Tag Archives: Rowdy Tellez

Rowdy Tellez Agrees to $3.2 Million, One-Year Contract with Pittsburgh Pirates

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It’s all hand on deck for Rowdy Tellez.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to a $3.2 million, one-year contract with the 28-year-old half-Mexican American professional baseball first baseman/designated hitter.

Rowdy Tellez Tellez can earn $800,000 in performance bonuses as part of the deal, which is pending a successful physical.

Tellez hit .215 with 13 home runs and 47 RBIs for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2023. The left-handed Tellez is a career .233 hitter in six seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee.

The Pirates entered the offseason in need of help at first base. They began 2022 with Carlos Santana at the position before sending him to Milwaukee at the trade deadline. Connor Joe and Jared Triolo saw time at first, among others, over the final two months of the season.

Tellez should find the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park inviting. He is a career .277 hitter at PNC Park, with 5 home runs and 20 RBIs in 21 games.

Tellez is the second significant addition by the Pirates during free agency. Pittsburgh acquired left-handed pitcher Marco Gonzales from the Seattle Mariners last week

Milwaukee Brewers Acquire Carlos Santana from Pittsburgh Pirates

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Things are brewing for Carlos Santana.

The Milwaukee Brewers have acquired the 37-year-old Dominican-American professional baseball player and first baseman from the Pittsburgh Pirates, attempting to shore up a tepid offense as they try to hold onto first place in the National League Central.

Carlos SantanaSantana was dealt to a contender for the second consecutive season after going from Kansas City to Seattle last year. Long considered a clubhouse leader, Santana will fill in at first base for Rowdy Tellez, who, while recovering from a forearm injury, tore a fingernail on a chain-link fence while shagging batting practice. 

In exchange for Santana, who is hitting .235/.321/.412 with elite defense at first base, the Pirates will receive 18-year-old shortstop Jhonny Severino, who signed with Milwaukee for $1.23 million last year and is currently playing in the Arizona Complex League.

At 57-46, the Brewers have clawed back into the NL Central pole position despite scoring just 423 runs — three fewer than their top-notch pitching staff has allowed.

While a resurgent Christian Yelich has paced the offense, only one other season-long regular, catcher William Contreras, has an OPS above .700.

Milwaukee, which shipped closer Josh Hader to San Diego at the trade deadline last season and blew a three-game division lead, was expected to add players on the margins rather than go after bigger-name players.

Santana is owed around $2.5 million for the remainder of the season.

Severino hit .268 with a team-leading 25 RBIs in 48 games while playing in the Dominican Summer League in 2022.

Milwaukee Brewers Acquire Rowdy Tellez from Toronto Blue Jays

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Rowdy Tellez is movin’ to the Badger State.

The 26-year-old half-Mexican American professional baseball player and first baseman has been acquired by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday in exchange for right-handed pitchers Trevor Richards and Bowden Francis.

Rowdy Tellez 

Tellez, who bats left-handed, is hitting .209 with four home runs and eight RBIs in 50 games for the Blue Jays at the major league level this season.

Tellez is currently in Triple-A and is hitting .298 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in Trenton.

His best season came in 2019 when he set career highs with 21 home runs and 54 RBIs. For his career, he has a .241 batting average, 37 home runs and 99 RBIs in 219 games.

Tellez was expected to be in uniform for Wednesday’s series finale against the New York Mets.

“This is a player who has consistently put the bat on the ball and he’s consistently hit the ball hard — those are two pretty good attributes for major league hitters,” Brewers general manager David Stearns said. “He has a long track record of success in the minor leagues. He got off to a little bit of a slow start this year at the major league level. We think the underlying ingredients are pretty sound. We think he should be able to perform at the major league level. He’s going to get a shot.”

The first-place Brewers acquired the 28-year-old Richards, along with Willy Adames, in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in May. He is 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA in 15 appearances with Milwaukee since the trade.

Francis, 25, is 7-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 11 starts at two levels in the Brewers’ minor league system this season.

The Brewers needed some help at first base with Daniel Vogelbach on the injured list due to a strained left hamstring. Vogelbach isn’t expected to return until August.

Keston Hiura, who opened the season as the Brewers’ starting first baseman, is batting .161 and already has been sent to the minors twice this season. Hiura showed signs of progress during the Brewers’ recent 11-game winning streak, but he has gone 0-for-7 with six strikeouts over his last two games.

Stearns said the search for a Vogelbach replacement was complicated by the calendar. Teams are preparing for the amateur draft, which starts Sunday, while trying to figure out if they are contenders ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.

“We explored a number of different options, a number of different players,” Stearns said. “We’re certainly pleased we were able to find a match.”

Richards will help out in the bullpen for the Blue Jays, who entered Tuesday four games out of the AL’s second wild-card spot.

“You can pitch him in some big spots,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He got out of some jams for us. He did a really nice job.”