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Rene Rivera

Latest On Marcus Stroman

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Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman hasn’t debuted this year because of a tear in his left calf muscle, but the club’s No. 2 starter continues to make progress in his recovery. Stroman got through a four-inning simulated game unscathed on Friday, Tim Healey of Newsday relays.

Manager Luis Rojas said Stroman had “a very productive day,” though it remains unclear when the 29-year-old will be able to rejoin the Mets’ rotation.

Without Stroman, who’s facing a key year as a high-profile pending free agent, the Mets have turned to left-hander David Peterson to fill the void in their starting staff. That has gone well so far, as Peterson turned in 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball in a win over the Red Sox on Tuesday. As for the rest of New York’s rotation, back-to-back NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom has been his usual self thus far, and Steven Matz and Michael Wacha have prevented runs with aplomb through a combined three starts. However, Rick Porcello took a beating at the hands of the Braves in his first Mets start last Sunday. Porcello’s back on the mound in Atlanta on Friday.

Elsewhere on the Mets’ roster, the club has placed catcher Rene Rivera on the 10-day injured list with a hyperextended left (non-throwing) elbow and recalled righty Franklyn Kilome, per Healey. Rivera has joined Tomas Nido in starting one game behind the plate for the Mets this season, but the lion’s share of work has unsurprisingly gone to Wilson Ramos.

Rivera’s injury means the 25-year-old Kilome may get a chance to make his major league debut after working back from October 2018 Tommy John surgery. Kilome, whom the Mets acquired from the Phillies for infielder Asdrubal Cabrera just a few months before he underwent surgery, logged a 4.03 ERA/3.17 FIP with 9.95 K/9 against 2.37 BB/9 over 38 innings in his first action with the New York organization two years ago.

Mets Add Rene Rivera To 40-Man Roster

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The Mets have added catcher Rene Rivera to the 40-man roster, according to Tim Healey of Newsday. The 36-year-old Rivera signed a minor league contract with the Mets in January and was named to the 60-player pool.

This offseason was the second consecutive winter in which the Mets brought Rivera aboard on a minor league pact, and the third time they’ve done so since 2016.

Rivera figures to be penciled firmly into the Mets’ third catcher spot, behind starter Wilson Ramos and Tomas Nido. Last year he emerged as Noah Syndergaard’s “personal catcher,” and while Syndergaard won’t be on the field this year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Rivera is nonetheless respected as a solid defensive catcher and offers serviceable depth beyond Ramos and the light-hitting Nido.

Rivera himself doesn’t offer much offensively, with a career batting line of just .221/.272/.354 over 1,547 plate appearances. And while he only got into 9 games for the Mets last year, he evidently brought enough to the table to earn himself a spot on the 40-man roster. With teams deploying a three-player taxi squad, one of whom is required to be a catcher, it seems that Rivera is tailor-made for the role.

 

Mets, Rene Rivera Agree To Minors Deal

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The Mets have agreed to a minor league contract with catcher Rene Rivera, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training for Rivera, who will earn a $1MM salary with up to $300K in incentives if he makes the Mets’ roster.

This is the third time since 2016 and the second offseason in a row in which the Mets have added Rivera on a minors pact. The well-traveled 36-year-old ended up playing in just nine games with the club last season. He spent the majority of the year as a member of the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, with whom he batted .254/.319/.501 and smacked 25 home runs in 396 plate appearances.

Historically, Rivera hasn’t been all that successful at the plate in the majors, where he has hit .221/.272/.354 in 1,547 tries. However, he’s a well-regarded defender who has thrown out an excellent 36 percent of would-be base thieves during his time in the majors and earned the trust of Mets starter Noah Syndergaard.

Rivera will now attempt to work his way back to the bigs with a team whose catching situation isn’t ideal. Wilson Ramos is entrenched as the starter, though he had a somewhat disappointing 2019, and the leading candidate to back him up remains the extremely light-hitting Tomas Nido.

Mets Sign Rene Rivera To Minor League Deal

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March 27: The Mets have announced the signing.

March 25: The Mets have reportedly reached a minor-league agreement with free-agent catcher Rene Rivera, who recently opted out of a deal with the Giants. Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle first reported the Mets’ interest over the weekend (Twitter link), with Jon Heyman of MLB Network reporting today that the sides were in talks (via Twitter). Andy Martino of SNY reported that there was an agreement (Twitter links), with Joel Sherman of the New York Post noting it was a minor-league deal (via Twitter).

