The Royals announced Wednesday that they’ve requested unconditional release waivers on catcher Sebastian Rivero, whom they designated for assignment last week. He’d be a free agent upon clearing.
Being placed on release waivers surely isn’t how Rivero wanted to spend his 24th birthday, but that’s the position in which he finds himself. The Venezuelan-born backstop has appeared briefly in each of the past two big league seasons with the Royals but struggled to a .167/.236/.197 batting line in a tiny sample of 73 plate appearances. Rivero has had more success in Triple-A, albeit in a similarly small number of plate appearances. In 171 trips to the plate there, he’s slashed .266/.322/.380.
Rivero was optioned to the minors the maximum five times during the course of the 2022 season, plus another three times in 2021. The up-and-down nature of his time with the Royals over the past two seasons, coupled with the canceled 2020 minor league season, have played a role in limiting his overall experience in the upper minors. Despite debuting as a teenager back in 2016, Rivero has appeared in just 383 games as a professional. He sports an above-average 29% caught-stealing rate but has posted sub-par framing marks in the minors, per Baseball Prospectus. He’ll likely land with a team in need of some catching depth on a minor league deal this offseason.
And on his birthday, too 🙁
Maikel Franco is that you?
Now that’s a name I haven’t heard since…
Surprised they didn’t outright him to keep him in their system. Does he have 1 minor league option year or 2 left? Fangraphs reports him as having 2 left, but he has already used 2. That would mean he is in line for a 4th option year but I don’t think he should be.
Also, the 7 day DFA period expires tomorrow for him. But I don’t think he will clear / be claimed on waivers until Friday (2 day waiver period). Does this mean you just need to place the player on waivers within the 7 days, not actually have the waivers complete within that 7 days? I almost thought it was the latter. Meaning you really have 5 days to put the player on waivers.
If they attempt to outright him, they run a much greater risk of losing him via waiver claim. If they release him, they can re-sign him to a minor league deal if both parties are so inclined.
In order to release a player you have to also run them through waivers (specifically called release waivers). So either way he is exposed to other teams.
Happy Birthday, here’s a pink slip
Royal’s front office is ruthless
Maybe it’s exactly what he wanted for his birthday, to escape KC?
Here’s some good news, Sebastian. We have a cake and cards for you. The bad news is you’ll have ample time to enjoy them.