Braves Waive Jairo Cuevas

by gondeee on Oct 24, 2008 3:20 PM EDT

The Kansas City Royals have claimed right-handed pitcher Jairo Cuevas off Outright Waivers from the Atlanta Braves. To make room for Cuevas on the 40-man roster, the Royals requested Unconditional Release Waivers on right-handed pitcher Kip Wells. With the moves, the Royals roster remains at 40.

Cuevas, 24, made just seven appearances (six starts) in the Braves organization this season for Mississippi (AA) and the Gulf Coast Braves (R). The 6-foot-2, 217-pounder underwent season-ending surgery on his labrum in his right shoulder on Aug. 22. The surgery was performed by Dr. James Andrews. The resident of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was the 2005 Danville (R) Most Valuable Pitcher of the Year, going 6-1 with a 1.95 ERA in 27 appearances, including 23 starts. He was originally signed by the Braves as a non-drafted free agent on March 20, 2003.

Probably non-consequential. On a related topic, are the Royals going to pick up every single Braves cast-off?

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It seems..

like the Nats and Royals are trying to see who can acquire more ex-Braves players for their teams.

- Leah
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Catcher's Blog - Braves blog by a huge Braves fan.

by mccannfan on Oct 24, 2008 3:43 PM EDT reply actions

Kyle Davies, Ryan Suckerhans, Willie Harris… who am I missing? Betcha one of those teams ends up with Matt Diaz.

by TradeAndruw on Oct 24, 2008 8:27 PM EDT reply actions

You forgot..

Pete Orr. Matt Diaz was already a Royal once wasn’t he? Isn’t that who we got him from?

- Leah
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Catcher's Blog - Braves blog by a huge Braves fan.

by mccannfan on Oct 24, 2008 9:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Didn’t he come from the Rays??

by jjcollins on Oct 25, 2008 2:12 AM EDT up reply actions

He was originally with the Rays, they released him, he signed with the Royals as a minor league free agent and the Braves acquired him for Ricardo Rodriguez, a former shortstop turned pitcher (not the guy who pitched for Texas that later played for Richmond), and Rodriguez only pitched 2 games for the Royals A ball team before his career ended. So pretty solid trade for the Braves.

by cbwilk on Oct 25, 2008 3:53 AM EDT up reply actions

CB I will never doubt your expertise

by jjcollins on Oct 26, 2008 1:18 AM EDT up reply actions

Thanks man. I did know we got him from the Royals, but I did have to check who we gave up for him.

by cbwilk on Oct 26, 2008 2:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Diaz should keep working for ESPN...been doing a great job in the playoffs for them

by dabraves on Oct 29, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

…seriously? matt diaz is an analyst this playoffs? why uh…him? thats so random

Following the Braves...one long hard drink at a time.

by bigjoe on Oct 30, 2008 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm not sure why no one's reporting this but...

in a corresponding move, right-handed relief pitcher Luis Valdez was added to the 40-man roster to prevent him from being eligible for minor-league free agency. We signed him as a six-year minor-league free agent out of the Pirates’ system, and he was the Reliever of the Year in the Southern League in his age-24 season.

He’s a high-effort guy with some control issues, but 77 strikeouts in 65 1/3 Double-A innings is nothing to sneer at. He’s got big-league potential, and I’d say he’s a sleeper to be in the bullpen from Opening Day next year.

by tgthree on Oct 24, 2008 8:49 PM EDT reply actions

P.S. I don’t have a link on this, but if you go look at the Braves’ roster on the official site, it’s pretty obvious.

by tgthree on Oct 24, 2008 8:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks for brining that to our attention. They probably did this with Luis to prevent him from becoming a minor league free agent again. Most minor league free agents sign one year contracts, occasionally two; this move might not have happened if Luis was on a two year contract. It’s a good move since now they can control him for a while and have four years of options on him.

I saw Luis pitch a lot with Hickory and Lynchburg while he was with the Pirates and he looked so much better this season with Mississippi. He was much more in control of his pitches and seemed to have a better idea of how he wanted to attack the hitters. He’s a great kid and hopefully he can build on this season.

by cbwilk on Oct 24, 2008 9:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Also most likely

…to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

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by RainDelay on Oct 24, 2008 9:18 PM EDT up reply actions

You're not wrong...

but cbwilk is more right, technically. You have to be added to the 40-man by November 20th to be protected from the Rule 5, and traditionally teams wait until the last minute to make those adds because they want to see full winter performances (wonder why guys like Matt Young and Van Pope got sent to the AFL?).

On the other hand, minor-league free agency filing is beginning soon, if it hasn’t begun already. To keep Valdez from filing, the Braves had to add him to the roster. That’s why it happened now.

by tgthree on Oct 24, 2008 9:36 PM EDT reply actions

Cuevas

I hate to see Cuevas go—sure 2008 was a write off and he was not worth a roster spot at this point, but by all accounts he had really electric stuff….but so did Gonzalo Lopez….its a shame….

by Stephen in the UAE on Oct 26, 2008 12:51 AM EDT reply actions

Cuevas was always pretty interesting cause he was all over the place. You’d see him one time and he’d dominate and you’d see him another time an it was like he’d never seen a baseball before. My guess is this move turns out like that, either the Royals look like geniuses, or we never really hear about him again.

And I don’t know what Gonzalo’s deal is.

by cbwilk on Oct 26, 2008 2:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Gonzalo

Gonazalo Lopez is probably a bigger head case than either Campbell or Esquivel. Add Jake Stevens and you have the making of an all-head case failed minor league team. I really hope that Campbell keeps it together….

by Stephen in the UAE on Oct 27, 2008 1:11 AM EDT reply actions

You could put Paul Bacot in there too.

Esquivel played for the York Revolution in the Atlantic League this season and had a nice year. Still, not what it could have been. Never understood what happened with him, cause he’s the nicest guy in the world.

by cbwilk on Oct 27, 2008 4:14 AM EDT up reply actions