The Padres are signing veteran shortstop José Iglesias to a minor league deal, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Iglesias had just opted out of a contract with the Marlins last week.
Iglesias spent the 2022 campaign with the Rockies. He played in 118 games and tallied 467 trips to the plate as Colorado’s primary shortstop, hitting .292/.328/.380 with a meager 12% strikeout rate. Iglesias demonstrated continued excellent contact skills and a similar overall offensive profile as he’s shown throughout his career. He typically runs high batting averages without a ton of power or many walks. In a little more than 4000 MLB plate appearances, the Cuba native is a .279/.319/.382 hitter.
That offense was more than reasonable while Iglesias was playing a Gold Glove caliber shortstop early in his career. Public metrics have soured on his glove since he’s gotten into his 30s. Statcast has pegged him as a league average defender in each of the past two seasons. Defensive Runs Saved, meanwhile, has graded him a staggering 26 runs worse than average at the position since the start of the 2021 campaign.
As a result, he’s been limited to successive non-roster deals with Miami and now San Diego. Iglesias stuck in the Marlins organization for a couple weeks after failing to crack the roster out of Spring Training. He didn’t appear in a Triple-A game before triggering his opt-out though. He’ll presumably join the Padres’ top affiliate in El Paso in the coming days.
Despite the dip in his defensive marks, Iglesias brings more than 4000 MLB innings of shortstop experience to the organization. The Friars already have Xander Bogaerts, Ha-Seong Kim and perhaps Fernando Tatis Jr. as options to play shortstop in the majors. Iglesias adds a veteran as injury insurance and could perhaps branch out to other infield spots in El Paso.
Welcome to the Padres organization Jose Iglesias! Now get rid of Odor.
The Padres are trying to field an all-shortstop lineup.
All greats start as shortstop because it is hardest and they are the best. Cabrera, Pujols, and ARod, all SS.
Iglesias still has potential? All the way!
I kid! A lot. He is fun and fan lover, too. I know, i am Tigers fan and we still miss him. A lot!
I was surprised the Red Sox didn’t sign him this past off season. He would have filled a need that still exists.
Players can have agency over where they want to play.
Red Sox are not allowed to make good off-season moves. It conflicts with whatever is Bloom is doing
Once he opted out, I thought he was a perfect fit for Boston. He came up on their system and was a great pick up in 21 at the end of the year. Once Chang got hurt, it seemed obvious. Well obviously not …
Good insurance policy. If Bogaerts, Machado, Kim, Tatis, Nola and Cronenworth all go down, they’ll need him.
Well, the only one of that group hitting is Xander, so…
If he took Odor’s roster spot plenty of Padres fans would be happy.
Jose Igleseas has around 150 million reasons to test the free agent market if the deal with the Padres doesn’t work out.
Acematic, baby!!
Cronenworth plays a good SS too.
So can Manny, even Nola
I’m a Padres fan in Oregon too! There’s a few of us around.
Interesting…I like it.
I’m surprised the Dodgers didn’t sign him.
Not sure if he was a fit or not, but curious if Dodgers and Padres were looking at him for minor league contract could a team offer a higher valued minor league contract? Or is there just one set amount per ball club?
Just like the major leagues, technically, a minor league player can make any salary equal ro or greater than the minimum that the two agree to, including any perks they want to throw in so long as it’s legal.
As a practical matter most players make minimum, but, they don’t necessarily have to
Surprised Preller didn’t offer him a 10 million dollar contract
Stupid comment.
Stupid comment
Good one kewldood… how many other stupid comments have you made?
This makes sense since they should DFA Odor when they bring Engel or Dahl off the IL. Gives them a depth infielder when their current one might not be on the roster much longer.
I guess they wanted someone to fall back on when they were finally tired of Tatis’ act. But I figured that’s why they signed Bogaerts to that big deal.
Padres cornering the market on middle infielders.
Maybe they are looking for a spark on offense. After tonight’s game no team has been shutout more times than the Padres vaunted offense.
That’s what I was thinking. The vaunted offense is on life support at the moment.
Because the Padres need another SS?…
Looks like our next 2nd base option if Kim doesn’t start hitting…
He’s just a minor leaguer at this point. If he couldn’t make the Marlins’ roster, how is he going to make it onto San Diego’s? Kim is a much better hitter regardless of how he has hit so far this year. Iglesias will give you an empty 280 batting average at best.
Just a lot of frustration from Pads fans on team’s lack of slug. On paper schmaper. If a guy in college hit .188 (Soto) after 23 games he’d probably not get consideration from scouts. The entire SD lineup has one guy with an OPS over .750. Manny is at .527. Sure it’s April and the schedule will perhaps get easier, but…
Are the Padres planning to have a SS at every position? I think Austin Nola started out as a SS even.
Playing “keep away” from the Dodgers.
It’s a 10 year minor league deal with a no trade clause an option year in 2033 and two opt outs. Padres know how to lock down shortstops.
Looks like Jose has hit above average in his MLB Career.Maybe he can PLAY LF and not be a WALK 1st Player.Seems like Soto only wants to Walk. MLB Teams aren’t going to $$$ for A Walker.
Why would he go there? They have at least 4 shortstops better than him on their roster. There’s plenty of other teams thin at SS that have a clearer path to playing time for him. Dumb move by him.
Ah….just what we needed…..another Shortstop!