May 23: Rivas cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis, the Cardinals announced. He’ll remain with the organization.
May 20: The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve designated first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Ryan Loutos, whose previously reported selection to the MLB roster has now been confirmed by the club. Righty Chris Roycroft was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to open space for Loutos on the active roster.
Rivas was claimed off waivers out of the Angels organization back in January. The 27-year-old has continued to show his typical keen eye at the plate in Memphis this season, walking at a hearty 12.8% rate, but he hasn’t hit for his usual average or power. Overall, he’s batting just .246/.364/.323 in 158 plate appearances with the Redbirds.
The well-traveled Rivas played sparingly in the majors each year from 2021-23, spending time with the Cubs, Pirates and Padres. He’s a .243/.324/.349 hitter in 459 big league plate appearances to this point in his career.
Tepid as his output in Memphis has been, Rivas entered the season with a lifetime .313/.424/.492 batting line in parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’s walked in nearly 15% of his plate appearances across five campaigns at the Triple-A level, and while he’s more of a gap hitter than true slugger — 48 doubles to just 15 homers in nearly 800 Triple-A plate appearances — he’s nevertheless been quite productive there outside this season.
Rivas has primarily been a first baseman in the minors but has a few hundred innings of corner outfield experience as a professional. He’s in the final of three minor league option seasons and is still two seasons shy of even reaching arbitration eligibility. A club looking for a left-handed bat with strong on-base skills could potentially take a look. Rivas has been designated for assignment three prior times in his career but has never made it through waivers, so MLB clubs are clearly intrigued by his bat — even if he hasn’t yet been all that productive in the majors.
The Cardinals will have a week to trade Rivas or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. If they can succeed in getting him through waivers, they can keep him in the organization without needing to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him. Rivas has neither the MLB service time nor the prior outright assignment required to reject an outright to the minors after going unclaimed on waivers.
I had no idea this guy was even on the 40 man roster.
Ya. This move is overdue. There was no justification for wasting a roster spot on back-up AAA first baseman.
Time to designate the GM and manager as well….
I have defended Marmol and others at times, but the line-up construction on the final game of the Red Sox series needs some explanation. Yes, players need rest, especially older guys,and after winning the first 2 games of then series some subs might be understandable, but the Cards have no cushion. They are 5 games under .500. Starting to play well, and have some momentum. It is not a time to punt a game. It is May not August. And with Liberatore starting they need all the defense and offense they can muster. It send the wrong signal to the players.
What can we get for Mozeliak? He has all this year and signed thru 2025. Now would be the time to trade him.
Funny post, but I don’t think they would get much in return.
I didn’t know Rivas was with St. Louis.
We were wasting a roster spot on Rivas I am ready for the gm and manager to go also
Goord lord, Steve Adams needs to learn how to write in proper English. “Tepid as his output in Memphis has been” is obviously grammatically incorrect. You can’t just leave “as” out at the start of the sentence. It’s not optional.
Early in Spring Training when I searched the Cards’ early 2024 schedule, I commented if they were a .500 team at the end of May I would be satisfied due to the difficult the first two months presented. If they win series against the two Chicago teams they will sit 1 game under, closing out May. No doubt, they haven’t always looked promising, but are definately a play-off contender if not a division winner, with Contreras, Edman, and Middleton returning.
Liberator for Pomerance,