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Osleivis Basabe

Giants Outright Osleivis Basabe

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The Giants sent infielder Osleivis Basabe outright to Triple-A Sacramento, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He was designated for assignment last week when they selected catcher Logan Porter onto the big league roster after losing Patrick Bailey to injury.

Basabe hasn’t played an MLB game with San Francisco. They acquired him from the Rays in an offseason DFA trade and had kept him on optional assignment all year. He hasn’t hit despite the generally favorable Pacific Coast League parks. Basabe owns a .242/.287/.352 slash with four homers in 198 plate appearances. He has put the ball in play at a solid rate but hasn’t walked much or hit for any kind of power. It’s his second straight poor showing at the top minor league level. He hit .248/.293/.336 in 66 games for Tampa Bay’s affiliate last year.

This is the first career outright for Basabe, so he doesn’t have the ability to elect free agency. He’ll remain with the River Cats and try to play his way back into the MLB conversation. He’s still just 24 and was a highly-regarded prospect not long ago, though clearing waivers demonstrates how far his stock has fallen since his bat has stalled. Basabe would qualify for minor league free agency at the end of the season if San Francisco doesn’t add him back to the 40-man roster before then.

Giants Select Logan Porter, Designate Osleivis Basabe For Assignment

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The Giants have selected catcher Logan Porter to their roster. Fellow backstop Patrick Bailey goes on the 10-day injured list with a neck strain, retroactive to June 8. Infielder Osleivis Basabe has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was among those to relay the moves.

It doesn’t appear as though Bailey is facing a lengthy absence. He was initially in Tuesday’s lineup but was scratched due to neck spasms. Not even half an hour before this news dropped, Bailey wasn’t sure if he would actually be going on the IL or not, per Slusser. Manager Bob Melvin also said they were hoping to have Bailey in the lineup by tomorrow, per Slusser. Instead, it seems the club has decided to give Bailey some time to rest up. Since the move has been backdated by three days, he could be back in a week.

Bailey is one of the best defensive catchers in the game but has struggled badly at the plate this season. In 180 plate appearances, he has a .185/.246/.272 batting line and 46 wRC+. The Giants will surely miss his glovework but it’s possible the lineup will get a boost.

Suddenly, the club’s catching corps looks totally different from earlier in the year. Bailey was sharing the position with Sam Huff for most of the season but the Giants swapped in Andrew Knizner for Huff a week ago. Huff was outrighted to Triple-A Sacramento but the club has opted to select Porter instead of bringing Huff back.

Porter, 29, has just 38 major league plate appearances. He hit .194/.324/.323 in those trips to the plate, which came with the 2023 Royals. He has put up good offensive numbers at the Triple-A level but has been inconsistent. He slashed .301/.452/.451 for a 148 wRC+ in 2022 but that dropped to a .232/.339/.377 line and 80 wRC+ in 2023. Last year, he bounced back with a .267/.370/.453 showing and 113 wRC+ but he’s down to a .237/.350/.319 line and 89 wRC+ this year.

He may not get much playing time. Knizner has 296 big league games under his belt and doesn’t have great offensive numbers, with a .208/.277/.314 line. However, he was hitting .378/.512/.520 in the minors this year before getting called up. Between that and his experience, he might get a bit more trust to handle things for Bailey’s absence. The fact that Knizner has had a one-week headstart in working with the Giants’ pitching staff should only help. Porter has a full slate of options and can easily be sent back down to Sacramento when Bailey returns.

Basabe, 24, was acquired from the Rays in an offseason cash deal. He has played 53 Triple-A games this year with a tepid .242/.287/.352 line and 69 wRC+. He was once a notable prospect thanks to some big numbers in the lower levels. However, his bat has cratered since reaching the top rung of the minor league ladder. In 213 Triple-A games, he has a .269/.319/.381 line, as well as a .218/.277/.310 showing in his 94 major league plate appearances.

He’ll now head into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Giants could take five days to explore trade possibilities. Basabe can be optioned for the rest of this year but will be out of options in 2026. If the Giants pass him through outright waivers, he could stick with the club as non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Giants Acquire Osleivis Basabe

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The Giants acquired infielder Osleivis Basabe from the Rays in exchange for cash, according to announcements from both teams. Tampa Bay designated Basabe for assignment earlier in the week. The Giants already had an open 40-man spot to accommodate Basabe.

