San Diego Padres designated Carlos Asuaje for assignment
Carlos Asuaje, who has been with the San Diego Padres organization since his debut in 2016, has been designated for assignment to make room for the incoming Garrett Richards.
According to an official team announcement, the San Diego Padres have designated second baseman Carlos Asuaje for assignment in order to make room on the roster for the newly signed Garrett Richards, whose two-year deal was made official in the same release. Richards had previously been reported to be in agreement with the Padres.
Asuaje, 27, was dealt to the Padres in the Craig Kimbrel trade in 2015. He quickly rose to Triple-A and eventually made his major league debut with San Diego in 2016, appearing in seven games.
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In 2017, he made 89 appearances, slashing .270/.334/.362 while adding four homers, 21 RBI, 14 doubles and 28 runs scored. That year, he was 15th on the Padres in WAR with 0.5. He also had a .992 fielding percentage in what was his first season of regular playing time.
Though he maintained the confidence of the organization in 2018, he disappointed. In 218 plate appearances spread across 79 contests, he hit just .196 and struck out 46 times, walking 24 times. He did, however, show some mild positional versatility, logging 18.2 innings at third base, with the rest of his innings coming at his native second base. For his minor league career, he appeared in a total of 555 games for four different affiliates in the Padres and Red Sox organizations.
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As AJ Cassavell of MLB.com noted on Twitter shortly after the move, the Padres are likely happy with their situation at second base, thus making Asuaje expendable. Per Cassavell, his roster spot was “clearly in jeopardy” heading into the offseason. Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Tribune wrote Friday that the move was “not a surprise”. The Padres now have seven days to either waive or trade Asuaje.