Phillies waive infielder
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Phillies waive infielder
Daily News staff
The Phillies have waived infielder Carlos Rivero to clear a roster spot for shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
Rivero, 23, was claimed by the Washington Nationals. He hit .270 with 16 home runs and 71 RBI in 136 games with Double A Reading and Triple A Lehigh Valley last season. He played seven games in Triple A, hitting .185 with a homer and 5 RBI, the first time he has been in Triple A in a 6-year minor league career.
Rollins re-signed with the Phillies on Monday.
The team also announced that it had signed two more players to minor league contracts with invitations to major league spring training as non-roster players.
Here are the bios, courtesy of the team:
• Hector Luna, INF – Luna, 31, spent last season at triple-A Pawtucket in the Red Sox minor league system where he batted .283 with 14 home runs and 58 RBI in 113 games. For his major league career, he has hit .265 with 13 home runs and 86 RBI in 311 games between the Cardinals (2004-06), Indians (2006), Blue Jays (2007-08) and Marlins (2010). A native of Monte Cristi in the Dominican Republic, Luna was originally signed by Cleveland as an amateur free agent in February of 1999.
• Luis Montañez, OF – Montañez spent the majority of the 2011 season with triple-A Iowa in the Chicago Cubs organization. With Iowa last year, the 30-year-old hit .321 with 22 doubles, 7 triples, 7 home runs and 69 RBI in 92 games. He also spent time with the Cubs in 2011, appearing in 36 games, including 12 starts in the outfield. For his major league career, Montañez has hit .223 with 5 home runs and 32 RBI over 129 games between the Orioles (2008-10) and Cubs (2011). The native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, was originally a first-round selection (third overall) of the Cubs in the June 2000 draft.
Comments (40)
All:
How do you rate the 2012 Phillies? I say "A". That means (barring an unforeseen catastrophe) they will field a contender, which is all that can reasonably be expected. Some may grade them as "B" apparently meaning that they should have done more to improve their chances, but grades below "B" simply tells more about the poster than the club.
Graybeard
Easy... Take a breath... Relax... Rivero is a career .258 hitter with 47 total HRs in six minor league seasons, primarily at AA and below... I think the Phils will survive...— topwonk- Rivero may develop into something, but right now he looks like a player who will be lucky to make it to the big leagues for a cup of coffee.— Dragon13
- Senor Rivero = Mucho Wood...Minimo Leather.
Adios and Feliz Navidad— NewMick314 - @Mark, appreciate it. 24 is nearly 14 and already a better player than many at that age - he lives the dream.
Kaline was true class. I expect to handle it that way from here on out.
Happy holidays.— 24sDad - zp, I appreciate your fanaticism....I get that way about some topics on here too....but the fact remains, Amaro isn't the one on the field coughing up the 4 run leads or striking out......that's on the players. They are good players and they are put in the position to win, but they still gotta do it. It will beinteresting this year if they don't do it again...heads may finally roll......keep Sandberg on speed dial........— Mark1npt
- No problem Dad....things can get a little crazy on here sometimes.....your dream was to play with Al Kaline, mine was to play with Steve carlton....mey him many years later in a Fantasy Camp....ewww, what a wierdo....can't believe I idolized him all those years....still have about 10 uni's with the #32 on the back.....only met Al Kaline once, in an elevator in a casino in AC at a big autograph show....he and Stan Musial were pretty cool.....and my then 8 yo had a real treat.....those guys were very special.— Mark1npt
- Did we keep Bowker? If the answer to that question is yes than the Tonner, like any lady he pleasures, is quite satisfied.— hunglikeaton
- We should consider that this move doesn't matter that much maybe? A 23 year old with a pretty low OBP and not so great defense. He could turn it around buttttt......— TeamAwesome
- Phils have INCREASED wins & division lead annually since 1997 so next step isn't missing the playoffs. Why base negativity on close 5 game series that 1 lucky break changes while ignoring record 162 game results of 97 & 102 wins)?! Eagles have NOTHING in common! Amaro makes mistakes but plays to win & Phils are likeable with good work ethic,record sellouts, wins & amazing atmosphere. This will NEVER GET BETTER. Will Cliff Lee bounce back after blowing the series? So will the Phils-they will win anther WS with Doc, Lee & Hamels! ENJOY IT!!!— phillies6pack
- Phillies6pack,
Your point about the escalating win total and divisional leads is irrelevant.
There is no benefit on winning the division by 10 games vs. by 1 game, except that you can clinch sooner, and set your playoff rotation. However, as we saw this year, if you clinch too soon, complacency and rust set in, and all those 101 wins don't mean squat.
