Headlines

  • Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib
  • Reds Release Jeimer Candelario
  • Dave Parker Passes Away
  • Griffin Canning Diagnosed With Ruptured Achilles
  • Pirates Reportedly Have Very Few Untouchable Players At Trade Deadline
  • Griffin Canning Believed To Have Suffered Achilles Injury
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Guardians Sign Meibrys Viloria To Minor League Deal

By Maury Ahram | December 4, 2022 at 10:17am CDT

The Guardians have announced the signing of free agent catcher Meibrys Viloria to a non-roster Minor League deal with an invitation to Spring Training.

Originally signed in 2013 by the Royals, Viloria progressed through Kansas City’s minor league system before jumping from Class-A Advanced to the majors in late 2018 shortly after his 21st birthday with Drew Butera traded and Salvador Perez nursing an injury. He would hit .259/.286/.333 in 29 plate appearances before returning to the minors at the conclusion of the season.

After beginning the 2019 season in Double-A, Viloria returned to the majors in a permanent role, finishing the year with a weak .211/.259/.286 line in 148 plate appearances. He bounced between the major league team and alternate training site during the 2020 season before being designated for assignment (DFA’d) in early 2021 and being outrighted to Triple-A. There he would hit .242/.368/.338, but would not make another appearance with the Royals and was granted free agency after the season.

Viloria joined the Rangers on a minor league deal ahead of the 2022 season. He spent most of the season in Triple-A, hitting .280/.422/.440 while putting up a much weaker .159/.280/.270 at the major league level. Viloria was DFA’d in early November, claimed by the Giants five days later, and DFA’d for the second time in the span of two weeks before electing free agency.

Both of Cleveland’s 2022 catching core, Austin Hedges and Luke Maile, entered free agency after the 2022 season, with Maile recently inking a deal with the Reds. Bo Naylor, the Guardians’ No.5 prospect ranked by MLB.com, is currently penciled in as the starting backstop, but the team has been connected to Sean Murphy and will presumedly fortify the position during the offseason.

With a career .201/.270/.283 line over parts of four seasons at the major league level, Viloria will likely compete for a backup role with the Guardians. However, for a team that values defense, Viloria has thrown out a strong 36% of runners.

Share 0 Retweet 9 Send via email0

Cleveland Guardians Transactions Meibrys Viloria

Bryan Reynolds Requests Trade From Pirates
Main
White Sox Sign Mike Clevinger
View Comments (47)
Post a Comment

47 Comments

  1. Buzz Killington

    3 years ago

    Indians gonna spend at all this offseason?

    1
    Reply
    • Andujar

      3 years ago

      There is no current MLB team with that name. So likely not.

      12
      Reply
      • Buzz Killington

        3 years ago

        Still the Indians.

        2
        Reply
        • Jon M

          3 years ago

          Username does not check out

          10
          Reply
        • fre5hwind

          3 years ago

          That’s a little offensive just say Guardians please.

          1
          Reply
        • dixoncayne

          3 years ago

          Seattle still the Pilots

          1
          Reply
    • Michael Chaney

      3 years ago

      It’s been over a year now. Just move on. You can like the name or hate it, but they’re not the Indians anymore.

      2
      Reply
      • Prospectnvstr

        3 years ago

        Michael & fre5hwind: I live 45 minutes from Cleveland. I’ve lived in NE Ohio since 1986. I’m not a Cleveland fan. I follow 2 teams in the NL (the Pirates & the Braves). I still occasionally call them the Indians. They’ve been the Indians for SEVERAL DECADES. It takes time to get used to the name change.

        1
        Reply
        • hockeyjohn

          3 years ago

          I do the same thing as I have been a Cleveland fan since 1965, but they are the Guardians. High IQ and others still purposely call them Indians need to deal with reality.

          Reply
        • Michael Chaney

          3 years ago

          Oh yeah, slipping up is going to happen. For anyone that’s so used to following the team, it makes sense to an extent — even ESPN had a graphic during the playoffs this year promoting the “Indians vs. Rays” game.

