photo: Alfonso Rivas (USA TODAY Sports)
On Monday, January 29, the St. Louis Cardinals claimed first baseman-outfielder Alfonso Rivas off waivers and designated for assignment outfielder Moisés Gómez.
St. Louis Cardinals announcement
We have claimed 1B/OF Alfonso Rivas off of waivers from the Angels.
OF Moisés Gómez has been designated for assignment.#ForTheLou pic.twitter.com/0UlELct85J
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) January 29, 2024
Brian Walton’s take
This is a curious transaction. The Cardinals have claimed their second former Cubs left-handed-hitting first baseman/corner outfielder off waivers this winter, with Alfonso Rivas following Jared Young.
Rivas, 27, is joining his sixth organization in the last 13 months after showing success in Triple-A, but not being able to carry it over into the majors.
The California native attended the same high school as Tommy Edman and played collegiate ball for the University of Arizona. Rivas was the A’s fourth round draft pick in 2018 and was dealt to the Cubs in 2020. He first reached the majors in 2021.
In January 2023, his travels began to accelerate rapidly when the Cubs released him and he signed with San Diego. In August 2023, Rivas moved to the Pirates as part of a multi-player trade before he was placed on waivers in November. After Cleveland claimed him, he went back on waivers in late December, from where he was taken by the Angels. Rivas was with Los Angeles for five weeks before heading back out onto the waiver wire, from where he became a Cardinal.
Whew! I don’t recall ever seeing a player good enough to make so many 40-man rosters in such a short period while not being considered good enough to stick on any of them – perhaps until now.
Rivas has a strong career Triple-A slash line of .313/.424/.492/.916. Relatively slight of build at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, Rivas has more doubles power (40) than home runs (15) in 637 plate appearances. His Triple-A walk rate is an excellent 15.1% to go with a 21.0% strikeout rate.
However, in the majors with the Cubs, Padres and Pirates over parts of the last three seasons, 2021-2023, Rivas has not been as successful. In 459 plate appearances, his line is .243/.324/.349/.673 with a MLB walk rate of 9.2% and a high 30.3% K rate.
Rivas has one minor league option remaining, so he can serve as reserve outfield depth in 2024 – if he isn’t sent back out on waivers, that is!
With these moves, the Cardinals’ 40-man roster remains full. We have placed Rivas on the Memphis roster on the Roster Matrix here at The Cardinal Nation.
Gómez was a minor league free agent signing by the Cardinals prior to the 2022 season. That summer, he led Minor League Baseball with 39 home runs between Springfield and Memphis.
Despite being added to the 40-man roster in the 2022-2023 offseason and even with St. Louis suffering a rash of injuries during 2023, Gómez was never called up. His 2023 in Triple-A was uneven at best, though the right-handed batter still swatted 30 home runs despite a 31.7% strikeout rate and a pedestrian OPS of .750, 245 points lower than his 2022 mark.
It was difficult to see how the 25-year-old native of Venezuela would have fit on the Cardinals roster. Apparently, they concluded the same.
In the next week, Gomez will either be claimed off waivers, traded, released or will pass through waivers and remain in the organization.
For more
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Brian Walton can be reached via email at brian@thecardinalnation.com. Follow Brian on Twitter.
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