That being said, I think the fact that the Phillies stopped hitting is Manuel's fault, not Amaro's. Manuel was the one that let complacency, "comfort", and a lack of accountability set in all season long.
Whenever someone brought this up during the season, the kool-aid gang among fans, reporters, and radio people smugly responded with "they've got the best record in baseball", "they have the best starting pitching in baseball", and "don't worry about it, our pitching will offset any hitting slumps".
YA, SURE!
Amaro has provided this team with more than enough parts to succeed. Look around the league - would other managers have won with this collection of talent the Phillies had in 2011? I believe a skillful manager would have gotten the most from his players by making sure they didn't develop bad habits. It was Manuel's job to MANAGE correctly and not let this happen. He didn't. Amaro's job (which he seems to have done shortly after the season ended) is to let Charlie & Greg Gross that this lackadaisical approach won't be acceptable in 2012.
— jman - The next backward step the Phillies take is to miss the playoffs altogether. With the Marlins winning the division in 2012, the Phillies will have to be the wildcard team to even get in the playoffs. Its not a lock that they can achieve that.— SteveS11
- Love our 102 win Phils who with better playoff luck/execution would have 3 WS championships in last 4 years...but why protect brutal Bowker over a 23 yr old infielder with upside? We have PH's & Bowker's a defensive butcher.— phillies6pack
- Have any of us seen Rivero play or are we just speculating from numbers and stories by journalist who have not seen him play?— johnny eagle
- We gotta stop the RAJ-bashing and give him the BOTD. I don't agree with all his moves, but he certainly is keeping this team at an elite level on paper. Furthermore, he went on record after the NLDS loss saying that "Cholly & GG have to change this team's offensive approach". By doing so, he clearly has drawn a line in the sand...and if things don't change, he's ultimately accountible. Meaning...he won't hesitate to make mangerial and/or coaching changes. Just my opinion and my expectations are that if Cholly doesn't get the message, he's toast. These are NOT the Iggles :)— dri_as_a_bone
- It's hard to tell what an organization is thinking when it lets a kid with good numbers walk and/or adds new guys that don't seem to have a defined role within the organization. It's also hard to tell what the Phils are thinking when it comes to their Number 5 pitcher in the starting rotation. I can't believe Kendrick or Blanton will be that guy. I can see them bringing back Oswalt, especially since he's now looking for a one-year deal. Even more so, I can see them trading for Gio Gonzalez. To me this would be the biggest acquisition of the off-season, even bigger than signing Papelbon. Gonzalez is only 26 years old and he's already been an all-star with a 3.12 ERA in 2011. He's under team control through 2015 and would only make about $4 million through arbitration. Looking at what the A's are considering for Gonzalez from other teams is laughable compared to what the Phils could offer. The A's are evidently looking for up to 4 inexensive major league ready players for Gonzalez. They are desperate for an outfielder who can play immediately and an infielder who can play in the near future. It's hard to believe the A's wouldn't get excited about a Phillies package that included Domonic Brown and Freddy Galvis. With Rollins back and Tyler Greene moving up quick through the minors, Galvis may be expendable. The Phils need to think about young pitching joining the starting rotation, and there's none better right now than Gio Gonzalez. They also have to think about getting back something for all the time and effort they've put into guys like Brown and Galvis while these guys still have trade value.— onthebucks
- Why is Amaro signing players 30+ years when his farm system doesn't exist above Class A. When he gets done the team and farm system will be on Social security if he hurrys.— tulsaphil
- @Mark1npt: my bad yesterday - a terrible response to your post(s) - my apologies to you. I personally dislike the negative tenor of many of these posts and found myself, hypocritically, doing the same.
I respect the opinion you have (often) offered. I appreciate the retort that followed. I wouldn't want 24 responding the way I did.
