Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Elvin Rodriguez

Rays Sign Elvin Rodríguez, Trevor Kelley To Minor League Deals

By | at

The Rays have signed right-hander Elvin Rodríguez to a minor league deal, reports Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press. Fellow righty Trevor Kelley also has a minor league deal with the club, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Both players will receive invitations to major league Spring Training.

Rodríguez, 25 in March, began his professional career with the Angels but went to the Tigers as the player to be named later in the 2017 trade that sent Justin Upton to Anaheim. He worked his way up the minor league ladder and spent 2021 primarily in Double-A but with a brief move to Triple-A. Between the two stops, he made 18 starts and one relief appearance, tossing 77 2/3 innings with a 5.68 ERA, but he struck out 24.6% of batters faced and walked 8.6% of them.

Despite that high ERA, the Tigers added him to the roster in November of 2021 to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. That allowed him to serve as optionable depth for the club in 2022, though his first taste of the majors didn’t go well, to put it mildly. Over five starts and two relief appearances, he tossed 29 2/3 innings with a 10.62 ERA. His 17.5% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate were both subpar and he allowed an incredible 12 home runs in that brief time. Things didn’t go much better on the farm, as tossed 99 1/3 innings in Triple-A with a 4.98 ERA.

Rodríguez was outrighted off the club’s roster in November but will now try to get a fresh start with the Rays. His new club will surely try to get better results out of a fastball that was in the 89th percentile in terms of spin last year. If they can succeed and Rodríguez earns his way onto their roster, he still has a couple of option years and just a small amount of service time, allowing them to retain him for the foreseeable future.

Kelley, 30, had some brief and unsuccessful time in the majors with the Red Sox in 2019 and the Phillies in 2020. He signed a minor league deal with the Brewers for 2022 and cracked the club’s roster in May. From that point on, he was optioned to Triple-A and recalled five times, moving on and off the roster as the club needed. He didn’t find much success in the majors, posting a 6.08 ERA in 23 2/3 innings. In 34 1/3 frames for Nashville, however, he registered a 2.36 ERA while striking out 30% of batters faced and walking just 7.1% of them.

The Brewers designated him for assignment when they acquired Bryse Wilson and Kelley cleared waivers. He was eligible to elect free agency by virtue of having a previous career outright and has used that opportunity to join the Rays. If he can crack their roster, he still has one option year and less than a full season of MLB service time.

Tigers Claim Andy Ibanez, Outright Six Players

By | at

The Tigers have claimed infielder Andy Ibáñez off waivers from the Rangers, according to announcements from both teams. Detroit also outrighted six players — infielders Jermaine Palacios and Luis Garcia, right-handers Elvin Rodríguez, Bryan Garcia and Luis Castillo and outfielder Víctor Reyes — off their 40-man roster. After reinstating all their players from the injured list, Detroit has a full 40-man roster.

Ibáñez was Texas’ Opening Day starter at third base in 2022. He’d earned a look from the Rangers after hitting .277/.321/.435 through his first 76 big league games in 2021. The Cuban-born infielder looked like a viable late-blooming utilityman, but his offense dropped this year. Ibáñez hit .218/.273/.277 over 128 MLB plate appearances, connecting on just one home run. He had a better but still unimposing .255/.330/.390 mark over 315 plate appearances at Triple-A Round Rock.

Tough season aside, Ibáñez does have quality bat-to-ball skills and a typically solid track record of upper minors performance. He’s a career .288/.358/.456 hitter through parts of four Triple-A seasons. He’ll be 30 at the start of next season but has yet to reach arbitration and still has a minor league option year remaining. Ibáñez can play first, second or third base and adds a contact-focused depth infielder to the Tigers organization.

Of the players coming off the roster, Reyes is the most notable. He’s played parts of five seasons with the Tigers, tallying a personal-high 336 plate appearances in 2022. The switch-hitting outfielder put up a .254/.289/.362 mark with just three homers. He’s capable of defending all three outfield spots but has consistently provided below-average offense. Projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $2.2MM salary for his penultimate season of arbitration eligibility, he proved a fairly straightforward non-tender for first-year president of baseball operations Scott Harris.

Rodríguez debuted this year and started five of seven games. He surrendered a 10.62 ERA through 29 2/3 innings, posting a 4.98 mark over 99 1/3 innings with Triple-A Toledo. Bryan Garcia had spent his entire career as a reliever until 2022, when he took a few starts late in the year for an injury-battered rotation. He had a 3.80 ERA over 85 1/3 innings with the Mud Hens. Castillo, a 27-year-old reliever, made his first three big league appearances this year after posting a 1.74 ERA in 40 games for Toledo.

Palacios and Luis Garcia, meanwhile, never suited up for the Tigers. Palacios played in 30 games for the Twins, and Detroit nabbed the infielder off waivers from their division rivals after the end of the season. Garcia was once an interesting prospect in the Phillies farm system, but his bat stalled out in High-A this year. He has very little Double-A experience. Detroit claimed him late in the season but it always looked likely they’d try to run through waivers at some point.

