Per Dan Hayes of the Athletic, the Indians have acquired IF Adam Rosales from Minnesota for cash considerations.
It’s another stop for the well-traveled Rosales, 35, who spent much of last season at Cleveland’s AAA affiliate, where he slashed .239/.313/.445 with 18 homers in 428 plate appearances. With AAA-Rochester this season, and the aid of a juiced-up new ball in play across the Triple-A level, Rosales is off to a slow start, slashing a meager .194/.263/.222 across the season’s first 20 games.
An 11-year MLB vet, the former Red, Diamondback, Athletic, Ranger, Padre and Indian has had occasional success at the MLB level, most recently in 2016 with San Diego, where he slugged 13 homers in a mere 248 PA (good for a .495 slugging percentage), en route to a very solid 113 wRC+/1.7 fWAR season. Much of his success – he owns a career 92 wRC+ mark – has come against southpaws, against whom Rosales boasts a respectable .240/.313/.395 line.
Still, the best of Rosales’ days look to be behind him: he’s struggled mightily at the big-league dish the last two seasons as his walk rate’s taken a nosedive and his chase rate has exploded. Opportunities seems scant at Progressive Field, though the club does continue to scour the landscape for help against left-handed pitching, against whom the team’s posted an AL-worst 58 wRC+.
This makes no sense to me.
Sucks at AAA, so maybe he acquired for help on Akron this year.
hey man, AAA teams need veteran presents too lol
Akron is AA…
Would you prefer Michael Martinez?
Yes. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I threw up in my mouth.
At some point, Nick Punto was cloned into all these guys.
Hahahaha! Perfect.
I’d prefer like 100 guys at AAA more who have never gotten a shot despite putting up numbers over both those clowns.
hush. francona may hear you
Clearly the cash they gave the twins for Rosales was burning a hole in someone’s pocket because he has shown zero signs of life so far this year.
Somebody in Minny needed enough money to buy a latte…
Must’ve got him for a water cooler and jock strap.
Depth
The legend of The Rosie Go Round lives on.
The Indians will now put Rosales on waivers, where he will be claimed by the Rangers, then waived and claimed by the A’s, then waived and claimed by the Rangers, then waived and claimed by the A’s, then…
We ACTUALLY have no room for him anywhere, for a change.
I hope the Twins pick him up
Guys like this should live in one town and sign for the home team or the road team for every series. Could maybe live in the NE and have a lot more options.
cant me any worse than Kipnis or the other Bum Ramirez!
Brilliant!
One thing I will not miss from “old school baseball” that’s nearly over: the reign of incredibly bad hitting utility players who are only on the team because they can play multiple positions (also usually not great??? side note why are these guys like Rosy never even gold glove level anywhere? It’s like, sure, he can “play” OF but he’s actually terrible there and his bat isn’t one that should ever be at 1B).
It’s funny because now superstars are getting asked to play anywhere (Bellinger CF/1B, Bryant 3B/OF) so if you can’t hit but can play tons of positions not-great, then you’re out of luck now. Pitchers hitting, and bad hitting/not-elite defending UTL guys, both gotta go. Worst aspect of roster building. Just get good hitters to stand at 3B, don’t make us watch Adam Rosales play.
The Indians seem to carry at least one of those guys every year too. Michael Martinez, Max Moroff, Mike Aviles, Erik Gonzalez (who I liked a lot more but he still wasn’t much of a hitter)…the list goes on.
I get the idea of maximizing a roster spot by having a guy that can back up multiple positions, but it’s also kind of pointless when they don’t add any defensive value at any of those positions and they can’t hit their weight.
Spot on, MC, and the current option of Moroff continues to confuse me, especially with how Ryan Flaherty is performing in Columbus. He seems more versatile and sounder defensively, with a way better bat……which isn’t saying much.
So let me get this straight. A few days ago, Cleveland sold Cameron Maybin, a right-handed hitting outfielder (arguably their strongest lineup need) to the Yankees. Now they used the money to buy a weak-hitting 35-year-old infielder? Huh?
Cleveland is operating with a Mad Genius plan that no one in the world is smart enough to comprehend. Just to mess with all of us, they are going to sign Mike Olt to DH and Erasmo Ramirez to be their #3 starter because, they can. That’s why.
A $2 bill never traveled so fast, now he’ll be flipped to the Jays for a Toonie
Man, Adam Rosales is made out of Teflon.