The Padres have released outfielder Adam Engel, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment on the weekend.
Engel, 31, was signed this winter to a major league deal with a $1MM guarantee, just a bit above the $720K minimum for this season. Unfortunately, he suffered a hamstring strain during Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He returned in early May and wasn’t really given any playing time, getting six plate appearances in five games before being designated for assignment recently.
The club had some uncertainty in the outfield coming into the season, as Fernando Tatis Jr. still had 20 games remaining on his suspension from last season. However, he was back in the lineup by the time Engel came off the injured list, joining Juan Soto and Trent Grisham in the outfield. It seems the club prefers to roll with José Azocar as its fourth outfielder and will let Engel walk.
Prior to joining the Padres, Engel had spent his entire career with the White Sox, largely serving as a glove-first outfielder. His career batting line of .224/.279/.349 translates to a 71 wRC+, indicating he’s been 29% worse than league average overall. However, he’s stolen 47 bases and received positive reviews from advanced defensive metrics. In 3715 2/3 innings over 528 career games, he’s accrued 53 Outs Above Average, 20 Defensive Runs Saved and a score of 2.3 from Ultimate Zone Rating. Statcast put his sprint speed in the 92nd percentile last year.
Even if the Padres had tried to pass Engel through outright waivers, he has more than five years of major league service time, giving him the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Now that Engel has been released, they will remain on the hook for his salary while allowing another club to sign him for the protated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Friars pay. He’ll now head to the open market in search of a team in need of a fleet-footed outfielder for its bench.
I hear that Adam is already Engeling for a new job as we speak.
Not sure who would sign him..I mean..at least he used to add a tiny bit of pop when he wasn’t hurt..Now he can’t even hit an Engle.
Goes to show what’s good enough for a floundering team isn’t good enough for a contender. Engel has never been able to hit for average. I’m sure the Pads knew that.
Yep that will solve all the Padres problems
Word on the street in Bridgeport is that he is heading back to play for the Whitesox’s. I ran into former Sox’s pitcher Britt Burns who said a minor league deal is already in progress. Time to watch reruns of the King of Queens. Just keeping it real !
Was at Lou Malnati’s pizza and ran into John Rocker. He called me the n word and gave me the finger. Am I doing this right?
I ran into Engel at church the other day. He was cussing up a storm about being released, even blamed the pastor for his recent misfortune. Let me tell you, he’s no Engel!
I was walking in the desert the other day and happened upon Snell on a vision quest and we saw a little turtle, he picked it up and threw a slider
Remember when Blake Snell had a Ken Bottenfield season and people were anointing him the next great pitcher and calling him Snellzilla? That ended quickly.
*Snell hucked a shell
Tons of celebrities being spotted
Please pass the pharma … hey could really use some pharma … man don’t bogart the pharma
Spotted Engel in the lobby of the San Diego Homewood Suites wearing headphones.
Asked him “What’s up”? He told me he was cramming a “Babble” tutorial on Spanish.
Said he caught wind of a rumor that he was being dealt to the Pale Hose and was to room with Luis Robert who does not speak Engelish.
I ran into a guy who says you never run into the guys you say you run into.
Nice King of Queens reference! Don’t tell me!!!
Best show ever. Still funny after all these years
Was hoping to open the comments and read some more of towinagain’s theories on how MLB has a hand in the Pobres only winning three series all season long. You read that correctly. Just 3…
Pobres must be the worst insulting nickname anyone has ever come up with for the Padres. Like, it is embarrassingly pathetic. Couldn’t even have come up with something simple like the Badres? Embarrassing.
Wanna know what’s really embarrassingly pathetic? A ‘team’ with THAT payroll having three series wins on May 25th. Going for their 6th consecutive series loss later today!!!
Probably had multiple minor league offers and it was the only way to get him to sign. Not sure why they were that desperate, but it’s a reason at least.
Everything about Los Pobres reaks of desperation. Desperate for a winner. Desperate for respect. Desperate for relevance…
As one of his or her biggest fans, I couldn’t be happier at these wonderful renditions of pharmorlover’s “I ran into…(insert name of current or past baseball player” anecdotes by other contributors to this forum. As the saying goes “Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery” It’s also perhaps an indication that a new literary movement has begun!
Never understood why they signed him to a major league deal in the 1st place.
I’d only be making assumptions about the degree of skill his agent works with.
Engel is a great depth option to have and has a low degree of risk at that price. Paying a bit more than the minimum to a player likely to have more than a few offers for a minor league deal sounds about right to me.
Not familiar with the timing of the deal but possible insurance/leverage for the Tatis situation could also be in play
Tatis has displayed that he’s still trying to figure out how to feel comfortable after being exposed as a fraud.
This will fix them.
Adam Engel is a very good defensive oF and a fast runner. IMO, he could’ve been used instead of David Dahl, Rougned Odor, Matt Carpenter and Brandon Dixon. Perhaps split time with Trent Grisham in CF against LH. We won’t ever know.
It was a really short leash. Sometimes I think these current GM’s are just addicted to transactions.
He is a dumb Engel.
I thought for sure this signing would put the padres over the top in the NL west I wonder what went wrong
It’s obvious. All the Padres position players and all but two or three pitchers are underachieving.
In what world is a 154 OPS+ underachieving? Kim’s defense is so good that he is 5th in MLB in bWAR at 2B and on pace for another 5 WAR season. .
What about his cWar, dWar, fWar, gWar, seWer, tWar, and vWar? And deWars?
Don’t be a jerk. If you don’t understand the stat, just don’t comment.
seWer is the stat for the Padres organization
Pads Fans
Don’t tell people what to do.
I’m bout to swoop in and save him from the dumpster