This’ll be the second stint with the Mets for Rivera, who also spent time with the club from 2016-17. The reunion comes as something of a surprise; this time last week, indications were that Devin Mesoraco had a strong chance of making the Mets’ roster behind Wilson Ramos. At one point, Mets skipper Mickey Callaway suggested that the Mets could even carry Ramos, Mesoraco and Travis d’Arnaud to open the season.

However, d’Arnaud is now slated to begin the season on the injured list, and Mesoraco’s status is up in the air; as Newsday’s Tim Healey reported this weekend, Mesoraco has decided not to report to Triple-A after being reassigned to minor league camp by the Mets. He’s still under contract, so they’ll need to either grant him his release or place him on the restricted list. With both Mesoraco and d’Arnaud abruptly out of the mix for an Opening Day roster spot, Rivera could leapfrog defensive-minded 24-year-old Tomas Nido as the favorite to serve as a backup to Ramos early in the season.

Rivera, 35, split the 2018 season between the Angels and Braves, hitting a combined .233/.275/.419 in 91 trips to the plate. Rivera routinely posts elite caught-stealing rates and is a perennially solid framer as well, which would make him a quality backup option for the Mets at least until d’Arnaud mends. Over the past five seasons, Rivera is a .225/.280/.372 hitter in 1183 plate appearances.

Giants Release Rene Rivera

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The Giants have released catcher Rene Rivera from his minor league contract, as reported by several members of the Giants beat (including NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic).

Rivera and Stephen Vogt were the two veterans brought into the Giants’ camp on minor league deals to compete with Aramis Garcia for the backup role behind Buster Posey.  Since Posey is recovering from hip surgery that cut his 2018 campaign short, the general consensus was that San Francisco might look for a catcher that could handle more playing time should Posey need more rest days.  Instead, with Posey making good progress this spring, it seems like the Giants are comfortable using the rookie Garcia as the primary backup, as Vogt has already been assigned to Triple-A to begin the season.  (Cameron Rupp was also in the Giants’ camp earlier this spring, though he has since been traded to the Tigers.)

This left Rivera as the odd man out.  Unless he re-signs with the Giants on a fresh minor league deal, Rivera will now look elsewhere as he looks to embark on his 11th Major League season.  Long known for his excellent framing and prowess at throwing out baserunners, Rivera has also posted decent numbers at the plate over the last two seasons — a .247/.297/.428 slash line and 14 homers over 328 PA with the Mets, Cubs, Braves, and Angels.  Given his defensive reputation, Rivera seems like a good candidate to catch on with another team as clubs figure out their catching situations at the end of Spring Training.

Giants, Rene Rivera Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Giants and free-agent catcher Rene Rivera are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). A client of MDR Sports Management, Rivera will head to Major League Spring Training and compete for reserve role behind Buster Posey, who is currently recovering from hip surgery.

Rene Rivera | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Rivera, 35, was limited to 33 games and 91 plate appearances by a right knee injury. When healthy, he connected on four homers and four doubles with a .233/.275/.419 slash — a step back from the solid .252/.305/.431 slash he notched in 74 games between the Mets and Cubs a year prior.

While the veteran Rivera has a bit of pop in his bat (.147 ISO over the past five seasons), he’s known more for his glove than his bat. Rivera boasts an outstanding 37 percent caught-stealing rate in his career and routinely draws excellent framing numbers from Baseball Prospectus.

With Posey on the mend and young Aramis Garcia as the only other primary option on the 40-man roster, catching depth has been a point of emphasis for the Giants this winter. The additions of Rivera and Cameron Rupp (who signed a minor league deal with San Francisco earlier this winter) don’t necessarily rule out the possibility of the Giants adding another backstop option, but they don’t bode well for the prospects of a reunion with Nick Hundley.

Cardinals Rumors: Harper, Martinez, Rays, Pena, Pitching

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The Cardinals have discussed Bryce Harper as part of their talks with Scott Boras about the agent’s various clients, though it remains to be seen if the Cards are truly pursuing the free agent outfielder, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes.  St. Louis wasn’t one of the teams that asked for a private meeting with Harper and his camp in Las Vegas, for instance.  As part of a wide-ranging talk with Goold and other reporters yesterday, Boras didn’t rule any team out of the Harper sweepstakes, and made particular mention of the Cardinals’ resources.  “This is about winning and it’s about a good franchise and ownership, and the reality of it is that franchise is worth billions of dollars and they’re a top-10 revenue team,” Boras said.