          The issue isn’t that, but the people who just intentionally call them that when they’re the Guardians. I’d imagine most of the people here just stubbornly refuse to accept the name change as opposed to slipping up though. Like it or not, that’s the name; trying to prove a point in a comments section isn’t bringing Chief Wahoo back.

          1
          Reply
    • User 3044878754

      3 years ago

      No
      The Dolan’s are cheap

      1
      Reply
      • Avory

        3 years ago

        Hardly. Any more than my refusal to buy a Ferrari when a nice Honda will do.

        Reply
  2. fre5hwind

    3 years ago

    Yay you saw my suggestion.

    1
    Reply
  3. fre5hwind

    3 years ago

    Meibrys is a ok-ish backup catcher.

    Reply
  4. Lookat Me

    3 years ago

    At least Malle hit over the Mendoza line. Seriously they talk about getting Murphy and end up with a worse hitting catcher than Malle and Hedges?

    1
    Reply
    • CyBieber

      3 years ago

      It’s a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. There’ll be about 15 more on every team. This doesn’t change their pursuit of Murphy or others.

      5
      Reply
    • lucas0622

      3 years ago

      Stay uniformed bud

      Reply
      • Jon M

        3 years ago

        Stay uniformed? Huh?

        1
        Reply
        • Mattimeo09

          3 years ago

          I think he meant uninformed

          1
          Reply
        • thebluemeanie

          3 years ago

          I think he meant unicorned.

          1
          Reply
        • Jon M

          3 years ago

          Me too, blue.

          Reply
  5. debubba

    3 years ago

    Depth piece they can call up in emergencies.

    1
    Reply
    • Col_chestbridge

      3 years ago

      Pretty much. They lost a lot of depth for AAA/AA between the last two seasons. At one point they had to call up a guy who had less than 600 ABs in the minors to be an emergency catcher. Their depth chart before this was:

      Majors: Naylor and Lavastida, both rookies

      AAA:David Fry, a 3B/1B who might get taken in rule V, and Seth Caddell, undrafted in the 2020 draft (just 45 ABs last year)
      AA: Angel Lopez (46 ABs last year in AA), and Eric Gonzalez (151 ABs)

      Now some of that depth will be restored if they get an MLB catcher and push Lavastida back down. But they lost both their ML catchers and several of their top minor league catchers (Gavin Collins, Mike Rivera, and Sandy Leon who was their AAA catcher at one point).

      So yeah, they needed this guy

      1
      Reply
  6. In nurse follars

    3 years ago

    A mystery why so few catchers can hit. They see pitches all season long year after year but never learn to hit them. It’s really bizarre.

    3
    Reply
    • solaris602

      3 years ago

      And it doesn’t help that there are organizations like CLE who place much more weight on catchers’ defensive metrics while having little or no concern about their offensive output. I remember when Francisco Mejia was tearing up minor league pitching, and as soon as he reached the major CLE traded him. Granted he is a poor defensive catcher, but he didn’t much an audition.

      2
      Reply
      • Mattimeo09

        3 years ago

        The main problem was that Mejia wouldn’t move to a different position. He was never going to usurp Gomes & Perez with their excellent defense. It was that lack of cooperation that made him an expendable trade candidate. If he had been willing to transition to the corner outfield, Cleveland might have given him a longer look

        4
        Reply
  7. whyhayzee

    3 years ago

    “However, for a team that values defense, Viloria has thrown out a strong 36% of runners.”

    The average team steals a base about every other game. So a 10% increase in throwing out runners is about 8 outs in the course of a 162 game season.

    Are you willing to value those 8 additional outs over and above a lower batting average of about .015? So you take a .230 hitter over a .245 hitter if he’s a better thrower. That makes sense.

    What doesn’t make sense is accepting a .200 batting average because he throws out a few more baserunners.

    Catching is NOT about throwing out runners!

