The Rays have signed right-hander Elvin Rodríguez to a minor league deal, reports Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press. Fellow righty Trevor Kelley also has a minor league deal with the club, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Both players will receive invitations to major league Spring Training.
Rodríguez, 25 in March, began his professional career with the Angels but went to the Tigers as the player to be named later in the 2017 trade that sent Justin Upton to Anaheim. He worked his way up the minor league ladder and spent 2021 primarily in Double-A but with a brief move to Triple-A. Between the two stops, he made 18 starts and one relief appearance, tossing 77 2/3 innings with a 5.68 ERA, but he struck out 24.6% of batters faced and walked 8.6% of them.
Despite that high ERA, the Tigers added him to the roster in November of 2021 to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. That allowed him to serve as optionable depth for the club in 2022, though his first taste of the majors didn’t go well, to put it mildly. Over five starts and two relief appearances, he tossed 29 2/3 innings with a 10.62 ERA. His 17.5% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate were both subpar and he allowed an incredible 12 home runs in that brief time. Things didn’t go much better on the farm, as tossed 99 1/3 innings in Triple-A with a 4.98 ERA.
Rodríguez was outrighted off the club’s roster in November but will now try to get a fresh start with the Rays. His new club will surely try to get better results out of a fastball that was in the 89th percentile in terms of spin last year. If they can succeed and Rodríguez earns his way onto their roster, he still has a couple of option years and just a small amount of service time, allowing them to retain him for the foreseeable future.
Kelley, 30, had some brief and unsuccessful time in the majors with the Red Sox in 2019 and the Phillies in 2020. He signed a minor league deal with the Brewers for 2022 and cracked the club’s roster in May. From that point on, he was optioned to Triple-A and recalled five times, moving on and off the roster as the club needed. He didn’t find much success in the majors, posting a 6.08 ERA in 23 2/3 innings. In 34 1/3 frames for Nashville, however, he registered a 2.36 ERA while striking out 30% of batters faced and walking just 7.1% of them.
The Brewers designated him for assignment when they acquired Bryse Wilson and Kelley cleared waivers. He was eligible to elect free agency by virtue of having a previous career outright and has used that opportunity to join the Rays. If he can crack their roster, he still has one option year and less than a full season of MLB service time.
10.62 ERA in 30 innings. DAMN! Being the Rays though he’ll probably get a roster spot and finish in CY young voting this year.
And 12 home runs in less than 30 innings… Ouch. Even the Rays are unlikely to have success with this guy.
He’s got decent stuff but no real movement and questionable control.
Brace yourself, here comes the Cy young comments.
Take that American League
I really wish DET gave him another opportunity. Ohh well, best of luck
He’ll be 25 just after Opening Day, got worse ever step up the ladder, and was getting killed every game in MLB. The odds are against him being a successful big-leaguer.
Rodriguez seemed promising in A-ball, but struggled from AA onwards. The Tigers seem to have better pitchers than him on the roster, who need to be protected. So I understand that Rodriguez sees if another organization has more use for his talent.
Gruß,
BSHH
Elvin has Entered The Building !!
More shots in the dark. Ugh.
Almost like the FO doesn’t want to improve the team. Are we really running Bethancourt and Mejia out as our catchers? Are we really going to have only two LH hitters in the lineup?
Maddening. Oh sorry, Zac Eflin. Yay. Sure, he may be good, but the Rays lineup is in need of serious improvement.
These “shots in the dark” work out great more often than not for the Rays and it really doesn’t cost them anything. And while the catching situation isnt great it’s definitely decent. When will fans get over the “big names”
Who knows, they may end up being decent pitchers. But Sideline is right, it won’t matter if they just run out that same right-handed heavy, underwhelming offense again. I don’t get sinking 11 mil into Eflin and ignoring upgrading the offense.