The Guardians announced they’ve claimed first baseman Alfonso Rivas off waivers from the Pirates.
Rivas, 27, was drafted by the A’s in the fourth round out of the University of Arizona back in 2018. Oakland later sent him to the Cubs for Tony Kemp in January 2020. Rivas got a fair bit of run on the 2022 Cubs, leading them in defensive innings at first base that year. He managed just an 83 wRC+ at the plate, prompting the Cubs to designate him for assignment last December and release him in January.
Rivas then hooked on with the Padres on a minor league deal, and he managed to rake in 260 Triple-A plate appearances to the tune of a 156 wRC+. That earned him a call back to the bigs in June, and then a trade to the Pirates at the deadline in the Rich Hill/Ji Man Choi deal. With the Bucs having shipped out first basemen Choi and Carlos Santana, Rivas got into 40 games for the Pirates in the season’s final two months as the strong side of a platoon. His Triple-A success failed to translate, as Rivas posted a 97 wRC+ with a 27.4% strikeout rate.
The Guardians are set with Josh Naylor as their starting first baseman in 2024. Naylor and Rivas both bat left-handed, not that Naylor needs a platoon partner anyway. Rivas did see a little bit of time at the outfield corners last year at Triple-A. He could also push his way into the Guardians’ DH mix with a strong start to the season, if he’s able to hang on to his 40-man roster spot all winter. The Guardians appear to have 39 players on their 40-man roster, once free agents Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Kole Calhoun are removed and Rivas is added.
Kind of surprised the Pirates let Rivas go already. He wasn’t going to be their next big thing, but for a bench bat, he wasn’t horrible with the Pirates.
1b only no power platoon. Not appealing.
Rivas was never going to stay with the Pirates.
I think that Rivas is a smooth first baseman and could learn how to hit ML pitching.
The Pirates May have something up their sleeve.
I hope that it is not Santana.
Yeah, I’m guessing there has been some decision to streamline the roster today with some mystery moves. This was one of them
Oakland also announced that they claimed Rivas from the Pirates today. What’s going on?
Source? MLB says Cleveland got him.
I agree with Rckprtrla. I don’t really see why we need him unless they are looking for a AAA 1b for when Manzardo makes it to Cleveland. If that is the case then we will probably try to seal him through waivers later in the winter.
Source: MLB/transactions/athletics
Just looked up A’s transactions on MLB.com and it is not there. Maybe an error.
This one I don’t understand for Cleveland. Their best hitter is a LH first baseman. Their top prospect is a LH first baseman. So they fill up a roster spot with a LH first baseman who doesn’t even seem to fill their biggest need – more power hitters.
Yeah, seems like a head-scratcher to me… in addition to Naylor and Manzardo, they also have David Fry off the bench that can play 1B.
Probably minor league depth attempt.
Yeah probably outright him and hope he slips through