The Dodgers have designated right-hander Yadier Alvarez for assignment, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Alvarez was reinstated from the restricted list, but was designated in lieu of occupying a 40-man roster spot. He was expected to pitch yesterday, but was a late scratch from his first spring appearance.
The Dodgers awarded Alvarez with a $16MM bonus when he signed with the organization as an international amateur in July 2015. He quickly made a name for himself as a consensus top-100 prospect, but has failed to live up to that billing with three unproductive seasons plagued by persisting control issues.
Today marks yet another setback for the 23-year-old flamethrower. He was placed on the restricted list in September of 2019, capping off a season in which injuries limited him to just two minor league starts. After showing up to Spring Training unexpected this year, he was expected to get a chance to compete for reps, but was unable to make his first appearance yesterday when he “didn’t feel right,” according to Dave Roberts.
Whether Alvarez’s future is with the Dodgers or another team, he’ll have a long way to go to mitigate concerns about his ability to be a productive Major Leaguer. Given his prospect pedigree and undeniable arm talent, Alvarez may be of interest to several teams who hope to unlock the scintillating potential Alvarez showed as a teenager. Given his profound control issues (career 5.1 BB/9 in the minors), it seems most likely that he winds up in a bullpen role, but he’s still just 23 and there’s no question that his stuff could play in any role.
Dude is always a beast in my OOTP sims.
Ha! Agreed!
At least for the first season.
Say someone claims him, does anyone know what is left on his contract??
OR
In other words, does anyone know what the claiming team would be stuck paying??
To anwser your question its what ever the minor league price is. That 16 mil was bonus so it wont be part of his courrent contract
you know, the ootp sims come pretty darn close to a players actually production
Is that something on The Show?
it’s a separate game that’s on PC
check it out, it’s one of the best sims out there imho
If there aren’t any WWII German zombie warriors to shoot, I don’t want to know about it. Those are the only simulators that prepare us for the future. That and Donkey Kong, for when the apes rise up and attack us with their wicked bad barrels.
Chief 2 hand jack
bust
Pirates.
He was still on the Restricted List so this won’t open a 40 Man Roster slot. He’s still owed $15M but didn’t seem to want to pitch yesterday which was clearly the last straw.
In the article you just commented on it states that he was reinstated from the restricted list, so he will in fact no longer occupy a spot on the 40-man roster.
Players on the restricted list don’t count towards the 40 man roster, so this doesn’t open a spot, however, it does mean they don’t have to worry about opening a spot for him.
The report initially was that his arm didn’t feel right, so its possible they just didn’t want to have to dfa someone else to make room.
If he first was reinstated, he likely had to be added back to the 40 man roster then. The story says recently reinstated so I’m assuming they were separate transactions.
Exactly. Restricted list is like an N/A spot so when reinstated either add to 40 man or release.
Dodgers released.
Erm no
They designated him for assignment. They have 10 days to trade him, lose him on a waiver claim… or if neither happens, they could then outright him off the 40 man
Anyone who claims him has to add him to their 40 man as well
It was changed to 7 days. It’s no longer 10.
Missed that change thx. Rest still applies, ie he’s still dodger property atm. He’s not released, at this point at least
He’s a talented player, but the Dodgers are good enough and deep enough that they don’t have to put up with his crap. The Mariners or Pirates might be a little more nurturing.
He could get a chance to close for the Buccos after Kela gets traded midseason
Do you realize how badly he sucks at command? He hasn’t made it past AA dude and hasn’t pitched much in the last 2 years
He’s not helping any major league team this year
Damn and this is the guy we decided to pursue over Yoan Moncada smh
Is not like the Dodgers need Moncada
Could’ve made Lux a major trade chip though.
They are so high on Lux there is no chance he would ever be traded
Lux has showed he’s a stud and he’s the #2 prospect right now he’s untouchable
Yeah who needs great major league hitters!
“After showing up to Spring Training unexpected this year” leaves a whole lot to the imagination. I wonder if we’ll ever hear more about how and why that could have happened.
Well, the Dodgers could have played Moncada at third and Lux at second
Moncada would have been nice but the Dodgers have been amazing with the farm and still are. Can’t bat 1000.
I’d rather have Lux than Yoan
Apples and oranges comparison at this point in time. Gavin Lux looks to have his MLB future at 2B with the Dodgers while Yoan Moncada is clearly the core 3B of the White Sox going forward.
I doubt it was as cut and dry as choosing between Alvarez and Moncada.
For one, moncada’s bonus was 2x as high as Alvarez, which means the penalty was also 2x as high
Moncada cost almost 65M. Alvarez was ~32M. That’s a big difference…
Yep. The price for Moncada would have been significantly higher.
It was more so the entire lot that they liked. But yes, Alvarez was a big part of that lot. Guys they were able to move in their TDL/offseason trades Diaz, Cruz, Brito, Alvarez were also in that class, along with Estevez. They asked Moncada to wait to maximize that class but for obvious reasons he wasn’t willing. In that sense sure, but in other sense the lot was somewhat crucial to adding to their playoff roster, without depleting their farm capital. Due to superfluous parts, and their farm depth they parted with a good amount of talent, but they drafted well and developed well. That class aided in the acquiring of Machado, Watson, Martin, and the one everyone discusses Josh Field. So if you’re playing hindsight 20/20, just the value in that lot was more significant than Moncada, which has to be taken into account.
