We’ll use this post to track the minor moves of the day…
- The Pirates are bringing fleet-footed infielder Alfredo Reyes to big league camp as a non-roster invitee, per the Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel (via Twitter). Reyes, 25, spent a majority of last season split between High-A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona, earning a six-game stint with the Pirates Triple-A club in Indianapolis. All told, Reyes hit .286/.386/.356 across the three levels, though most of that damage was done during the 61-game stint in High-A where he slashed .310/.424/.386. The speedy utility player managed to steal 35 bases in 39 attempts, an 89.7% success rate. Defensively, Reyes appeared at every position on the diamond except pitcher and catcher.
- Per Matt Eddy of Baseball America, the Padres have signed lefty reliever Paco Rodriguez to a minor-league deal. Rodriguez, 27, jumped almost directly to the bigs after being selected in the 2nd round of the 2012 amateur draft by the Dodgers. In four seasons with LA, Rodriguez performed admirably – albeit in limited, LOOGY-exclusive role – twirling 85 1/3 innings of 9.6 K/9, 2.53 ERA-ball. Paco was shipped at the 2015 trade deadline to Atlanta, where rehab from a variety of injuries eventually culminated in a late-season Tommy John. He spent much of last season with Minnesota’s AA affiliate, notching a 4.26 ERA in 25 IP.
Always good to have speed. Too bad a lot of the speedsters these days don’t master bunting.
Brett Butler, where have you gone?
He was something else!
Just imagine if Billy Hamilton was a great bunter. Dude is about as fast as you get on the bases.
Speaking of Butler’s. What happened to Billy Butler?
having a country breakfast at his house waiting for the phone to ring
Got in a fight in Oakland. Traded to the Yankees in Sept of ‘16 (they didn’t make the playoffs, but he wouldn’t have been eligible for Oct baseball if they did). He batted above .300 for the Yankees but was never seen again. No one seems to want those Billy Butler Adam Lind 1B types ?!?
Reyes as been with the big league club since at least Sunday
Lou Brock was no slouch at the art of bunting and stealing bases. That’s why he replaced Curt Flood as the Cardinals leadoff hitter.
Reyes has already been in all 6 games, the most out of all the Pirates infielders. Did he have to bring himself to those games previously? I’m confused.
You’re correct. And in 7 plate appearances he hasn’t put the ball in play yet. 5 strikeouts an 2 walks. He does have a stolen base though.
Maybe the Pirates are bringing the real Reyes to the next game?
It is possible for a player to be in minor league camp and be “borrowed” by the big league squad for games without official designation. Happens all the time early on, especially when there’s split squad games. Usually it’s just a game here or there and not 6 straight, but it is still possible to be used without an “official” invite.
The big difference for him is that he’ll get paid for being in big league camp. When he’s sent back to minor league camp, it’ll be back to no pay until opening day.
Multi-purpose dude. Needs more AAA seasoning, ideally.
Looks like a lot of AAA type players will be playing for Pittsburgh Pirates that way we can keep financial flexible. Here’s the Pirates model: Draft, wait until player is 24-26. Once they run out of arbitration control then trade off. Who else successfully uses this model?
For what it’s worth, the Jays signed Andy Burns to a minor league deal about a month ago but I haven’t seen it reported here. He spent the last two seasons over in South Korea.
Good minor Signing by SD Padres he can pitch of the Bullpen.. Paco Rodriguez was L.A. Dodger pitcher… he was good in the NL West a few years back.. yea GO PADS…. :)