Luis Garcia will remain in the organization without occupying a 40-man roster spot. Palacios, Bryan Garcia, Rodríguez, Castillo and Reyes all have the requisite service time to refuse an outright assignment and test minor league free agency.

Tigers Reinstate Victor Reyes, Option Elvin Rodriguez

By | at

The Tigers made a pair of corresponding roster moves, reinstating Victor Reyes from the injured list and optioning Elvin Rodriguez to Triple-A, per the team.

The Tigers outfield is slowly but surely getting a little bit healthier, with Robbie Grossman returning to the club yesterday. It will be interesting to see if Reyes can keep up the pace he established in his first 11 games this season. Reyes was slashing .292/.346/.458 through a small-sample 26 plate appearances, good for an unsustainable 131 wRC+. While it’s unfair to expect that level of production from Reyes, even topping the 100 wRC+ mark would be a win for a Detroit team desperate for offense. A quad strain has kept the 27-year-old out of action since May 16th.

Reyes has yet to see regular playing time this season, but he absolutely could step into center field for the time being. Derek Hill and Daz Cameron have largely been sharing that responsibility, but Cameron is now on the COVID injured list and Hill has a 61 wRC+ on the season through 92 plate appearances. Cameron was better with a 94 wRC+ across 61 plate appearances. But neither guy had been receiving regular run as the everyday guy. Willi Castro has been the third piece, stepping in at all three outfield spots while posting an 82 wRC+.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, gets sent to Triple-A after getting knocked around in Friday’s ballgame, yielding eight earned runs in just 4 1/3 innings against the Blue Jays. This comes on the heels of allowing 10 earned runs in 4 1/3 against the Yankees. Outside of a scoreless four-inning outing against the Guardians on May 29th, Rodriguez has largely struggled this season.

Furthermore, Eduardo Rogriguez is expected to return sometime this week and take back his rotation spot. It will be interesting to see if Detroit decided to go back to a three-man bench at that point. If that’s the case, Hill or Kody Clemens could be the odd man out, with both outfielders having options remaining.

Tigers Place Eduardo Rodriguez On IL With Ribcage Sprain

By | at

The Tigers have announced that left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a left ribcage sprain. The move is retroactive to May 19. Another E-Rod is joining the team in a corresponding move, as righty Elvin Rodriguez has been recalled from Triple-A Toledo.

Eduardo was removed from his start on May 18 after recording just one out due to discomfort in his side. An MRI performed in the subsequent days didn’t find anything concerning about his oblique or intercostal muscles, making his ailment a bit of a mystery. It seems the team’s personnel have settled on a diagnosis, though no timeline was provided for his absence.

Regardless of how long he’s out of action, it’s a serious problem for the Tigers. After an aggressive offseason, it was expected that they could contend for a postseason berth this year, with their rotation standing out as a potential strength. Unfortunately, a slow start has been compounded by a truly staggering numbers of injuries to their starting pitchers. E-Rod joins Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Tyler Alexander, Michael Pineda and Spencer Turnbull on the IL. Eduardo and Tarik Skubal are the only Tigers to have made more than five starts this season, with Skubal now the last man standing in terms of rotation mainstays on the year.

Due to that rash of injuries, the club has had to lean on its depth, giving MLB debuts to Alex Faedo, Beau Brieske and Joey Wentz already this year. Elvin Rodriguez also made his big league debut, though in relief, throwing 2 2/3 innings back on April 10. He’ll make his first start in the show tomorrow. Since that lone MLB outing, he’s made six appearances in Triple-A, five starts, throwing 22 2/3 innings with a 3.57 ERA. In that time, he’s got a 21.6% strikeout rate, 13.4% walk rate and 37.7% ground ball rate. That walk rate is certainly high but is actually uncharacteristic for him, as he’s never had a rate above 8.8% before, perhaps suggesting small sample noise.

The club’s record is currently 13-26, the worst in the American League, but it can’t be entirely blamed on pitching injury woes. The team-wide ERA of 3.67 is actually 12th in MLB, though advanced metrics are a bit less bullish. The real culprit has been the lineup, as the team as a whole is hitting .219/.282/.313 for a wRC+ of 77, a figure that places them dead last across the majors.

Tigers Announce Several Transactions, Finalize Opening Day Roster

By | at

The Tigers announced a landslide of roster moves Wednesday as they set their Opening Day roster. Most notable among them is the formal selection of top prospect Spencer Torkelson’s contract. It was already known that Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick from the 2020 draft and a consensus top-five prospect in all of baseball, would make the Opening Day roster, but his promotion to the big leagues is now official.