The 24-year-old Basabe’s only big league experience came back in 2023, when he totaled 94 plate appearances across 31 games and batted .218/.277/.310. That inauspicious debut came after a more encouraging .296/.351/.426 output (95 wRC+) in Triple-A that year. However, the 2024 campaign brought significant declines for Basabe in nearly every meaningful category. He spent th entire year in Triple-A Durham, hitting .248/.293/.336. Basabe’s walk rate dropped from 7.3% to 4.9%. His strikeout rate jumped from 15.5% to 18%. His average exit velocity dipped by nearly three miles per hour, while his hard-hit rate fell by a hefty eight percentage points.

Rough as the previous season was, Basabe is regarded as a solid defender who can handle shortstop, second and third. He ranked within the top 10 prospects in Tampa Bay’s system an offseason ago and has a minor league option remaining, so the Giants can send him to Triple-A without needing to expose him to waivers.

With Willy Adames at short, Matt Chapman at third and Tyler Fitzgerald at second, there’s no immediate path to Basabe logging any kind of consistent at-bats in the majors, even if he has a big spring showing. However, the Giants’ bench is far less solidified, and he’ll join Brett Wisely, Casey Schmitt and David Villar (among others) in competing for a utility role on Bob Melvin’s bench.

Rays Acquire Alex Faedo

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The Rays have acquired right-hander Alex Faedo from the Tigers, per announcements from both clubs.  Faedo had been designated for assignment by the Tigers last week when they signed Tommy Kahnle. The Rays are sending minor league catcher Enderson Delgado and cash to Detroit. Infielder Osleivis Basabe has been designated for assignment by the Rays in a corresponding move, which MLBTR covered here.

Getting Faedo, 29, is a buy-low move for the Rays. The Tigers grabbed him with the 18th overall pick in 2017 and Baseball America ranked the righty as the #50 prospect in the entire league going into 2018.

But the big league results haven’t matched up to that prospect billing just yet. Faedo has thrown 175 2/3 innings for the Tigers over the past three seasons, allowing 4.51 earned runs per nine. His 20.9% strikeout rate and 9.7% have both been a bit below league average. He is now out of options and would have had a hard time holding a roster spot in Detroit all year, so he got bumped off.

The Rays are seemingly more willing to carry Faedo on the roster, since they are giving up a prospect and cash to get him. Perhaps the hope is that Faedo is in the process of finding a home in the bullpen. He has worked as a starter and a reliever in his big league career, but with a 5.00 ERA out of the rotation and 3.44 ERA from the bullpen. His 22.6% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate as a reliever aren’t outstanding numbers, but better than his 20.2% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate as a starter.

Though he hasn’t had huge punchout stuff, he’s had some intriguing numbers in terms of limiting damage. His 34.4% hard hit rate allowed last year was in the 82nd percentile of qualified pitchers, according to Statcast. His barrel rate was in the 76th percentile and his average exit velocity 65th. His 2023 numbers in those categories were fairly similar.

His out-of-options status will make things a bit challenging for the Rays, a club that normally likes to rotate pitchers on and off the roster with regularity. RosterResource projects the club to run a six-man rotation of Shane McClanahan, Taj Bradley, Ryan Pepiot, Zack Littell, Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen. That leaves a seven-man bullpen consisting of Pete Fairbanks, Edwin Uceta, Garrett Cleavinger, Manuel Rodríguez, Mason Montgomery, Mike Vasil and Faedo. Montgomery is the only one of that relief group that can be optioned and RR has the out-of-options Cole Sulser listed in Triple-A as of this writing.

The roster might not shake out exactly like that, as spring performance and health can certainly change things, but there’s not a ton of flexibility in the relief group at the moment. But if the Rays manage to keep Faedo in the mix, there will be a long-term payoff. He has just under two years of service time at the moment, meaning he can be controlled for five seasons if he continues to hang onto his roster spot and hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration.

For the Tigers, losing Faedo probably stings a little bit, but at least they were able to recoup some potential future value out of a guy who got squeezed off the fringes of the roster. Delgado, 20, was an international signing of the Rays out of Venezuela. Back in July, Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs ranked Delgado as the #37 prospect in the Rays’ system. That report suggests Delgado could carve out a future backup catching role based mostly on his defense, particularly his throwing arm.

The FanGraphs report gives less praise for his offense. He has slashed .215/.337/.322 over three minor league seasons, though he showed some improvement last year with a line of .259/.382/.400. Given his age and that he still hasn’t climbed higher than Single-A, he’ll be a long-term play for the Tigers.

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that Faedo was going to the Rays for Delgado and cash, prior to the official announcements.

Rays Designate Osleivis Basabe For Assignment

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The Rays announced Monday that they’ve designated infielder Osleivis Basabe for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly acquired righty Alex Faedo, whose previously reported trade from Detroit to Tampa Bay has now been formally announced by the clubs.

