The Nationals announced a series of roster moves today. Outfielder Robert Hassell III and infielder José Tena have been optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Outfielder Daylen Lile has been recalled while third baseman Brady House has had his contract selected. Those four moves were reported yesterday. To open a 40-man spot for House, the Nats designated first baseman Juan Yepez for assignment.
Yepez, 27, first joined the Nationals via a minor league deal going into the 2024 season. He got added to the club’s roster in July and got fairly regular playing time in the second half of last year. He slashed .283/.335/.429 for a 113 wRC+ in 249 plate appearances.
Coming into 2025, the Nats made a couple of additions to the first base/designated hitter mix, acquiring Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers and also signing free agent Josh Bell. Those moves pushed Yepez down the depth chart and he was optioned to Rochester to start the year. He has since appeared in 45 games for the Red Wings with a .199/.273/.301 line and 56 wRC+. He hasn’t been helped by a .212 batting average on balls in play but he also has only three home runs.
Yepez has some experience at other positions but is mostly just a first baseman. He hasn’t played third base since 2022 and his work in the outfield corners has been very limited. He’s not really a threat on the basepaths either. In short, he needs to hit. The fact that he hasn’t done so this year has hurt his value and bumped him off Washington’s roster. He’s also in his final option year, so he’s down to a few months where he can be easily sent to the minors.
He’s now in DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Nats could take five days to explore trades. He’s been a roughly average big league hitter in 588 plate appearances between the Cardinals and Nationals but this year’s struggles on the farm will naturally tamp down interest.
If he is passed through outright waivers unclaimed, he will stick with the club as depth without taking up a roster spot. He won’t have the right to elect free agency since he has less than three years of service time and hasn’t been previously outrighted in his career.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Poor Juan yepez tho
Yep.
Yepez was an up and coming player, as a Rookie for the Cardinals in Albert Pujols final season……..
Pujols took Yepez under ha wing and likened Yepez’s hitting (at the Time), to his self as a Rookie. Yepez hit well under Pujols supervision time….
There was just no a defensive position open at the time in the Cardinals line up for him to get the at bats he needed.
That was the only reasons he was placed back in their minor league system and shortly there after traded.
Under the proper hitting instructor, Yepez could be turned back into that contact hitter with power……. (Unless he is swept under the rug and age catches up with hm).
I wonder if ATL would pick him up to stash at AAA, being the BFF of Acuña.
Yepez: Positive bWAR in 2024 and 2025.
That’s not AA’s style.
The Padres could use him. Definitely worth taking a look at.
They need a slugger that can’t slug?
Their right handed bench guys are slugging .271 and .276 right now. They have to try something different
Man thats a tough loss for the Nats. He’s got some juice in him, I hope he finds a good opportunity elsewhere.
I’ve always thought he was a serviceable player. Maybe the Pads give hima looksee. I doubt he can be any worse than some of the guys they’ve run out there…
Pujols seemed to see enough from him to take him under his wing in 2022.
It couldn’t hurt. It’s not like he could do much worse and would only require a minimal investment.
He had about 50 fewer plate appearances last year than Lowe has this year. His ops and war are both much better than Lowe’s. Lowe is not even league average in ops and has a negative war. They traded a guy who would have been their best lefty reliever for a guy who has been pretty much a bust. The trade has not worked out and don’t give me the baloney about lowe driving in runs.
But but Lowe drives in runs!
Yepez has been awful in AAA
Nope
Josh Bell would have been the better DFA candidate, IMO.
For the time being they could have just moved someone to the 60-day IL, like Law, Ribalta, or DeJong. They didn’t need to DFA anyone. Which probably means they were ready to move on from Yepez.
Bell’s time is coming. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s cut shortly after the trade deadline cause I don’t see anyone taking a 1B that can’t hit
For a while there Yepez seemed like he was gonna hit 20-30 home runs in the majors and drive in 70-90 runs while batting .250-.280 with 15-30 doubles and 150+ strikeouts