Former Padres First Baseman Involved in Big Deadline Deal DFA'd By New Team

Maren Angus-Coombs | May 25, 2024

Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports

Former San Diego Padres first baseman Alfonso Rivas cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Memphis by the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.

This is the first time he has cleared waivers after being DFA’d for a third time in his short career. Because he has neither the MLB service time nor the prior outright assignment required to reject an outright to the minors after going unclaimed on waivers.

1B/OF Alfonso Rivas III has been designated for assignment.

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 20, 2024

Rivas arrived in San Diego as a free agent in Jan. 2023 and left in Aug. 2023 after appearing in eight games as part of a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates that sent left-handed pitcher  Rich Hill and designated hitter Ji-Man Choi to the Padres. Pittsburgh received left-handed pitcher Jackson Wolf, outfielder Estuar Suero, and Rivas in exchange. He had three hits in 15 at-bats with two doubles, two walks, and one run batted in for San Diego. He also scored two runs and struck out seven times.

He has been primarily a first baseman in his professional career but has appeared in left and right field. Rivas is in the final of three minor league option seasons and is still two seasons shy of even reaching arbitration eligibility.

Rivas has played sparingly in the majors each year from 2021-23, spending time with the Chicago Cubs, Pirates and Padres. He’s a .243/.324/.349 hitter in 459 big league plate appearances to this point in his career.