Basabe, 24, made his big league debut with Tampa Bay in 2023, which now stands as his lone season with MLB work. He appeared in 31 games and tallied 94 plate appearances, hitting .218/.277/.310 during that span. It certainly wasn’t a great debut effort, but the .296/.351/.426 slash (95 wRC+) Basabe had posted in Triple-A Durham was a good bit more encouraging — particularly for someone whom scouting reports praise as a solid defender at either position on the left side of the infield.

The 2024 campaign, however, saw Basabe take a step back in virtually every meaningful category. Those offensive rate stats plummeted to .248/.293/.336 in Triple-A — a drop that left him about 36% worse than league-average at the plate, by measure of wRC+. His walk rate fell from 7.3% to 4.9% as his strikeout rate climbed from 15.5% to 18%. Basabe averaged 89 mph with a 39.7% hard-hit rate with Durham in 2023 but was only at 86.3 mph and 31.3%, respectively, in 2024.

Though Basabe’s 2024 season was nightmarish, he’s only a year removed from ranking as a top-10 prospect in a strong Rays system. He also has a minor league option remaining, so any team that acquires him would be able to send him to the minors without first needing to pass him through waivers. He’s capable of playing any of shortstop, third base or second base, which should add to his appeal. Basabe hits from the right side but has traditionally had more consistent offensive production in right-on-right matchups than he has versus lefties.

The Rays will have five days to trade Basabe. At that point, he’d need to be placed on waivers, as outright waivers are 48-hour process themselves and the maximum window for a DFA to be resolved is one week.

Injury Notes: Albies, Suzuki, Basabe, Gipson-Long

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The Braves placed Ozzie Albies on the injured list yesterday after the star second baseman fractured a toe on a hit-by-pitch. The Athletic’s David O’Brien writes that the Braves expect Albies’ absence to be closer to one month as opposed to the three months he lost when he broke his foot during the 2022 season. While that’d be well beyond the 10-day minimum, it’s far from a worst case scenario.

Atlanta’s typically excellent offense has been the best in MLB over the season’s first few weeks. The Braves lead the majors in all three triple-slash stats and entered Wednesday third in runs (behind the Padres and Dodgers, each of whom have played more games). Albies has been a big part of that, hitting .317/.386/.492 with a pair of longballs over his first 70 plate appearances. The Braves selected David Fletcher’s contract after Albies’ injury to add a glove-first utility option. Luis Guillorme has gotten the start at the keystone in each of the last two days.

A few more health situations of note:

  • An approximate month-long absence also seems to be on the table for Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who went on the shelf on Monday with an oblique strain. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters last night that the injury is in the “four-week range,” although the team will have a clearer timetable once Suzuki’s symptoms subside (X link via Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). One of Chicago’s hottest hitters, Suzuki was off to a .305/.368/.525 start to his third MLB campaign. Mike Tauchman has been pushed into right field action against right-handed pitching, with Alexander Canario recalled as a righty complement in the corner opposite Ian Happ.
  • The Rays were dealt a hit to their infield depth this afternoon. Osleivis Basabe landed on the minor league injured list. Patrick Kinas, broadcaster for the team’s Triple-A affiliate, tweets that Basabe fractured his right wrist when he was by a pitch from Naoyuki Uwasawa in yesterday’s game. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out of action, although it stands to reason it’ll be a significant absence. Basabe has spent this year in Triple-A after being optioned during Spring Training. The righty-hitting shortstop got to the majors late last season, appearing in his first 31 MLB contests. He’s on the 40-man roster as a depth option for a middle infield that is already without Brandon Lowe and Taylor Walls.
  • Sawyer Gipson-Long continues to weigh multiple opinions after experiencing forearm tightness, the Tigers informed reporters (including The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen). Detroit hasn’t specified whether surgery is on the table, yet it’s nevertheless worrisome any time a pitcher is dealing with somewhat nebulous forearm soreness. Gipson-Long began the season on the 15-day injured list after suffering a Spring Training groin strain. He had an impressive four-start MLB debut last September, fanning nearly 32% of opponents with a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings. Gipson-Long wasn’t likely to be in contention for an Opening Day rotation spot but projects as one of Detroit’s better depth starters if healthy.

Rays Using Taylor Walls As Primary Shortstop Down The Stretch

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After being activated from the 10-day IL, Taylor Walls will become the Rays’ primary shortstop, manager Kevin Cash revealed to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Osleivis Basabe will move into a utility role around the infield.

