The Padres announced this evening they’ve claimed right-hander Kyle Tyler off waivers from the Angels. In a corresponding move, reliever Javy Guerra has been designated for assignment.
It’s the second time in three weeks the Friars have claimed Tyler, who has made the run through the waiver wire since the end of the lockout. Originally an Angel, he was designated for assignment and landed with the Red Sox. Boston designated him a few days later, and San Diego claimed him. The Padres waived him last week, and the Angels grabbed him back. Two days after that, Los Angeles tried to pass him through waivers again. As it has for the past three times, that effort failed, and Tyler winds up changing hands.
While his name has made its way around the transaction log, Tyler himself has been shuttled around the country reporting to various destinations. The righty tells Sam Blum of the Athletic he’s flown from Arizona to Florida, back to Arizona, to Washington state, then to his Oklahoma City home within the past couple weeks as he’s bounced from team to team. “I’m ready for this to stop and to just have the opportunity to play, and prove my worth,” he told Blum.”(Show) whether I’m good enough to be on a 40-man roster to stay there.”
Tyler started 14 of his 20 appearances between Double-A Rocket City and Triple-A Salt Lake last season. He worked 86 innings of 3.66 ERA ball between the two levels, punching out a solid 25.3% of opponents against an impressive 6.9% walk rate. Baseball America ranked the University of Oklahoma product #39 in the Angels farm system this winter, praising his above-average command. With all three minor league option years remaining, he’s proven an appealing depth add for a few organizations but has lost his roster spot at each turn before having a chance to pitch.
This time around, Tyler must have almost passed through unclaimed. Jayson Stark of the Athletic reported last month the new collective bargaining agreement dictates a team that has already claimed a player off waivers moves to the back of the order if that player is waived again for the rest of the season. That indicates that at least every team besides the Red Sox passed on Tyler before the Padres got a chance to bring him back into the fold.
If they keep him on the 40-man roster this time, San Diego can stash Tyler in the upper minors as depth. That wasn’t the case for Guerra, who is out of options. The Friars were left to either carry him on the big league club or remove him from the 40-man entirely.
A former well-regarded shortstop prospect, Guerra moved to the mound in 2019 after his bat stalled out in the upper minors. He was already on the 40-man roster by virtue of his time as an infielder. That didn’t afford the organization much time to experiment with him in the minor leagues, as Guerra had exhausted his final option year in 2019. San Diego was reluctant to expose the right-hander to waivers, as his fastball routinely threatened triple digits.
Guerra’s inexperience on the mound was evident in his results, however. He owns an 8.46 ERA in 27 2/3 MLB innings, striking out just 16.5% of batters faced with an underwhelming 8% swinging strike rate. The Friars were clearly reluctant to risk losing Guerra in the belief he has the potential for better numbers, but they’ll take the chance to bring Tyler back and get a little more roster flexibility in the bullpen. San Diego has a week to trade Guerra or try to pass him through waivers.
Angels just getting ready to claim him back again in a few weeks.
At least he doesn’t have to go far
He just U-turned on the 405
57 or the 5… 405 is too far West 😀
Wouldn’t he take the Pacific coast highway?
Again!
Kyle “Boomerang” Tyler. He will be back.
I wished we would hold on to him. I see others I would much rather let go of..
cant make this stuff up lol
Sure I could. Lots of people could. What, you and/or The Universe gets to dictate the limits our imaginations?
Rejected.
he’s been on 3 teams this year in what 4 transactions?
Padres were going to have to DFA Guerra anyways when Garcia was ready to come off the IL since Guerra is out of options so might as well grab Tyler back for the 40 man.
Dennis Lin tweeted that Gore is in SF with the team, I wonder if he’s the corresponding call up to the 28 for Guerra’s spot in the meantime.
So in other words when Garcia comes bay Tyler will get DFA’d again.
I obviously wanted the Angels to keep him. But at this point I’m just feeling bad enough for him I want him to find a home. Padres are a nice home.
