Carlos Rivero snuck through waivers and stays with the organization. Photo Brad Barr/US Presswire via bleacherreport.com
Great news 3/25/13: the Nats exposed Carlos Rivero to waivers, got no takers and he was outrighted to AAA Syracuse over the weekend.
I know he didn’t have the greatest numbers this spring (8-for-47 for a meager .170 BA), but he seems like he could be a valuable utility guy in a pinch, able to play multiple positions both in the infield and outfield. I liked what I saw from him in limited TV time this spring. I’m glad he made it through waivers and remains an option in our farm system for at least this year.
He also clears a spot off the 40 man, leaving us sitting at 38/40. Plenty of room to make moves if need be. But not a ton of manuverability; of the 38 guys remaining, you can only really make a case for Corey Brown as being relatively expendible/likely to pass through waivers. If we get a slew of injuries like last season that cause us to do mass call-ups, we may have to heavily depend on the 60-day DL.
Meanwhile, another year of Rule-5 complaining (see here and here) has essentially proven once again to be wasted breath; both Jeff Kobernus and Danny Rosenbaum have been returned to the team. Kobernus still seemingly sits behind Steve Lombardozzi, Anthony Rendon and Wil Rhymes on the team’s 2nd base depth chart, meaning we’d have to have a pretty bad slate of injuries for him to sniff the majors this year. But, it is nice to have him back, considering his draft pedigree and bonus money investment. Rosenbaum was our AA Ace last year and started out with ace-like stuff, but struggled in the 2nd half. Given that the team suddenly has a slew of starter arms in AAA (especially if Chris Young sticks around, though he probably walks), perhaps we’ll see Rosenbaum starting in AA again. Not likely though; would you rather challenge Rosenbaum in AAA or give another year of starts to someone like Tanner Roark at this point?
For where Danny starts this year, I think a lot depends on why the Nats think he struggled in the 2nd half. If they know what caused it, and that it is fixed/fixable (e.g., some undisclosed injury, tiredness, etc.), I could see challenging him. If not, I think he still has something to prove at AA. I’ll guess the latter, just based on the fact that they left him unprotected.
Dave
25 Mar 13 at 6:20 pm
I thought he should have been protected to begin with, but also understand why they did NOT protect him. What chance did he really have to make someone’s 25-man roster and to stick for the entire year? Same with Kobernus. They only protected guys who could have sat as the 7th man on someone’s bullpen and been stolen away.
I do agree with you though; he probably has something to prove at AA and we’ve stockpiled arms for AAA right now.
Todd Boss
26 Mar 13 at 8:45 am