The Rays have acquired outfielder/first baseman Brian O’Grady from the Reds, per club announcements. The Cincinnati organization will receive a player to be named and cash in the swap.
First baseman Jesus Aguilar was designated for assignment to create roster space. He had been projected to earn $2.5MM in arbitration.
O’Grady is a left-handed hitter who earned his first shot at the majors last year. He scuffled in limited opportunities but otherwise showed well in 2019. Over 489 Triple-A plate appearances, O’Grady slashed .280/.359/.550 with 28 home runs. The 27-year-old is optionable and affordable, making him a potential depth piece for Tampa Bay.
Aguilar had simply not performed as hoped when he was picked up in the middle of the 2019 season. He turned in a .261/.336/.424 batting line in 107 plate appearances — not enough to motivate the club to commit to his salary and continue to tie up a roster spot. Aguilar’s big 2018 season makes him an intriguing buy-low target for clubs interested in first base/DH help.
So now 2.5M is too much for the Rays, what’s next, DFA or trade any player once they reach arbitration eligibility?
Hey, Sternberg has to prove to the city of Tampa he’s a poor owner.
How else will he get his stadium?
Not like the city of Tampa Bay helps by attending games or anything…
The team has done everything possible to piss off it’s local fan base. There stuck in a lease and want a 1 billion free stadium while telling people to stay away with every insult so they can force an early release.
Hey! I went to 2 games last year. Love the team….hate the Trop.
A real sports franchise owner is very well supported try and buy a lightning game ticket. I think most sports fans are wise to the tricks of some owners who try pillage a community. I traded my season tickets for a nice boat and annual pass to Disney another year. Too many good options here in FL
Or his production wasn’t worth that and O’Grady had a fine year last year in AAA
That “fine year” was brought to you by a .342 BABIP. His 2018 “fine season” was a .367 BABIP.
Both are likely unsustainable going forward. O’Grady will be on at least 2 other rosters before next August.
Can they pass some team rule that forces him to rat every single meal at Beef O’Brady’s? It would make an interesting reality show. It would be entertaining to watch him somewhat enjoy it on day one and then just watch him get more and more depressed until he is an angry resentful man by day 162.
BABIP lol not the only stat in baseball
LOL
StandUpGuy!
For one the Rays rarely miss on prospects, for two are you seriously saying taking a chance on a prospect who had a good season is worse than paying someone 2.5 mil who had a bad season. Let’s pay more money for someone who had a bad season rather than take a chance on someone who is cheaper and had a good season. Good logic yah got
StandUpGuy – 10/10, would watch
BABIP is a BS stat that has not been proved to be useful for anythi9ng.
It’s a pretty good indicator of potential regression. You can look at decades worth of trends and see that guys with high BABIP pretty much always negatively regress.
It’s not 100%, but it’s close to 95%.
IF it is any kind of indicator of potential regression, is is only valuable for players who are established and playing on the same level, same league with few other changes in circumstances they’ve been playing at. If has no value in trying to estimate the potential for players moving up from Triple-A to the majors.
Hmmmm. I wonder what Ted Williams Babip was.
fangraphs.com/comparison.aspx?playerid=1014040…
He played less games in 2018 than in 2019 is understandable
Too much to commit to a guy who showed he has limited skill and unlikely to earn that amount.
A bag of donuts was too much for Jesus, let alone 2.5. Obviously you don’t watch the games.
Lol …don’t watch much baseball other than your fave team I assume? Wild card in the toughest division in baseball, most wins ever for the franchise, pushed Houston to a fifth game, best minor league system in baseball…yeah, those guys are clueless!
Duh.
Right. Trust the process just not the owner.
Doubt it was about the $$. Seen him play at a few home games. He did not look very good at 1st base. He also committed or helped with the errors when he played that spot in those games. Rays definitely were looking for depth/option players & I like this trade.
cmon Rays, you can do better than this.
Wasn’t Mr. Aguilar just an All Star in 2018? That’s a pretty bad fall off
Yes. He was absolutely wretched last season though. Tended downward in pretty much every way.
Yeah, I hope the guy rebounds big. Unlikely though.
The league adjusted to Aguilar, and Aguilar has been unable to adjust to the league. It’s a fairly common story that is described by “flash in the pan.”
