The Rays have designated shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria for assignment, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). That opens a roster spot for newly-acquired outfielder Tommy Pham.
Hechavarria, 29, has long been viewed as a talented defender at shortstop but has never hit all that much. While he has at times produced palatable numbers at the plate, he has stumbled to a .258/.289/.332 slash in 237 plate appearances this year in Tampa Bay.
While the Rays shopped Hechavarria around at the deadline, they obviously weren’t able to find a taker. It surely did not help that several other glove-first infielders were also available (and, likely, still are). He’s also earning a relatively robust $5.9MM this year in his final season of arbitration eligibility.
The Rays will owe the remainder of that sum unless he’s traded or claimed. Alternatively, if the veteran ends up reaching the open market and later returns to the bigs with another team, the Rays could save a pro-rated portion of the league-minimum salary.
Whether or not he moves straight onto another MLB roster, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see Hechavarria return to the majors in the near-term as a utility infielder. While UZR hasn’t been as enthused as usual with the veteran’s glovework, DRS still grades him as a clear positive and he has a track record of excellent defending.
The expectation in Tampa Bay is that the team will now give an opportunity to top shortstop prospect Willy Adames. The 22-year-old has struggled with the bat in his first 125 MLB plate appearances, slashing just .200/.256/.296, but is widely considered a dynamic talent and entered the season ranked among the game’s twenty or so best prospects.
I would love to see the Brewers go after him. A much better offensive option than Arcia at SS.
Well we have schoop as an option now. If we can get him on a minors deal that’d be great.
+1.1 WAR player vs. Arcia who is playing a below replacement level. ill take the guy playing above RL.
add Adeiny, let Saladino go. Arcia good to have as a late inning defensive sub
But arcia isn’t the starting shortstop anymore. Schoop is.
He would still be a good option to have when Shaw playing 2b is not very good if your trying to make a playoff run.
Depending on Bogaerts’ health. Boston could sign him if he hits the open market. Boegarts was hit in the same wrist area last night as last year. Hopefully a nothing injury but apparently Remy last night made a personal comment about himself and his own wrist injury never being the same. Sox have short term options but they need a real shortstop in the playoffs. Hopefully Bogie but they may seek protection.
Most definitely….
I’m sure that career .635 ops Hechavaria has put up has got the Brewers FO chomping at the bit right now.
Arcia won a gold glove in the minors what are you talking about
Yeah, because if there is one thing the Brewers need it is another infielder.
Wouldn’t mind seeing the Brewers go after him either. I wonder if the Brewers send Arcia down again if that would cause them to have another year of control of Arcia but at the same time do you use this time for the rest of the year to see how Arcia does and if it is time to go into spring training as an open competition between Arcia and Dubon for ss job next year. Either way I don’t believe that there is room to carry both Arcia or Hechavarria until September 1. Simply because Perez is too valuable because he does play a decent outfield when needed
A much better offensive option than Arcia? I haven’t looked at the numbers but I highly doubt that.
Arica is hitting .197 with a .233 on base.
I get what your saying but I think Brewer fans will admit Arcia did need to go down to work on his hitting but at the same time I would say we lost like 3 games in that stretch because of the absents of his defense.i think we all appreciated his defense a lot more now
Gomez must be black mailing someone in order to not get designated.
Still a great glove. Never understood the lack of love for him as a SS. He’ll find a quick home with a contender.
I would love the Cardinals to get him. They need a strong defensive player up the middle.
Not sure the offense could handle another below avg bat this year.
His bat is so hard for me to want for the Cards buuuut his defense. I actually have him on my list of FA I wouldn’t mind the Cards signing.
Jays or O’s?
That makes a lot of sense to add the O’s because that’s the direction of the team
Exactly
He is a FA at the end of this year regardless, so unless the O’s sign him to a multi-year deal – how does this make sense for a rebuilding team?
It doesn’t at all…I was being sarcastic…but guess that didn’t come thru
I was thinking O’s too.
Why would the jays want yet another IF option. They already have way too many guys. Diaz, Travis, Solarte , Drury are all basically the same guy with different worts.
August trades.
Free Agent at the end of the year, he only makes sense for a handful of teams. Can see Oakland having interest, possibly Atlanta, maybe even the Cubs.
I see him being an option for the Padres in the offseason if Galvis decides to go else where or if Preller and co. would like to see someone else before the eventual promotion of Tatis Jr.
I don’t see the Cubs going after Hechavarria. They already have Baez, Bote, Russell, Happ and Zobrist who can play any combo of SS/2B, so there really isn’t a fit for him there IMO.
Hechavarria and Dansby are essentially the same player at this point so I don’t see him to the Braves.
We also have flaherty. I’d rather have Adeiny than Flaherty.
“eventual promotion” ?? Tatis Jr. is in AA with a broken thumb and out for the year. If he makes it up next year before September I will be surprised.
AJ would be smart to trade him soon. Don’t want to be stuck with a Orlando Arcia, JP Crawford, Dansby Swanson, Addison Russel, Ketel Marte, Ahmed Rosario, Tim Anderson, Scott Kingery, Ceaser Hernandez type player on the team. Wow all these recent examples from former “top prospects” just in the past 2-3 years…
What??? That comment made my head hurt reading it.
Well that’s because you don’t watch baseball….if you did you would know exactly what I’m talking about.
Also, couldn’t tell you why you’re on this site since a brief summary of recent failed short stop prospects hurts your head.
For someone like you I recommend that “wizards” game for kids…its free so you won’t have to ask your mom for a credit card #
Well that was rude. You must be fun at parties, huh?
juicemane only came here to do 2 things…Kick some ass and drink some beer…looks like we’re about outta beer…
What the hell guys – start watching baseball!!! Don’t make juicemane mad!
Dude, you know it just hard being a Padres fan these days. Did you know the entire staff of Fangraphs trolls the Padres in all their articles? Its all just sour grapes
1.1 WAR. Someone will want him.
Phillies could be a possibility
Brewers can start Schoop at SS then move him to 2b if they get a lead and “D” is important.
if I remember correctly, it was Jarred Cosart that said back in 2016 that Hech was better than Andrelton. good times.
2014 they were close
Adeiny Hechavarria 200 PO 438 A 14 E
Andrelton Simmons 217 PO 411 A 14 E
thanks!
Obvious trade candidate, good fringe starter that can help any team. Not a guy they’ll be giving away for free but won’t get much, either.
They couldn’t trade him, that’s why they DFA. If nobody wants to trade for him they will be giving him away for free.
You must not be familiar with how August trades work. MLBTR just posted an article about it that could be useful reading.
Let me boil it down for you: multiple teams will be interested in this guy, so if one of those teams really wants to make sure they get him, they will have to pull off a trade. Otherwise, another team with a better waiver priority will land him (remember that all AL teams will get a shot at him before any NL team, due to waiver priority).
Not saying they will get much in the trade but someone will give something for him.
Anyone who thinks Hechy = Simba needs immediate psychiatric attention. Hechy’s cool….same guy as Iglesias……Simba’s in a class by himself, deal with it…..
I’d rather see him in Pittsburgh than the brutal SRod
Amen.
Would love for the Marlins to bring hom back. Jt Riddle and Yadiel Rivera are brutal, and Hech and Rojas can give them actual options at SS
I love how they say that .258 is below palatable. As a white Sox fan, Adeiny would be hitting 5th with that slash line.