BTW, I have one foot in the grave and the other on a rollerskate. That is as close to giving you my age as i can do. And while I haven't pitched (even BP for the kids) for 23 years, my dream was to be on the same field as Al Kaline.— 24sDad - It is really a bit too early in Rubes career to make that judgement. I wouldn't say getting Lee and Pence and Oswalt is tearing anything down. It remains to be seen whether guys like Drabek and Happ, and all the others involved in the trades play to their expectations. Please do not compare the Eagles to the Phillies. If they went and got younger guys, people here would be complaining about that too.— dirttracker
- Very puzzling move. They probably saw the same flaws that the indians saw in Rivero. He was once one of their top prospects and highly touted. I would have liked to keep him around one more year and see what he could've done in AAA. Would have been nice insurance to have around if JRoll goes down again, especially since the kid had a pretty good amount of pop.— Omorales510
- The foundation of this team was built by Ed Wade and Pat Gillick. Rube has been tearing it down for two years now. This year, just like the Eagles didnt fill in their LB gaps, the Phils didnt fill in the need to start getting younger and improve offensively. The same need has been demonstrated for two years, and still no action to correct it...— Bobphxville
- Do you even read what you're typing before pressing send? "tearing it down for 2 years now"? Oh yes, RAJ inherited the 2008 team, and has only managed to add Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee (twice), Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence, Placido Polanco, extend Rollins on reasonable terms, replace the never-know-what-to-expect-from Ryan Madson. Yes, that's certainly "tearing the team down".
If the hitters would hit, instead of resting on their past accomplishments, we WOULD have more championships since 2008.
(And Zwart, your statement is describing the Eagles of the past 5 years, not the Phillies.)— jman - you're right. and i dont think monty and the other owners care if we win another world series again. they must figure they can keep riding the economic gravy train of the 2008 championship for several more years before they need to shake something up.
it is a shame. we really did have a chance to have a dynasty, but monty handed the reins of the team to the wrong guy, amaro instead of arbuckle, it looks like. it would appear that monty would rather be faithful to keep his longtime associate amaro employed than to win another world series.— zwarte piet - Where's Willie?— GusM
- Rivero was only 23 and had decent numbers. He made the transition to 3B. We are kind of short in the infield department. Maybe Ruben thought he could hide him. Why not the OF that we brought last year. Bowker? We have plenty of outfielders and he's not making the team.— EL Zorro
- Some moves are 'head scratchers.' Younger player in mid 20's dumped, two players over 29 kept ???
Maybe there will be an explanation in the ANTIQUE NEWS ?— phineas - Saw Rivero play several times at Reading. His upside seemed like a 25th man more than anything else. Still young enough to possibly be more, but doesn't seem like much of a loss to me.— willthethrill11
- I agree with Mark--looks like Rivero would be in AA for a few more years with Galvas in front of him behind JRoll— Phillyfan among the NYers
- You just gotta trust that the people in charge, along with Rube know what they're doing. Since they have privy to all kinds of information that we don't, they get to make truly informed decisions about players. On a purely statistical look-see, it seems like he might have been useful to us somewhere down the road. I guess they thought not. We gotta trust them.— Mark1npt
- what i trust is results. the fact is, ruben took over a world series winner in 2008 and the team has proceeded to take a step backward in the playoffs every year since then. you can only trust so long before you start to lose faith. — zwarte piet
- agreed. Some of these crybabies would make great Mets fans. Good riddance to the negative, childish attitudes.
Real Phillies fans are appreciative for all done to maintain interesting, entertaining baseball that most cities would die for.
— J Ziggy - Right on dirttracker- It's not RAJ's fault that the team didn't hit in the playoffs, after winning 102 regular season games: maybe Charlie can get them to hit better in certain situations?????— mrjarn
- Yeah, it's such a shame that Rubes teams have won how many divisions in a row now? They only won 102 last year. I guess the fact that they didn't hit well in the playoffs is entirely his fault. Injuries are his fault too. Maybe you could find a better GM and they could be your favorite team.— dirttracker
- Looking purely at the numberes, this doesn't make a lot of sense, but Rivero has been around for a while and is reportedly terrible defensively. This is the second time he has been waived (Phillies claimed him from the Indians), so this likely is not a significant loss.— jfar86
- based on the rube's personnel decisions the past 3 years, one can only assume whatever moves he makes are generally wrong--particualrly when it comes to his evaluating young players (or older players for that matter) ..it's a shame that this guy has been placed in control of a $170 million budget and that a metropolitan area of 3 million hangs on his every nonsensical moves— warbiscuit
- RAJ has to get up really early in the mornin' if he wants to slip one past this old fox...Merry Christmas War(fox)biscuit... — stan the man too
- Who needs a young guy when the ultimate goal is to have a team full of players over 30 and 40. Washington already claimed him.— ronin32
- Washington also claimed Eric Buntlette when the Phillies FINALLY released him after 2009, so don't read too much into their latest pickup. — jman
- Not bad stats at Reading. I wonder why they've given up on this kid already. They should have waived Michael Martinez instead.— SteveS11
- sounds like a pretty good player we just lost.— zwarte piet
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