He had some of the biggest power to the opposite field ive seen. I saw him basically one hand a homer over 430 feet. He just completely lost his swing after the first half of 2018 with the Brewers. He had one of the hottest stretches of any player in the game for a few weeks, then fell off the map after the ASG.
Someone will give him a shot. I expect a team like the Royals or Pirates to take a flyer on him to see if they can get lucky.
Maybe finally Nate Lowe will get a chance.
Rays, I am disappointed. I rather have Aguilar than O’grady.
Then go sign him.
If you have watched the Rays at all, know anything about their roster and minor league system, you know Aguilar was just taking up space. This guy is a depth piece—would be shocked if he ever gets mlb ab’s. Aguilar had one good season—we’ll see what his future holds.
I watched O’Grady’s stats at single A Daytona Tortugas, AA Pensacola Wahoos and then the last couple of years at AAA Louisville Bats. The guy is a stud. Will most surely be an asset to the Rays this year platooning at 1st with Choi and can play center giving KK a break. Give him a chance.
Just looked at his stats. The 2018 season was impressive. Somebody is going to give this guy a contract, probably minors deal. Miami Marlins?
He’ll get a 40 man spot somewhere
if he really is projected to earn 2.5 million then someone will take a shot.
Jays should be all over this. Platoon with Tellez.
Sure. Sounds good.
The Rays know what they are doing. They know more than all of us. That’s why they are a competitive MLB team spending AAA money. They bought out Lowe’s arbitration years for a reason.
I agree with you. Especially lately it’s been some moves that have you scratch your head. Then it shows up on the field and you’re like wow nice. Aguilar I had hopes for some type of turn around. This is another I scratch my head at. Rays Up.
The Rays rarely miss, stare at the Archer trade for a little while and still see if you question this team
Pirates fans stared Neil Huntingdon right out of a job for it.
O’Grady should be fine the Rays know what they are doing
Not sure why people are actually upset that Aguilar is being cut? He had one great half season and sucked before that and has sucked since.
Wow! Jesus really was a one-year wonder with MVP-type stats before falling off a cliff. Too bad.
Ogrady just might be the newest Rays diamond in the rough— good power and speed numbers in the minors and finally will be given a chance.
I’m disappointed to see him go tbh
Aguilar will be entering his age-30 season next year and has posted a .733 OPS since the 2018 All-Star break.
A .733 OPS is mediocre for a middle infielder these days, and simply putrid for a first baseman.
The best Aguilar can expect to be offered is a make-good minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training, but no one is going to sign him to a contract that will allow him to a major-league contract with arbitration leverage.
More likely, he is headed to the Mexican League.
I think Milwaukee might offer a minor league contract
The isn’t shocking news… recall the same thing happened to Corey Dickerson and CJ Cron. This is how the Ray’s do business
MKE BRING JESUS BACK!
Any of the bottom 5 or 6 teams in baseball last year could give Aguilar a look at DH/1B.
The fans on this list make me chuckle.. They always pitch the sky is falling and somehow with these guys that everyone sees as castoffs we keep winning. As long as it keeps working stop trying to fix it like we are the Red Sox or yankees I wouldn’t want a team like that anyways.. #raysup
I love all the clowns on here complaining about these moves and how cheap the Rays are.
It just drives y’all crazy that a franchise can earn success without spending a lot or following the standard plan. I will enjoy the next few years while you sit bewildered as to why your teams overspend but get nowhere…
Thought Aguilar would have complemented Choi at first base as a good righty/lefty platoon.. Surely Aguilar I thought would have been cheap enough to retain and has shown previous power.
Giants need a RH hitter for 1B.
The rays are going to turn Jesus around. They never lose trades. Lol
Faria was nothing
Aguilar could be a solid low cost/low-risk acquisition for the Red Sox. They have an opening at 1B/2B depending on where Chavis winds up and a guy with the potential to hit 30+ HRs while providing solid overall offensive production could be a solid move considering he can likely be had on a very modest 1-year (even possibly minor-league) deal.
We have Dalbec for that
Why did Reds not go after Baltimores Villars to fill 2bd base? Could fill a void for a reasonable salary for production he has piled up, last few years. Looks like a cheap attempt to get him for less if he makes it through to free agency, which I would be surprised.
Agreed, Cincinnati makes perfect sense for Villar.