    1
    Reply
    • Mattimeo09

      3 years ago

      That’s a good point, but you’d imagine with the rule changes next season, more base runners will attempt to steal bags.
      That’s when that 36% will become a lot more important

      3
      Reply
    • Prospectnvstr

      3 years ago

      Now with bigger bases AND the pitch clock AND the limit on how many throws a pitcher can throw to a base catchers that have fast accurate throws are going to be more in demand.

      2
      Reply
    • CKinSTL

      3 years ago

      There is so much more value a good catcher brings to run prevention than throwing out runners.

      2
      Reply
  8. solaris602

    3 years ago

    I’m really pulling for the Guardians to land Murphy – God knows they have the prospects to get it done. Worst case scenario is they don’t get him and immediately pivot to Hedges who hit a ghastly .163 last year. The only way that is even slightly acceptable is if he was a gold glove finalist (which he was NOT).

    1
    Reply
    • Samuel

      3 years ago

      Again…..

      The difference between a catcher that hits .200 with maybe a .250 OBP vs. a catcher that hits .250-.260 with a .290-.300 OBP and plays 80% of games is maybe 2 to 3 more times reaching base a week.

      The name of the game is pitching. Pitchers are not supported by offense, they’re supported by defense. In particular, they’re supported by the catcher – the pitchers partner – that calls every pitch, oversees the rest of the defense, implements the plans of the manager and pitching coach. He has to know the tendencies of the days opposition batters, baserunners, and how their manager likes to run a game. Additionally, the catcher gets beat up physically.

      A superior catcher seems like a nice trade off for 2 or 3 more times reaching base a week.

      Any hitting a catcher does is a bonus.

      A catcher’s hitting stats are important in rotisserie league.

      How he handles pitchers, calls a game, and blocks balls in the dirt is important in baseball played on a ML field. MLB teams play to win games.

      4
      Reply
      • CyBieber

        3 years ago

        @Samuel Hedges should be at the top of everyone’s wish list then!! We’re not talking .200 here. We’re talking .163. He was a black hole for an average offense. And like the OP pointed out, his defense wasn’t even that good. I thought Maile did just as good handling the pitching staff and he was non tendered. The Guardians can do better.

        1
        Reply
        • Samuel

          3 years ago

          CyBieber;

          Make up your mind. Are you saying Maile is OK but not Hedges?
          –
          Look, the Astros glided through the playoffs and won the World Series easily. Their catcher was Martín Maldonado. The pitchers love throwing to him, and fans in Houston that are used to a team that contends every year and goes to the playoffs most years, love him. They’re smart fans. Partially because when Maldonado left the Astros for a few years the team suffered. The FO brought him back

          Here are Maldonado’s stats for 2022:

          .186 / .248 / .352 / .600 – with a bWar of 0.2 and an fWar of 0.5.

          You talk to any person associated with the Astros and they’ll tell you that Martín Maldonado was one of their most valuable players.
          –
          What those stats tell me is that the stat people have no clue how to accurately measure a catcher’s value to a ML team.

          Terry Francona is – and has been for years – the best manager in MLB, and will go into the HOF the first year he’s eligible. Why don’t you stop down by the dugout a hour before a game and tell him that he needs to get the front office to either spend $20m a year (almost double what Bieber will get in 2023) to get a klutz like Willson Contreras that can hit some and whose pitchers can’t stand throwing to him; or maybe trading one of their 2 top prospects (one of which is Biebers replacement) plus 2 other quality prospects for 3 years of Sean Murphy (who I like). The FO listens to Francona. You got a beef with Hedges go see Terry and straighten him out.

          3
          Reply
        • CyBieber

          3 years ago

          @Samuel – I’m saying that Maile does the same thing that you were describing in Hedges and Cleveland non tendered him.

          Maldonado plays in the Houston offense. That offense can absorb the lack of offense from their catcher. And that catchers offense was better than Hedges. So I don’t know where you’re going with that.

          I don’t want Contreras. He’s outside of what Cleveland would pay financially for a catcher. That being said, what pitcher said they don’t like throwing to him? Or did you just make that up?