This is a very good point
Dude was just a top prospect too crazy how fast it changes
Considering he was reportedly an a**hole surely contributed to it. The guy supposedly had a horrible attitude.
Somebody will grab him
Pirates
After losing Graterol, maybe the Twins could take a chance on Alvarez’s upside. His attitude issues obviously are a concern, but I feel the Twins’ new approach could potentially wear him down.
Think of it this way, LAD has built a player development machine… and Alvarez barely made it onto the field here. He needs a major reality check, not playing when he wants to
I don’t think many teams want to add such a problem person but who knows, there’s always Houston 😉
If he has talent someone will give him a shot Sometimes a change of scenery helps. If not, he’ll just get DFA’d again. Not really a risk to whichever club picks him up.
Yeah, a 40 man roster spot
You just lock him in a windowless room and blast “Love Shack” on a loop at high volume until he agrees to behave. I’m pretty sure that’s how the real Jack Bauers of the world wear people down.
It worked on Manuel Noriega
I missed what caused him to go restricted. What was the cause?
Multiple unexcused absences for practice and games. Apparently he got professional help this offseason but LAD wasn’t impressed with his “not feeling right”
dodgerblue.com/dodgers-injury-news-yadier-alvarez-…
Somebody will take a chance on him.
Yeah findingnimmo, WHAT did he do?
Decided to take his multimillion dollar opportunity for granted after getting handed 16 mil for doing nothing.
Have the Giants claimed him yet?
The White Sox seem a logical destination for Yadier Alvarez. The have a fondness for Cuban players, pitchers with power arms regardless of command issues while also having a history of picking up Dodger rejects.
Whitesox??
$16MM bonus!? That’s crazy, I thought that was a typo
Seriously tho
Put him with Cooper and maybe he can tweak his mechanics like he did with Giolito
Lmfao yeah just the mechanics need tweaking
Ya it’s pretty questionable whether anyone gives him a chance.
I say Pirates because they’re already biting the bullet with Kela and Alvy could potentially be next in line at trade deadline after they dump Kela
He said he couldn’t get loose, and started to stiffen up. They sent him for more tests, but clearly believe he’ll pass waivers and just send him back to the minors. At 23, he still has a lot of time to straighten up and become a productive major leaguer.
“Just hang loose, blood. She gonna catch up on the rebound on the med side.”
“What it is, big momma? My momma don’t raise no dummy. I dug her rap.”
“Cut me some slack, Jack….chump don’t want no help, chump don’t get no help. Jive-ass fool ain’t got no brains, anyhow.”
And Leon’s getting LAAAARGER
-Maybe we ought to turn on the search lights now.
-No…that’s just what they’ll be expecting us to do…
Angels need pitching prospects to develop.
The guy went from earning essentially nothing to being a multimillionaire. I wonder if the money and independence went to his head. Hopefully he saved. Talent and health can be fickle. Wonder if the Dodgers tried to at least trade him.
From what we know, it was exactly that. “I’m a 16M prospect, I’ll practice when I want, stay in the dugout, go to road games not starting… he was just a bad apple and his lack of appearances Over multiple seasons confirm this
Someday when he’s too old to play he will regret being an idiot. I bet that 16m goes fast.
Indians need to be all over this
He is still young and could figure out the control issues. If I was him, I’d head overseas for a few years and figure things out. I’d probably wouldn’t go to KBO league though. Maybe Japan or China leagues would be safer for him. Hopefully the language barrier wouldn’t hurt his ability to figure out his control. I believe a few more years in the minors on US soil wouldn’t improve his chances of “figuring it out”. Japan or China would have someone there to help him master his craft daily. I feel the minors wouldn’t have the daily personnel to help this kid out unlike Japan or Chinese leagues. It wouldn’t hurt him to try overseas baseball rather than “mainland” baseball.
It sounds like his problem is attitude. I don’t think that throwing him into the midst of a morally questionable cesspool of society is the answer. But, what the hell…let’s Deer Hunter Walker this kid and see what happens! My money is on the kid becoming (locally) famous before the fatal bullet, Walker-style. “Nicky!”
Wow, Shannon…A for effort in your attempt to sound intelligent. I was very convinced that was your goal.
Hope the Dodgers can get something back for this guy. What a waste, but it is what it is. Keep it movin!
Yeah as a Dodgers fan, I’m not too broken up about it. If the guy has a bad attitude, better to just keep him away from the team. By all accounts, the chemistry has been great with the Dodgers, especially since certain moves prior to last season. The farm has been so great in recent years and the talent on the team is so deep, there is no reason to coddle one potentially bad apple. I look at the Dodgers and I think, thank goodness Kasten stepped in and prevented Friedman from hiring Gabe Kapler as manager. Roberts may not be perfect, but he has shown that he is a very good manager who seems to get along great with the players. That decision was huge. Kapler instead of Roberts and the chemistry on this team would likely have been a lot different.
Not as bad as Rusney
The Dodgers very own Yasmani Tomas!
Meant to send him to the Trashtros instead of Yordan Álvarez
More than moncada, this is prob the more reasonable “coulda woulda shoulda”. I’d bet money we turned down their ask for Alvarez before they settled on a younger hitter who was seen as just a DH even at 17
Course just a dh is a major undersell lol
There’s a woman involved in this story. I just know it
I know nothing about this kid, but looking at his numbers, I dont see a huge issue. Is there something I’m missing?