Here’s more on the Cardinals’ offseason pursuits…

  • Jose Martinez has received a lot of trade interest from rival teams, GM Michael Girsch told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch and The Athletic’s Mark Saxon).  The Cardinals have explored various possibilities for a Martinez trade, including moving him for relief pitching or even simply a prospect package.  Though Martinez has hit very well in his brief career, he doesn’t have an everyday role in St. Louis now that Paul Goldschmidt is occupying first base, and Marcell Ozuna and Dexter Fowler are in the corner outfield spots.  Keeping Martinez as a backup at all positions is also less than ideal given Martinez’s poor defense.  As part of a reader mailbag piece, Goold mentions that the Rays have had interest in Martinez in the past, and could be a fit again since Martinez is probably best suited for DH duties on an American League team.  The right-handed hitting Martinez would be a nice complement to Tampa’s current left-handed hitting first base/DH mix of Jake Bauers and Ji-Man Choi.
  • Goold covers a wide variety of Cardinals questions in his mailbag piece, and he also mentions that the team has been in touch with Francisco Pena about returning as the backup catcher.  Jesus Sucre and Rene Rivera are also mentioned as names who could be comfortable with the limited playing time that comes with backing up workhorse catcher Yadier Molina.  Goold cites former Oriole Caleb Joseph as one available catcher who is looking for a larger portion of playing time.
  • The Cards haven’t been active on the starting pitching market, according to Goold, since the team is largely comfortable with its current rotation depth.  Adding another starter can’t be totally ruled out if the right fit can be found at the right price, though the Cardinals generally seem to feel that there isn’t a clear enough upgrade available at a price point that works for them.

Braves To Acquire Rene Rivera

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The Braves have acquired catcher Rene Rivera from the Angels, per an announcement from the Los Angeles organization (h/t Jon Morosi of MLB.com, via Twitter). The Halos allowed Rivera to depart via a straight waiver claim.

With the move, the Atlanta organization will take over Rivera’s contract. Just under $500K remains on his $2.8MM salary for the year. The veteran receiver will be a free agent at season’s end.

Rivera, 35, is best known for his excellent work behind the dish. He has typically graded as an excellent framer, though he has been more in range of average over the past two seasons. Rivera has also traditionally been quite effective at limiting the running game.

While he missed a big chunk of time this year due to injury, limiting him to 30 games of action on the season, Rivera has also been reasonably productive with the bat. He carries a .244/.287/.439 slash with four home runs over 87 plate appearances, though he has drawn only four walks to go with 32 strikeouts.

In Kurt Suzuki and the just-extended Tyler Flowers, the Braves already have two catchers who have combined to form a strong overall duo. The organization did just drop veteran depth receiver Chris Stewart from its 40-man roster, so perhaps it sees this as an opportunity to ensure there’s a reliable player in place in the event of injury. He’ll also help spread the burden down the stretch for a club that now has the inside track to winning the NL East.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Angels Designate Akeel Morris For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they’ve reinstated catcher Rene Rivera from the 60-day DL and opened a 40-man roster spot by designating right-hander Akeel Morris for assignment. The Halos optioned catcher Jose Briceno to Triple-A to open room on the 25-man roster.

It’s been a tough season for the 25-year-old Morris both in the Majors and in Triple-A. The former Mets and Braves prospect has been tagged for nine runs on 18 hits and eight walks with seven strikeouts in 14 big league innings this season. His 5.79 ERA in the Majors is actually better than the 5.90 mark he’s posted with Triple-A Salt Lake this season, though Morris has punched out 40 hitters in 39 2/3 innings in Triple-A. He’s still been too prone to walks in the minors, however, which has been a persistent issue for him throughout his professional career.

The Halos will have a week to trade Morris or try to pass him through outright waivers, which would allow them to keep him in the organization without dedicating a 40-man roster spot to the righty. Morris will be out of minor league options in 2019, though, which might make other clubs with interest in the right-hander more reluctant to take a chance on him.

Rene Rivera Undergoes Knee Surgery

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Angels catcher Rene Rivera has undergone surgery to repair a torn meniscus, the club announced (h/t Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, on Twitter). He’s expected to miss four to six weeks of action.

Rivera inked a one-year, $2.8MM deal with the Halos over the winter. Long valued for his glovework, he has been a force at the plate thus far in a reserve role. Through 59 plate appearances, he’s slashing a robust .259/.322/.481.

Of course, the organization won’t expect that sort of output to continue when he returns. Rivera has also gone down on strikes 21 times. And he remains a .627 OPS hitter in nearly 1,500 career plate appearances.

For the time being, the club is going with Jose Briceno as the backup to primary receive Martin Maldonado. Though the Angels could look into alternatives if the opportunity arises — notably, former catcher Jett Bandy just went into DFA limbo — the anticipated absence from Rivera is short enough that it likely won’t force the club’s hand.

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