No the difference is Kyle Tyler has options remaining, whereas Guerra doesn’t. It’s a 28 man roster issue for Guerra and a 40 man roster issue for Tyler.
The Padres can just option Tyler to AAA if they need space on the 28 man for Garcia, but with Guerra he can’t be sent down to the minors without being DFA’ed/clearing waivers first, so he has to be removed from the 40 man roster.
In other words, to clear a spot on the active roster the Padres don’t have to DFA Tyler when Garcia comes back (they can just freely send him to AAA), but they would need to DFA Guerra.
Kid’s numbers have been good in the minors. Seems like a dark horse to do some damage in the show.
I’m sure he’s tuckered out good luck javi
1 week later: Angles claim Kyle Tyler off waivers form Padres.
3rd teams a charm…good luck kid!
And this year’s honorary Oliver Drake Award goes to….
Ha, just looked up Drake to see the 5 times in one year he was claimed.
Exactly.
Seems like this happens once every couple of years. Pretty sure there was a catcher who did the rounds a couple years ago too.
Jacob Nottingham maybe? Let’s also not forget the legendary Adam Rosales
Sad to see Guerra get cut. I was hoping he’d become the Panamanian Ohtani
Seems like a lot of “I’ll” sounds for a 9 letter full name.
Dipoto is getting lazy. Think of all the transactions he could have done. Cut a guy get another cut him a couple days later. And so on.
Can someone claim Mayers?
Easy turbo its appearance 2 for him, The only thing Mayers did wrong was walking the lead off guy. Something they did to often in the game. That HR would of been an out almost all the time, but they had that Wrigley field blowing hard straight out today.Mayers plays well in an mid to low leverage BP guy.
Guerra is a good example of how MLB’s player option rules can hurt a player as much as they protect them. It prevents teams from sending major league qualified players back down to the minors, once they have five years service time while on the 40 man roster (i.e. I think it’s five years of options, though it may be four), without giving that player the opportunity to transfer to a team that will put him on their active (26 man) roster. It prevents teams from stock piling talent in the minors without giving the player a chance to play on a major league roster. On the other hand, in a few select cases (e.g. such as a position player converting to pitching), even though that player isn’t qualified for a major league job, he might have the promise to develop further back in the minors. It seems like an MLB “up or out” rule.
On the other hand, once EVERY team has passed on him, he could be released and then signed by any team to a minor league contract, and that might be in Javy’s best interests. Keeping him on the major league roster has done him no favors. He needs regular playing time outside the bright lights of a major league stadium.
It just seems that it would be better if the MLB allowed a “player options – waiver” by the player himself. In other words, a team like the Padres asks a player out of options, like Guerra, to accept an assignment to the minors to work on his game, he refuses, then he is DFA’d and other teams can pick him up for cash or a trade. If he accepts, he’s sent to the minors, and the team would be obligated to sign him to a major league contract or release him, by the end of that year. (There is money involved, i.e. Guerra is making the major league minimum, and by accepting that option, his pay scale would change (i.e. probably negotiated as part of the parent teams option offer.)
watch, he’ll clear waivers and they’ll get to send him down and the last 2 years of handwringing will be for naught
I think they’ve carried him on the MLB roster for long enough that other teams have seen his struggles and there’s a good shot he clears waivers.
It might be a different story if they had DFA’ed him 2 years ago because someone else might have been more willing to roll the dice on him, earlier in his conversion to pitcher but at this point it’s just pretty clear he doesn’t belong on an active MLB roster.
Tyler’s numbers look better than Guerras numbers
there needs to be a limit on how many times a team can relaim and DFA a player per year
For sake of argument… why?
Wonder if this guy has unpacked in the past three months. Somebody give this guy a uniform and let him play some baseball!
Javy Guerra was a classic example of Preller’s roster mismanagement and poor understanding of player development. Guerra took up a valuable and much-needed roster spot for three years while trying to learn how to pitch at the big league level.
Kyle Tyler will be much more useful to the team.