Just days after veteran infielder Jose Iglesias triggered an out clause in his minor league deal with the Padres and was granted his release, he’s re-signed with San Diego on a new minor league pact, the team’s Triple-A El Paso affiliate announced last night. Iglesias was back in the lineup with the Chihuahuas last night, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles.
It’s a quick turnaround, though these scenarios aren’t exactly uncommon in baseball. Iglesias presumably took a few days to survey interest around the league and gauge the market for big league opportunities before returning to the Padres’ affiliate he’s already spent the season calling home. Quick re-signings like this can also grant the opportunity for new terms (e.g. additional opt-out dates) to be written into the new contract that wouldn’t have existed had the player simply foregone the out clause in the first place.
The 33-year-old is out to a solid start in Triple-A this season, slashing .293/.350/.446 with a homer, nine doubles and a triple in 103 trips to the plate. He’s walked at an 8.7% clip against a 14.6% strikeout rate that’s well south of league-average (but also a bit elevated from last year’s 12% mark in the big leagues).
Iglesias spent the 2022 season with the Rockies, batting .292/.328/.380 as their primary shortstop. That’s about par for the course for Iglesias. Over the past several seasons, he’s maintained strong batting averages thanks to minimal strikeout rates but has been largely unable to supplement that average thanks to some of the lowest walk rates in baseball and minimal power output. Dating back to 2018, he’s batted .287/.322/.404, with a disproportionate amount of his extra-base hits coming in an anomalous 2020 campaign (three homers, 17 doubles in just 150 plate appearances).
Once touted as one of the game’s elite defenders at shortstop, Iglesias has seen his glovework slip in recent seasons — at least in the eyes of most defensive metrics. He hasn’t posted a positive mark in Outs Above Average since 2020 or in Defensive Runs Saved since 2019. He made a career-high 16 errors at shortstop in 2021 despite logging what was then his lightest workload at the position in a full 162-game season. Last year’s eight errors in 975 frames was an improvement over 2021, but Iglesias averaged eight errors in a considerably larger 1105 innings per year at short from 2015-19. He’s been well below average in terms of arm strength in each of the past three seasons, per Statcast, ranking 74th among 100 shortstops with an average 81.5 mph on his throws to first base (league average is 85.3 mph).
Even with Manny Machado sidelined due to a fractured hand, the Padres are deep in infield options on the big league roster. Xander Bogaerts and Ha-Seong Kim are holding the left side of the infield down, while Jake Cronenworth and Rougned Odor handle the right side. Odor hasn’t hit much this season, but he’s been on a well-timed hot streak over the past two weeks. Of course, Fernando Tatis Jr. is plenty familiar with playing the infield if needed there, though he’s taken quite well to right field (8 DRS, 4 OAA).
Well isn’t that a fine howdy-do…
Maybe its Julio Iglesias because this year the Padres can hear the fat lady sing.
They want to keep their half dozen shortstop quota in place.
“To all the Pads I’ve loved before…”
Well, guess no one else wants me even on a minor league deal so I will just re-sign with the Padres. ~ Iglesias
That is what the article says and it goes on to say this is a common process.
I just said it more succinctly.
It didn’t need to be paraphrased.
Saw Royce Lewis’ first game and thought naw not getting any chances there!!
Tatis RF on pace for 2.2 dWAR
Yeah, he might win a GG some year, perhaps this year. I wonder if he will EVER appear at SS for the rest of his career.
I actually reported this on another post this morning wondering why it hadn’t shown up when I have been seeing him in the El Paso box scores.
When they finally give up on Trent Grisham, I’m sure Fernando Ringworm, Jr. will be a good center fielder. Better tools than Robin Yount… Let’s see if he can hold up a whole year without any bouts of ringworm.
…or motorcycle crashes or suspension or falling out of a boat or tripping over his own feet when drunk or…
Still surprising this guy can’t get a Major League deal…
But seriously, why would Chaim Bloom look elsewhere, he’s got Kiki leading MLB with 11 errors at SS so far this year, and, the season is still relatively young.
Oh, and lest we forget Yu Chang will be back from the IL soon, so we’ll be golden. That’s the sentiment, but that we’re gonna pin hopes of any kind on a AAAA maestro who would be unemployed were it not for the Red Sox.
In all fairness….If Mondesi were to heal up and be capable of taking the field you’d get some plus fielding and speed, at least for a while until the next injury.
If Elvis Andrus can get a MLB contract, why can’t Iglesias?
You have to remember, Elvis signed with White Sox, who have refused to sign an actual 2b man for three years now. So they signed a shortstop and stuck him at 2b. Any wonder why the Sox are one of the worst teams in bb?
Hey Jose, you’re an idiot. Bogaerts, Kim, Tatis, and Machado are all better shortstops than you. You will never get to play SS for the Padres. That is the worst fit in the entire majors for you to sign a minor league deal with. And you did it TWICE!! What an idiot.
Yeah, a real idiot. He’s only made about $40 million in the last thirteen years. Wish I was that big an idiot.
Well if there was a better option available I think he would have taken it. Also most likely like the first contract, an opt out if a mlb contract becomes available. In the end, if he isn’t playing every day he can’t hope to be signed to mlb deal. Doing what he needs to do to keep the dream alive.
Disappointed that another team has not signed Iglesias yet. Amazing that this is a guy with a lifetime .279 average (who hit .292 last year) who still plays excellent defense. Out of the 46 current shortstops in the majors, exactly nine are currently hitting higher than .279, including a couple with very few at bats. Such an exciting, solid, consistent player. Not sure what’s going on here.
As Richard Belzer said in his last line on Law & Order SVU- “You can BOTH do better!” This is like that high school couple who have no business being together, they break up at 8:00am and are back together by 1:00pm most days. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton all over again.