This slipped by me earlier today and I passed over it during tonight's enthralling match-up. This morning, the Cincinnati Reds designated 2B/SS D'Angelo Jimenez for assignment. Jimenez, who signed a one year $2.87 million contract this off-season, has struggled at the plate and appears to be the sacrificial lamb for a struggling Cincinnati ball club. Up until his release, Jimenez was hitting a paltry .229/.319/.295.
The switch hitting Jimenez has shown a solid eye throughout his career, which would be a welcome sight to the bottom of a Mariner line-up that has two players with OBP below .240 penciled in on a regular basis. PECOTA has Jimenez tabbed for a .275/.359/.413 stat line this season, which is still very attainable andwould be a welcome sight to the offense.
Since he was DFA'd, the Reds are going to try to trade him before they get saddled with writing him a paycheck for the rest of the season. The chance of him clearing waivers is probably pretty good, but it wouldn't shock me to see someone team make a trade for him.
Worst case scenario; his horrible start lingers and his defense isn't good enough at short to provide the M's any sort of improvement. Best case scenario; he regains his stroke, plays above average defense and provides the M's a spark at the back end of the line-up they so desperately need. Either way, he should come cheap.
Jimenez is by no means a player to get overly excited about, but he is one of those players that a well run team plugs into the bottom of their line-up and allows them to compliment the rest of the line-up. At the very least, the M's need to consider talking to the Reds about the talented infielder and see if they can't pry him away before he hits the waiver wire.