          Reply
        • CyBieber

          3 years ago

          @Samuel – As far as the Astros struggling without Maldonado, they were 69-40 when they re-acquired him at the July 2019 trade deadline. I wouldn’t exactly call that struggling.

          Reply
      • rememberthecoop

        3 years ago

        No, they’re not as supported by offense than defense; however, you can’t win without scoring.

        Reply
        • Avory

          3 years ago

          @rememberthecoop

          Cleveland won 92 freakin’ games and ran away with the division playing Austin Hedges and Luke Maile. And you’re saying we can’t win with those guys? We just did!

          It doesn’t require trading top prospects to improve the catching position. You can easily do that by signing Cristian Vazquez and working in Bo Naylor later in the year. I’m of the opinion that Bo Naylor playing 90 games and Austin Hedges 70 games would lead to a significant uptick in catching offense while maintaining a positive defensive profile.

          Cleveland fans are so scarred by the offense our catchers produced last year that they are overreacting, and think Sean Murphy is the difference between winning and not. He’s not; he’ll cost decades of control in good prospects to “solve” a problem where there are far less costly and positive alternatives. .

          Reply
  9. Jon M

    3 years ago

    YES!

    Reply
  10. User 3014224641

    3 years ago

    Our big off-season move! Plan the parade!

    1
    Reply
  11. User 3044878754

    3 years ago

    Orioles were a close runner-up

    Reply
  12. jason 54

    3 years ago

    Now everyone has to go through the Blue Jays for a catcher.

    Reply
  13. sleek789

    3 years ago

    Seriously? WTF?

    1
    Reply
    • CKinSTL

      3 years ago

      What is confusing about it? Most teams bring a few NRI catchers to camp..

      1
      Reply
    • Avory

      3 years ago

      @sleek789

      It’s a very good move.. At the very least, CLE needs a guy with major league experience and a solid defensive profile to help bridge the first two months while Bo Naylor is in Columbus “making sure he’s ready.” (service time considerations).

      1
      Reply
  14. thickiedon

    3 years ago

    Will be a nice cheap backup to Narvaez while Naylor matures

    Reply
  15. Ron Hayes

    3 years ago

    At first I read Ron villone

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib

    Reds Release Jeimer Candelario

    Dave Parker Passes Away

    Griffin Canning Diagnosed With Ruptured Achilles

    Pirates Reportedly Have Very Few Untouchable Players At Trade Deadline

    Griffin Canning Believed To Have Suffered Achilles Injury

    Mariners Looking For Corner Infield Bats; Ownership Willing To Bump Payroll

    Wander Franco Found Guilty Of Sexual Abuse

    Mariners Place Rowdy Tellez On Release Waivers

    Max Meyer To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery

    Whit Merrifield Announces Retirement

    White Sox Sign Noah Syndergaard To Minor League Deal

    Corbin Carroll Placed On IL With Wrist Fracture

    Hoops Rumors Has The Latest On NBA Draft, Free Agency

    Mets Option Francisco Alvarez

    Reds To Promote Chase Burns For MLB Debut

    A.J. Puk Undergoes Elbow Surgery; Gabriel Moreno Diagnosed With Fractured Finger

    Braves To Select Didier Fuentes

    Anthopoulos On Trading Chris Sale: “Will Not Happen”

    Rays Owner Stuart Sternberg In “Advanced” Talks To Sell Team

    Recent

    Yankees Select Geoff Hartlieb, Place Fernando Cruz On 15-Day IL

    Trade Deadline Outlook: Chicago White Sox

    Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Today At 3:30pm CT

    Padres Designate Logan Gillaspie For Assignment

    Phillies Reinstate Bryce Harper, Designate Buddy Kennedy For Assignment

    Athletics Select Colby Thomas

    Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib

    Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

    Poll: Should The Pirates Trade Mitch Keller?

    The Opener: Brown, Waldron, Schmitt

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version