Walls has been with the Rays organization since he was selected in the third round of the 2017 draft. He made his big league debut in 2021 and took on a regular role the following season, flashing the leather at shortstop, second, and third. While he wasn’t particularly effective at the plate, he demonstrated an aptitude for drawing walks and contributed on the basepaths, swiping 14 bags in 19 attempts during his first two seasons.

Prior to suffering an oblique strain, Walls was enjoying a mini breakout in 2023. After posting a .569 OPS and a 70 wRC+ in 196 games throughout his first two seasons, he had a .675 OPS and a 94 wRC+ across his first 79 games. Those are still below-average numbers, but they represented a significant improvement for the young infielder. On top of that, he went 20-for-21 on the bases and drew his walks at one of the highest rates in the American League. In 79 games, he accumulated 1.1 FanGraphs WAR. By naming Walls the primary starter at shortstop for the rest of the season, the Rays are expressing optimism that he’ll pick up right where he left off.

The Rays added Basabe to their 40-man roster this past November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Entering the season, he was a consensus top-15 prospect in the organization. Baseball America praised his “baseball IQ” and his “bat-to-ball skills,” although they gave his glove an average grade. MLB Pipeline also mentioned that the Rays were impressed with his “competitiveness and work ethic” in 2022.

Basabe made his MLB debut on August 13, starting at shortstop in place of Wander Franco, who has since been put on administrative leave while investigators look into allegations he’d had inappropriate relationships with multiple minors. The rookie has started at shortstop in all but two of his team’s games since. He has performed admirably, slashing .255/.327/.383 with a 103 wRC+. The 22-year-old had played only half a season at Triple-A before he was recalled. Nevertheless, he will move into a utility role now that Walls has returned to the active roster. While Basabe put up slightly above-average offensive numbers in his brief cup of coffee, Walls is the better defender and has far more experience facing big league pitching.

Walls is also a switch-hitter, thereby providing his manager with more flexibility in crafting the everyday lineup. Meanwhile, the right-handed Basabe will be able to spell Brandon Lowe at second base with a tough southpaw is on the mound. Lowe has a .536 OPS against left-handed pitching this season.

The Rays will need every advantage they can get in September, as they fight a close battle with the Orioles for the AL East crown. They currently sit 1.5 games back in the division with four games remaining against Baltimore. As Jeff Passan and Juan Recio reported for ESPN, it appears unlikely Franco will return this season with the investigations expected to last into the winter. Thus, Walls will take on a new challenge, becoming the Rays’ starting shortstop in the heat of a division race. The Rays will hope he’s up for the task.

Rays Promote Osleivis Basabe

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August 13: The Rays have now officially recalled Basabe, with left-hander Josh Fleming optioned in a corresponding move.

August 12: The Rays will promote infield prospect Osleivis Basabe to the majors prior to tomorrow’s game with the Guardians, according to Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El ExtraBase (Twitter link).  Basabe is already on Tampa’s 40-man roster, and his first in-game appearance will mark the 22-year-old’s Major League debut.

The Rangers signed Basabe during the 2017-18 international signing period, but then dealt Basabe to Tampa Bay as part of the five-player swap that saw Nathaniel Lowe end up in Arlington.  While Lowe has gone onto become a fixture in the Rangers lineup, it’s rare to see the Rays ever come up short in a trade, and now Basabe looks like an interesting candidate for big-league infield work after a solid season at Triple-A Durham.

Basabe’s hitting took a step up during his 2022 minor league campaign at the high-A and Double-A levels, which earned him his first trip to Triple-A in 2023.  His season at Durham has resulted in a .297/.350/.427 slash line and four homers over 424 plate appearances, with 16 steals as well as 24 doubles and seven triples.  This performance has boosted his prospect stock, as MLB Pipeline (6th) and Baseball America (7th) each rank Basabe within the top seven minor leaguers in the deep Rays farm system.

Both outlets view Basabe as a 60-grade hitter with 55-grade speed, able to beat out some of the many balls that he puts into play with his excellent contact skills.  The power is a question mark, but Basabe’s approach at the plate and ability to draw walks makes him a decent offensive threat even if he might need a bit more pop to stick as a big league regular.  Defensively, Basabe is yet another Rays versatile infield prospect, as he has gotten a lot of time at shortstop, second base, and third base and played solidly well at all three spots.

