The Phillies have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran infielder Ruben Tejada, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. The Primetime Sports client will presumably head to their Triple-A affiliate to open the season.
Outside of a brief, six-game resurgence with the 2019 Mets, we haven’t seen Tejada at the big league level since a rough showing with the Orioles back in 2017. He appeared in 41 games for the O’s that year and managed only a tepid .230/.293/.283 output in 124 trips to the plate.
The vast majority of Tejada’s career has come with the Mets, for whom he served as an oft-used utility infielder from his MLB debut as a 20-year-old in 2010 up through the 2015 season. Tejada logged significant action at shortstop, second base and third base in Queens and, in 2194 plate appearances as a Met, has posted a .254/.328/.322 batting line.
The Phillies currently have Jean Segura (quadriceps strain) and Ronald Torreyes (undisclosed) on the injured list, and they’re not exactly teeming with upper-level infield depth. The hope was that veteran infielder Greg Garcia could serve as this type of depth option, but he opted out of his minor league deal and was given his release earlier this week. As such, the most experienced infield pieces set to open the year in Lehigh Valley were former Red Sox prospect C.J. Chatham — whom the team released in late March but apparently re-signed, as he was announced as part of their Triple-A roster — and versatile Scott Kingery. Kingery has bounced between the Majors and the alternate site multiple times this year already as he looks to return to form after a disastrous 2020 season.
[comment about Chase Utley]
I’ve always hated Chase Utley
Ironic, given your username. Both players gave their all every game. Played old school ball.
ditto. great athlete, terrible person. seems to be a few too many of those these days. or i guess they’ve always been and i’m just starting to notice it more. anyway, best of luck to tejada. never been a great hitter, but i remember him always putting up solid enough defense.
Utley is not a terrible person. Even former Mets players (not named Tejada) will tell you that, but everyone can believe the narrative they want. He did make a terrible slide though.
He’s far from a terrible person. You might want to check out some of the charities and things that he does (and has done) off the field.
He played hard. With guile and grit. What Philly expects of their players. Was that slide aggressive? Yes, but so was everything he did.
Utley went into that slide with every intention of breaking up the double play, not breaking someone’s leg. If anyone would be sympathetic, it would be Utley. How many players slid into him aggressively during his career?
He doesn’t need to be a terrible person to make an unquestionably dirty play. He was nowhere near the base or ever made an attempt to reach for it.
@spanky. Whether you like him hate him. Good or bad person. That slide was dirty.
Lol. Let’s not start this debate. 2015 was a long time ago.
You lost all credibility when you called Utley a terrible person. Do some research.
Pepperidge Farm remembers when we all forgot about that slide and got on with our lives.
Tejada is still trying to get on with his.
[comment about Drew Robinson making the Giants minor-league roster, which is much more newsworthy than these little minor league signings, considering his story last year in his failed suicide attempt]
Either stfu or go start your own website.
Egon man just stop complaining.
Tejada is only 31?!
Came up when he was 20! Always was surprised because it’s not that he was a stud prospect or anything, just was aggressively pushed up after signing at 17.
Good luck Ruben
Great kid, but hadn’t been useful at the major level for s long time. He’s AAA filler. I do think he has a future as an infield coach, though.
Oh the irony.