The Marlins have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent righty Chi Chi Gonzalez, tweets Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Presumably, the Paragon Sports client will vie for a roster spot in Spring Training.
Gonzalez, 30, was a first-round pick by the Rangers back in 2013 and has spent parts of seven seasons in the Majors. He has had some success in the minors but has rarely been able to be effective in the majors. For his career, he has a 5.66 ERA in 284 2/3 big league innings.
It was a similar story in 2022, with Gonzalez spending time with the Brewers, Twins and Yankees throughout the season. He tossed 23 innings in seven games between those three clubs, but with a 5.87 ERA, 15.2% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate. In 80 1/3 minor league innings, it was a 4.03 ERA, striking out 20.8% of batters faced while walking 7.9%.
For the Marlins, pitching is their strong suit but they’ve long been rumored to be considering a trade from their rotation surplus to upgrade their offense. They’ve yet to pull the trigger on a significant pitching deal, but Gonzalez gives them a veteran depth option if they do. As of right now, their rotation consists of Sandy Alcantara, Pablo López, Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera, Trevor Rogers and Braxton Garrett, with prospect Eury Pérez on the way from the minors.
fre5hwind
Chi Chi Cha Cha Go Go Gonzalez I love saying this guys name.
This one belongs to the Reds
Les Nessman called him “Chy Chy Gonzaleez”
Cat Mando
And the little Mexican dogs are che-hooa-hooas
Stormintazz
Chi Chi Rodriqueez
JockStrap
Funny how this guy keeps getting shots of playing time when there are a ton of veterans in the minors that hasn’t gotten a shot yet,
HALfromVA
I wonder the same thing. I don’t understand why he keeps getting opportunities, but, I’m not a scout, so what the hell do I know.
da5hitta
Crazy right? Dude is cheeks. Weird that teams would rather run him out there than their own prospects. You know what he is. You never know if some young kid will surprise you.
Michael Chaney
I wonder the same thing every time someone else signs him. You know what you’re getting out of him, and it’s not good. You could sign just about anyone else and, at worst, get the same results.
Mercenary.Freddie.Freeman
I agree jock. He probably hired a private investigator to get dirt on some mlb owners.
JockStrap
This make me chuckle
nottinghamforest13
That’s what Lenny Dykstra did for umpires so not all that far fetched.
greatgame 2
5.66 ERA. WHY??
TheRealMilo
Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to buy a pitching machine to serve up batting practice slop?
This one belongs to the Reds
Iron Mike always delivers!
Silas
Leave it to the Marlins to sign a retired golfer.
AHH-Rox
If you look up “replacement level” this is the guy whose picture should pop up.
Stone
Oh cool, free in-game batting practice for the NL East
MarlinsFanBase
The Marlins new Closer after Floro loses the job.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
He should learn to do golf trick shots.
Stormintazz
Guys beg to get a deal with any team.. This guy pitches terribly and still gets work. I swear he was with 4 or 5 organizations last season.
EasternLeagueVeteran
The article neglects to mention the 4th organization was the Tigers, but only for 5 games in Toledo. So it was the Brewers,Twins,Yankees and Tigers. The waiver wire king!
nottinghamforest13
Here we go. Now the train is moving and all the Kim Ng detractors can eat crow.