Speculatively, it could be that Basabe might replace Curtis Mead on the active roster, as Mead hasn’t done much at the plate since making his own MLB debut last week.  The Rays might prefer to give Mead more regular playing time at Triple-A to get his groove back, whereas Basabe might fit more smoothly into a right-handed hitting, part-time infield role.  While the Rays are known for juggling lineups, they’ve gotten into a somewhat regular alignment of Wander Franco at shortstop, Yandy Diaz at first base, Brandon Lowe at second base, and Isaac Paredes at third, leaving little room for Mead, Basabe or anyone to really clock regular at-bats behind these established starters.

Rays Designate Ryan Yarbrough For Assignment

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The Rays announced a number of roster moves in advance of tonight’s deadline to set the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft. Tampa Bay made a trio of trades and, in perhaps their most notable transaction, designated left-hander Ryan Yarbrough for assignment. The Rays also designated reliever Javy Guerra and outfielder Bligh Madris for assignment. Joining the 40-man roster are infielders Curtis Mead, Osleivis Basabe and Greg Jones and pitchers Taj Bradley and Colby White, who’d all have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft.

The move officially brings to an end Yarbrough’s four-plus year run in Tampa Bay. The southpaw debuted in 2018 and spent his first three seasons as a productive innings-eater on the staff. While he wasn’t a traditional starting pitcher, Yarbrough frequently soaked up innings as a bulk pitcher behind an opener. Through the end of the 2020 campaign, he carried a 3.94 ERA in 344 2/3 career innings.

Things have gone off the rails for Yarbrough over the past two seasons. He’s been tagged for an ERA at 4.50 or above in both years, while his average fastball speed has ticked down around 87 MPH after sitting just under 90 earlier in his career. He still throws plenty of strikes and excels at generating soft contact, but his run prevention marks have gone in the wrong direction. Going back to the start of the 2021 campaign, the Old Dominion product has a 4.90 ERA through 50 appearances and 235 frames. The 2022 campaign was particularly challenging, as he was optioned to Triple-A on a couple occasions and missed time with groin and oblique issues.

Yarbrough was in his penultimate offseason of arbitration eligibility. Projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $4.2MM salary if tendered a contract, he’s looked like a trade or non-tender candidate for the past few months. Tampa Bay reportedly shopped him at last week’s GM meetings, but they evidently didn’t find a taker. They can still look to deal him over the next few days, or he can be non-tendered and sent to free agency for the first time.

The Rays acquired Guerra from the Padres in April. He was outrighted off the roster not long after but made it back to the big league club midseason. He provided the Rays with 16 innings of 3.38 ERA ball, but he only managed a 12.9% strikeout rate while walking 11.4% of opponents. The 27-year-old former shortstop throws very hard but hasn’t found much success missing bats at the upper levels.

Madris, 26, was snagged off waivers from the Pirates in September. He didn’t suit up at the big league level in Tampa Bay. He hit .177/.244/.265 through his first 39 MLB games in Pittsburgh. Madris had a much more impressive .297/.366/.510 showing between the two teams’ Triple-A affiliates. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so he could find some interest via trade or waiver claim in the next few days.

As far as the players making it onto the Tampa Bay roster, Mead was one of the easiest calls any team in the majors had to make. A former amateur signee from Australia, the righty-hitting infielder has broken out as one of the sport’s top prospects. Mead slots in 23rd on Baseball America’s most recent top 100, the latest in a long line of excellent infield talents coming up through the system. He hit .298/.390/.532 across 311 plate appearances between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham and should factor into the MLB mix early next season.

Bradley is a top prospect in his own right, appearing 15th on BA’s list. A fifth-round selection out of a Georgia high school in 2018, he’s flown to Triple-A. The right-hander split his age-21 season between Montgomery and Durham, combining for a 2.57 ERA across 133 1/3 innings while striking out 26.5% of batters faced. He draws praise for his fastball-slider combination and should factor into the rotation mix early next season.

Basabe was originally signed by the Rangers out of Venezuela. Dealt to the Rays in the trade that landed Nate Lowe in Arlington, he’s played his way to Double-A. The 22-year-old has experience all around the infield and combined for an excellent .324/.385/.462 mark between High-A Bowling Green and Montgomery this year.

Jones was a first-round pick in 2019 out of UNC-Wilmington. A switch-hitting shortstop/center fielder with blazing speed, he had a rough year in Montgomery. Jones hit .238/.318/.392 with eight homers and a huge 35.8% strikeout percentage in Double-A. He stole 37 bases, though, and the Rays didn’t want to chance losing his defense and athleticism.

White was a sixth-round selection from Mississippi State in that same draft. The 24-year-old is a pure reliever but has an excellent fastball and could factor into the big league bullpen next year. He spent all of this past season on the injured list.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported Yarbrough had been DFA.

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