The Rockies have signed catcher Jorge Alfaro to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.
It’s sort of a birthday present for Alfaro, who turns 30 on Sunday. He began the season on a minor league deal with the Red Sox and was assigned to Triple-A Worcester, where he put up an excellent line of .320/.366/.520 through 43 games. That production amounted to a 119 wRC+, indicating he was 19% better than league average.
He had the ability to opt out of that contract on June 1 and July 1 and exercised the first of those opt-outs, hardly a surprise given his hot start to the year. The Red Sox could have prevented Alfaro from getting away by giving him a spot on their roster but decided to stick with their tandem of Reese McGuire and Connor Wong, allowing Alfaro to return to the open market.
Alfaro now finds a new home with the Rockies, an organization that has some question marks in its catching corps. Elias Díaz is the club’s primary backstop and he is having a solid season, hitting .299/.355/.459 for a wRC+ of 107. He’s also been worth three Defensive Runs Saved on defense. However, he was removed from today’s game after he was hit in the mask by a foul ball. “We were cautionary taking him out, based on a blow last night and that one today,” manager Bud Black told Patrick Lyons of DNVR. “I think it made sense to take him out. (Trainer Keith Duggar) is confident that he’s going to be fine. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”
The club’s backup is Austin Wynns, who is hitting just .190/.255/.238 this year for a wRC+ of 28. Brian Serven is on the 40-man roster and currently on optional assignment with Albuquerque, though he’s hitting just .260/.289/.438 at that level for a 64 wRC+ and had a line of .130/.130/.174 in the majors earlier this year.
The Rockies will now add Alfaro into the mix amid those other options. Once a top 100 prospect, Alfaro hasn’t quite clicked in the majors despite continually crushing in the minors. He’s hit .256/.305/.396 in his major league career for a wRC+ of 89 and also received subpar marks for his defensive work.
If Alfaro can get back up to the majors, the timing will potentially be important for his future status. He currently has five years and 83 days of major league service time. Since a new “year” flips over at 172 days, he is currently 89 days shy of the six-year mark that comes with automatic free agency. If he were called up in the middle of July or later and finally had his long-awaited breakout, he would come up short of that mark and could be retained by the Rockies via arbitration for another season. It’s also possible that his new deal contains opt-outs similar to his deal with the Red Sox, though that’s not publicly known at this time.
And the Padre fans can voice their disappointment below:
I was starting to cry but The Sanchize handed me a Kleenex. We’re good.
Would definitely have liked to have Alfaro return rather than Nola get the nod as the backup guy till Campy comes back.
I always enjoyed rooting against Barbie Girl. Guess I will have to get used to rooting for him. That’ll be weird. It still feels weird rooting for Kris Bryant.
Barbie Girl?
Just what I always called him because his long blonde hair that stuck out from the catcher’s mask.
Is this some kind of time warp? Gregory Polanco? Pirates trade Josh Bell?
Yeah it’s done that before. Headlines from several years earlier show up. They should have it fixed before too long.
Thanks, but I was hoping for a time warp where I am younger and can place a bet on the Phillies to win the World Series.
Georgie as the Fans called him is still a Favorite LFGSD!!
I think he might have RUBBED the FO the Wrong Way.
He simply CAN NOT CATCH. Scouts from the Red Sox signed him as their emergency catcher. They were surprised at how bad of a catcher he is, and they wondered if he was hurting the pitching development at AAA, so he caught some, but DH a lot. They saw him as an emergency catch only if Wong or McGuire got hurt. He has no role on an MLB team as most have better 1B and OF. He strikes out way, way to much, and the only big thing some of the fans raved about was his hair…. Really.
He has a bat is he horrible at catching or something. If I remember correctly he’s ok at some aspects and not great at others. I don’t understand how a team wouldn’t want a bat like this on the bench to PH for a light hitting cathcer at the very least
Wow. That took a very long time I was sure some catcher or DH deficient team would give him a major league deal after he crushed the ball in AAA.
Good for Alfaro…hopefully he kicks ass except against my Friars!
”The” Friars.
This is a good addition for the Rockies. I see him replacing Wynns before the All-Star break. Speaking of All-Stars vote for Diaz as he deserves to be the starting catcher for the NL.
You honestly believe he is more deserving than Will Smith?
Yes, this season he is more deserving than Smith. Diaz has a 33% rate in throwing runners out. Smith is 8%, Murphy 29%, but Murphy has better offensive numbers. I’m sure Diaz will at least be the player represented by the Rockies in the ASG.
Yeah for sure. They might get a reliever like Suter in as well, but not likely. Although I will say Suter has pitched like an AS so far this year.
I agree with Suter being considered as well. He’s been solid out of the pen.
Sean Murphy is going to be the starting catcher for the National League this year. Will Smith is #2
Sean Murphy is having a better season than any of them
Good point on Murphy.
Regarding thrown out percentage, would be pretty funny if that was the number that leads to AS appearances but anybody catching Syndergaard shouldn’t have that held against them. Runners are halfway to the next base before he even releases the ball and he already gave up 20 this season.
He’s got pretty hair, but that’s about it. Loads of natural ability, but limited baseball IQ. Not what you need in a MLB catcher.
“If Alfaro can get back up to the majors, the timing will potentially be important for his future status. He currently has five years and 83 days of major league service time. Since a new “year” flips over at 172 days, he is currently 89 days shy of the six-year mark that comes with automatic free agency.”
Wasn’t he just a free agent and no one wanted him? He had to take a minor league deal from the Rockies.
He was a free agent because he was non-tendered by the Padres
Melch I think for clarity on the point it is necessary to extend you quote for one more sentence that was in the original paragraph.
“If he were called up in the middle of July or later, and had his long awaited breakout…”
See how that changes the narrative as to his ability to look forward to FA. It takes the IF … to make the point that you are criticizing by stopping short.
So if he has a good two months, while still being a below average C, that will erase the memory of the 5 previous years?
Styme – have you not seen how free agency works?
Someone would throw money at him after 2 months of “finally justifying the prospect ranking”
Not a Realmuto deal, but a contract, yes.
And please do not consider this to mean that I agree with it – just saying it will happen.
Bloom does it again on player talent! Alfaro is a better hitter than at least one of the current two Red Sox back-stops. There is a shortage of catching talent in MLB and you let him walk, without us, the fans, even seeing him in a MLB game.
There’s a shortage of catching in MLB yet all Alfaro has been able to find since last year are minor league deals. Seems to me Bloom nailed his value dead on.
Agree Bloom got this one right
I loved the Alfaro signing since I didn’t think Wong was far enough along. But this is just like with Iglesias. For some reason, Red Sox fans think we should be adding guys that no one else adds.
So your figuring here is that Bloom made a mistake by not giving him the same major league slot that all 29 other GMs wouldn’t give him? As I’ve told FP and others, and for many, many years, just because a RS GM does the same thing that every other GM does, doesn’t necessarily make him wrong.
I remember when the Phils got him from Texas. They said his bat was a can’t miss.
There was even some talk of moving him to RF to let his bat fully develop and his arm would play very well out there….
Good times.
And some freaked out about trading away the future, in Jorge and Sixto, for JT. So far, bullets dodged.