Funny. Dallas Keuchel came on a team that was in the same situation as the Reds. If anything, he’d know what it would feel like to be part of the solution, and not take the easy way out.
Nothing wrong with a swing an in AAA if necessary.
Despaigne has really never found his way, though hes had moments where he looked like he was going to breakout.
Control
yeah as a giants fan, the change in speeds was the biggest thing when he was starting for the padres. he had like a 15-20 mph difference between hisfb and change
U would think that would be an easy fix
He’s the Nathan Peterman of pitchers
The only interesting part was the last sentence. I like what I saw from Wisler last season. He should get a spot in the pen this year.
He works slowly but also gives up a lot of runs and base runners. Not good for a hot day or any game you want your team to win.
Big boy, kind of scary and tough looking when he would come in from the pen…and then he ruined it by throwing a pitch.
Is he related to Alfredo Despaigne, the great Cuban hitter?
I believe so
The catcher
Yonder Alonso dad (pitcher threw to despanges dad (catcher) in Cuba
Strange website these days, comments about anagrams of a person’s name gets deleted.
Right?
It’s a fact too
How is it possible he keeps getting signed?
-2.9 bWAR and counting. Juan Castro, here he comes!
Reds spend to much time/money on longshots. With the “rentals” they have for this season and the good possibility they lose Gennett by next year, and combine with Votto aging this is the time. Gio, and maybe Bauer with front loaded shorter term contracts. We keep hearing they are ready to spend big, just hasn’t shown up. If they do anything, I look for them to chase another outfielder.
Love this move.
If Cincy fans want Keuchel, shouldn’t they also want the Reds to be in on Bumgarner?
Kuechel will not cost top prospects. Mad Bum will.
No kidding. Except Bumgarner is a better pitcher. If giving up prospects is a problem for Cincy maybe they shouldn’t be moving up the timetable to contend?
Despaigne might have been a decent pitcher in the 80s or 70s, when junkballers could get by with 5 pitches thrown from five different arm angles. But hitters are way better now and guys like him – low velocity trick pitchers. – just don’t have any real place in the game right now. It’s unfortunate in a way – I liked watching guys like Craig Lefferts or Kent Tekulve back in the day, but guys like this are journeymen for a reason.
“Batters are way better now.” Whoa, hold on a minute. MLB batters have set strikeout records 11 straight years. Pretty basic element for a good hitter is to put the bat on the ball.
Well, pitchers are also way better now, too. Nobody was breaking 100 in 1985 and like 15 pitchers did it last season. But there’s more power in the game now and the strikeouts are a combination of that and the velocity/increased reliever usage. But an out is an out. But in baseball, besides a few outlier seasons like 1987, league-wide batting averages have been pretty steadily at around 250 for the last thirty years. But slugging percentages have climbed steadily. and the kinds of junkballers who had relatively long careers in the 80s wash out of the game quickly in this era.
What do you mean by “an out is an out?”
Batting averages have not remained steady. They’re significantly lower and 2018’s .248 was MLB’s worst since 1972.