The Indians have released veteran catcher Rene Rivera, per the transactions log at MLB.com. Cleveland designated him for assignment this past weekend after activating Roberto Perez from the injured list.
Rivera, who’ll turn 38 at the end of the month, was signed to a minor league deal earlier this year and made his way to the big leagues when Perez first landed on the injured list. He logged 21 games behind the plate with Cleveland, batting .236/.300/.400 in 63 plate appearances. Rivera connected on a pair of homers and three doubles, but he also fanned in 24 of those 63 trips to the plate (38 percent).
The Indians currently have fellow veterans Ryan Lavarnway and Wilson Ramos (who recently signed with Cleveland) on their Triple-A roster, which left Rivera without much of an opportunity even in the upper minors. He’ll head back to the free-agent market and look for another opportunity. In parts of 13 seasons split between nine different clubs, Rivera is a .221/.273/.355 hitter who boasts an elite 36 percent caught-stealing rate and a generally strong defensive reputation (though his defensive marks were down during his brief Cleveland run).
If the cards trade knizer, could be a decent backup for the rest of the season
Could be. On days off, Molina and Rivera could have a great opportunity to help expand the AARP of St. Louis.
Back to the Mets
My thought exactly, Al. But it my case it’s mostly fond memories of Rivera’s first tour of duty with the Mets.
Why? Nido has actually been playing well and they have Mazeika so…
It’s tradition by now, he gets released during the season and the Mets pick him up, that’s why.
Yea I gotchya. Then trade for Kelly Johnson. I do like Rivera a lot, I guess most Met fans do.
For SYR…and for September.
I would rather they kept Rivera than Ramos. I thought River’s defense improved as he got some playing time with Cleveland. His defense was rough at the beginning. The defense of Ramos has always been rough.
Agreed. Plus in the short time he was there, it was pretty clear he worked hard to know the pitchers and was seemingly a good influence. I’ll never complain about a minor league deal, but I would have preferred Rivera to Ramos too.
I doubt we ever get confirmation, but I was assuming Ramos was a signing in case either Lavarnaway decided to reject assignment or if either of them were claimed.
He had 8+ years of service so I assume he could have refused an outright assignment, I wonder if the release here grants him more money or a faster trip through waivers as a “thank you” from the team?
Now that Elias Diaz is on fire, maybe the Rockies could use him as a back up and send Dom Nunez back to the minors. Nunez is supposed to be a good offense/bad defense catcher but is hitting about .175. No need for Wilin Rosario 2.0 right now.
White Sox should pick him up immediately. He would be a good veteran backup to Collins until Yaz gets back. Would give them nice lefty/righty backstop pairing too.
Exactly what I was thinking. Six weeks of cheap veteran help with much better defense than Collins. They could do worse.
Sox also have one more series against Indians at the end of the month. May have some nice insight on their tendencies.
They have played the Indians 18 games a year for a long time. If they don’t know their tendencies by now, I don’t think claiming Terry Francona on waivers would help them figure it out.
You can never get too much info. If the Sox get him, I’m sure their hitters will be picking his brain.
Yes, because they need to know all of the tendencies of the AA pitchers they’ve been trotting out there during his short time in Cleveland…
Yep White Sox
White Sox
Come on Cubbies—I only need Rivera to fill out my backup catcher Bingo card. I’ve already hit on Gushue, Wolters, Romine, Chirinos, Lobaton and Higgins. I need Rene for the cover all jackpot!!
Remember when he was one of he
Jess—–I really don’t remember that.
Haha thanks for that Mike, let’s thank God you DON’T remember that.
I would have liked to keep him in the organization in case they trade one of Robo or Hedges, but obviously they don’t have much room for him in AAA.
Anyhow, best of luck to him. Hopefully he finds a roster spot.
Ramos’ defense, pitch framing and blocking must be awful. For someone with a history of good offensive production he was only given 130 AB’s to figure it out this year before getting cut loose. Last year was short and quite a few players had a down year. He was solid to very very good before that. There must be a reason he is stuck at AAA after such a small sample this year. If he hadn’t blown his knee out a week before the season ended in 2016 he would still be playing on a 5-6 year $90m contract. He is only 33 and deserves a shot to find his swing.
Must be awful? Trust me! I watched him closely for a couple of years. Makes Gary Sanchez look like Johnny Bench
Ramos getting cut by the Tigers had nothing to do with his play. He got hurt, and the younger C’s that got called up, Rogers, and Haase (thank you, Cleveland) showed they were ready.
He’s all yours, Hasse I mean. Bo Naylor will be ready in a year or so, of which big things are expected from the highly touted prospect.
This site should give potential landing spots for players like this. I mean it’s a trade rumors site that seldom gives any rumors. Why not rumor where DFA’d players might go?
They do give potential landing spots for players all the time. They often give predictions and speculate but their not here to create and spread rumors.
*they’re
They arent? Read the post about possible destinations of Nelson Cruz.
They should do it more regularly.
Speculating about pieces for a pennant run are easy, doing the same for a guy his age and sitting home as a free agent hoping somebody, anybody calls is a different story.
LOL
Hedges must own compromising pictures of Dolan or something
He must have had compromising photos of SD ownership also, with that logic…. He use to be a pretty solid hitter with homerun power, life happens. You can’t be good or even solid forever. Still want him gone but his personality and defense is why teams pay him what they do.
I don’t believe he was ever a solid hitter during his time in the majors. You act like he once was a good batter but lost it due to age. He’s only 28 years old! These are his prime years as a hitter and ballplayer. What’s the Robo calls come in to replace the umps calling balls and strikes, his framing skills will be of little value and overall as a ball player he’ll have zero value.
Possible CWS pickup? They did just lose Grandal.
Cubbies for sure they have signed every back up available
Now HERE is a “soon to be Pittsburgh Pirate” if there ever was one.
Ain’t a 38 year old catcher that the Pirates don’t covet.
Paging Kratz or Goff or Barajas or Santiago or Parrish or Cannizaro or Kirkpatrick to the Allegheny Shores. STAT!
Don’t doubt me on this.
Stupid Pirates will want someone like this. To waste at bats on. And then say “he works great with pitchers”. Blah.
Sign him up Bucs! (That rookie unproven still needs 12 more years to rot in the minors to “learn how to work well with pitchers”. If rookie unproven catcher works real hard…maybe in 2037, he too…can be this guy.
I can hear Ben Cherington on the waiver phone hot line now (dial 1-800-BeA-BUCS) asking if he can hop the next charter flight to Bradenton now. Because Shelby Miller needs work.
Rivera seems like one of those catchers who pitchers like pitching to. I would guess that he finds another gig before too long.