Outfielder David Dahl went unclaimed on outright waivers and elected minor league free agency, tweets Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Pads had designated him for assignment when reinstating Adrián Morejón from the injured list earlier in the week.
Dahl signed a minor league pact with San Diego over the winter. He broke camp but appeared in only four MLB games. A quad strain cost him some time early and he spent the bulk of his time on optional assignment to Triple-A El Paso. Dahl got into 17 games there, hitting .265/.342/.382 with one home run.
That’s modest power production in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Dahl did demonstrate strong plate discipline in that limited time, walking eight times against seven strikeouts. The lefty-swinging outfielder has now appeared in parts of six seasons at that level. In a little less than 800 trips to the plate, he’s hitting .299/.352/.488 against Triple-A pitching.
Dahl was an All-Star outfielder for the Rockies early in his career. He hasn’t gotten much major league run in the past few years. Dahl missed a good chunk of 2020 to injury, slumped to a .210/.247/.322 showing for the Rangers in ’21, then spent all of last season in the minors. He’ll likely look for minor league opportunities on the open market.
The Cash Man is calling.
@don. He’s cheap and has mlb experience. Overpay for a handful of stars than load the roster with a bunch of guys like Dahl. This has Ninja Cash written all over it. Especially with their current outfield woes.
And you know what the sad part is? It’ll work for like 30 games, Yankee fans will gloat and think it’s sustainable, and eventually he’ll crash back to Earth.
See Cameron Maybin, Matt Carpenter, Frenchy Cordero, etc etc etc.
Matt Carpenter had a freakin 217 OPS+ in 47 games for the Yankees before he broke his foot. It is insane to include him in this list as someone “crashing back to Earth”, dude showed ZERO signs of slowing down.
MLB was covering for Carpenter as he juiced for the Yankees. Look at the statistics. You don’t gain POWER as you get older. He was hitting the ball farther and harder than he EVER did as a MLB player
Strange how all these non-Yankees fans attribute fictional takes that they make up to Yankees fans. Forever living rent-free in your head.
Nah, that’s called being a fan of the sport and not a Homer to a team
There has to be a team out there that would have a spot for Dahl as a 4th OF at least. He had a real shot with Padres until the injury and then his spot was needed which happens all the time in mlb for the fringe players.
He’s deep Triple A depth only at this point. Outstanding athlete that did what many others could only wish to accomplish at the MLB level. Clearly, though, his body won’t let him compete at that level every day.
I would think Cincinnati would try to get in on him especially if it’s a minor league deal. It’s not like they are set in the OF and we have seen quite a few journeymen have career years playing at Great American Ball Park.
Free agency elects David Dahl.
Sign him, Mariners!