Detroit also selected the contracts of right-handers Drew Hutchison, Jacob Barnes and Will Vest. In a series of corresponding 40-man roster moves, Detroit designated left-hander Miguel Del Pozo for assignment and placed catcher Jake Rogers (recovering from Tommy John surgery), Spencer Turnbull (recovering from Tommy John surgery) and Jose Cisnero (strained right shoulder) on the 60-day injured list.

The Tigers also announced an additional series of placements on the 10-day injured list: lefty Andrew Chafin (groin strain), outfielder Derek Hill (hamstring strain) and righty Kyle Funkhouser (shoulder strain) are all beginning the season on the 10-day IL. Top outfield prospect Riley Greene is being placed on the minor league injured list after fracturing his foot late in Spring Training. The Tigers also announced that righty Elvin Rodriguez made the roster over infielder Willi Castro, and the team has assigned veteran right-handers Chase Anderson (Triple-A) and Wily Peralta (Class-A Advanced) to minor league affiliates to begin the year.

None of Hutchison, Vest or Barnes has an extensive track record of big league success, but they’ve all logged MLB action in the past and will give Detroit some bullpen depth early in the season, particularly while Cisnero sits out at least the first two months of the season mending a shoulder injury. That absence is perhaps the most surprising revelation in today’s sequence of moves. Cisnero was behind schedule to start camp and felt some discomfort in his most recent outing, but prior to today’s announcement there was no indication he’d require such a lengthy absence. It’s a notable loss for the Tigers, given the 32-year-old’s 3.45 ERA, 24 holds and four saves over the past two seasons.

Chafin, who signed a two-year, $13MM contract with an opt-out after the 2022 season will hope for a minimal absence. There’s been no indication from the club that he’s expected to require a long stay on the IL, but he’s been trending toward a 10-day placement since originally experiencing pain at the end of March. Hill has also been ailing since the final day of March, so his move to the IL doesn’t rate as much of a surprise.

As for the 29-year-old Del Pozo, he lasted the offseason on Detroit’s 40-man roster after allowing two runs on eight hits and no walks with four punchouts during a brief Detroit debut late in the 2021 campaign. He’s allowed a total of 20 runs in 18 1/3 Major League innings, however, and didn’t help his cause this spring when he appeared in two games and was tagged for a combined five runs in just one inning of work. Detroit will have a week to trade him or try to pass him through outright waivers.

Veterans Anderson and Peralta will give the Tigers some pitching depth in the minors to begin the season. Anderson joined the club on a minor league deal in mid-March and allowed three earned runs on nine hits and a walk with a pair of strikeouts in five innings during camp. He’s struggled substantially in the Majors across the past two seasons but from 2014-19 was a solid back-of-the-rotation arm, logging a combined 3.94 ERA in 857 innings between the D-backs and Brewers.

Peralta seems even likelier to be added to the big league roster, despite his assignment to a Class-A affiliate. The right-hander had a strong showing in Detroit last year after signing a minor league pact, pitching to a 3.07 ERA across 18 appearances (17 starts) — a total of 93 2/3 innings. But Peralta was slow to get to camp, owing to visa issues, and he’ll remain at the Tigers’ Lakeland facility, where their High-A team plays, as he builds up toward game readiness. Peralta didn’t make it to Tigers camp until this past weekend and didn’t have time to get into an official spring game, but once he’s built up he’ll be an option to join the club’s rotation or pitch in a long-relief role.

Tigers Select Elvin Rodriguez

By | at

The Detroit Tigers have announced that they have selected right-handed pitcher Elvin Rodriguez to their 40-man roster. Additionally, Tucker Barnhart, recently acquired in a trade with the Reds, had his club option for 2022 selected. Three players were also reinstated from the 60-day IL: catcher Jake Rogers and righties Rony Garcia and Spencer Turnbull.

Rodriguez was originally brought over to the organization as the player to be named later in the trade that sent Justin Upton to the Angels. At the time of the trade, he was only 19 and pitching in A-ball. Since that time, he has climbed through the Tigers’ system, reaching Triple-A this year. Baseball America ranked him as the #18 prospect in the organization in 2020, but he didn’t crack the 2021 list. FanGraphs ranked him at #30 in the Tigers’ system last year and #35 this year.

The righty, who turns 24 in March, made 18 starts at the Double-A level this year, logging 75 2/3 innings. His 5.83 ERA certainly doesn’t seem impressive, but it came with a solid 24.2% strikeout rate and average-ish 8.8% walk rate. After his season in Double-A, he was promoted to Triple-A for a single two-inning appearance in October. The club has a solid core of young hurlers in their rotation, with Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning being the headline names. Rodriguez will likely start the year in Triple-A and try to force his way into the big league picture as the season goes on.

The other transactions were mere formalities. There is no IL in the offseason, meaning all players on the 60-day IL have to be reinstated and retake their roster spots, with today being the deadline to do so. Barnhart was just acquired in a trade a few days ago, making it a lock that his option would be exercised by the club.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top