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Rays acquire slick-fielding shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria from Marlins

 
Adeiny Hechavarria has emerged as one of baseball’s top defensive shortstops in the past three seasons with the Marlins.
Adeiny Hechavarria has emerged as one of baseball’s top defensive shortstops in the past three seasons with the Marlins.
Published June 27, 2017

ST. PETERSBURG — Chaim Bloom said the Rays weren't necessarily in the market for a shortstop. The team has a number of those. But when the Marlins recently began shopping Adeiny Hechavarria, well, that was too much to pass up.

"We view Adeiny Hechavarria as one of the better defensive shortstops in the game. That's one thing we find very exciting," Bloom, the Rays' senior vice president of baseball operations, said Monday during a conference call. "He's got the ability to play shortstop at a very high level, and I would imagine that's where we're going to see him most, especially in the early going."

Hechavarria, who was on the Marlins' 10-day disabled list with a left oblique strain, was acquired late Monday afternoon for low Class A Bowling Green right-hander Ethan Clark and Double-A Montgomery outfielder Braxton Lee.

Hechavarria is scheduled to join the Rays today in Pittsburgh. Bloom said the team monitored his rehab games with Double-A Jacksonville and high Class A Jupiter and is confident Hechavarria will be activated soon.

The team will also pick up the remainder of Hechavarria's $4.35 million contract for this year. Hechavarria has one more year of eligibility before hitting free agency after the 2018 season.

The Rays transferred right-hander Diego Moreno to the 60-day DL to clear room on the 40-man roster for Hechavarria.

Bloom said Tim Beckham, who has filled in at short in the absence of Matt Duffy, will shift to second base.

"Tim is having an outstanding year," Bloom said, "and we know from Tim's past he has the ability to play a lot of positions. He's a really good baseball player and he's an athlete, and he's going to continue to help us win. We know he's got a lot of experience at second base, especially in the short term with Brad Miller down."

Beckham could also find himself playing the outfield, since the plan this spring was to make him more of a super utility player.

Bloom didn't say who the odd man out in the infield will be, but it's possible the Rays will send Daniel Robertson back to Triple-A Durham so he can play every day and work on hitting.

As for Duffy, Bloom said the team does expect he'll return this season. It's just not sure when.

Duffy had season-ending surgery on his left heel Sept. 9 with the idea that he would be ready for spring training. He wasn't. His return was stalled by pain in the area of the surgery.

A procedure last week found a pea-sized calcium deposit in the area of the pain, and it was removed. Bloom said Duffy has to heal from that then restart the process of slowly resuming baseball activities before beginning the minor-league rehab.

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"We're optimistic on Duffy," Bloom said, "but we do expect it to be a decent amount of time until he's back."

In the meantime, the Rays saw this trade as a chance to add more depth to a team that has been tested this season by injuries as well as upgrade defensively at shortstop, where Hechavarria has twice been a finalist for the Gold Glove.

"We looked at this more as a chance to add a talented player who's going to help us win and really bolster what has already been in many ways a strength," Bloom said.

The winning is the key element. The Rays are two games above .500 heading into tonight's action and very much in the race for both the American League East and wild card races.

"We certainly feel like we got as good a chance as anybody," Bloom said, "and we want to make sure we're doing everything we can within reason to bolster the group. … You watch the heart, the fight in the group and you want to try to do everything you can to keep adding reinforcements as these guys battle their way through the season."

When asked about reinforcements for the beleaguered bullpen, Bloom said they will continue to explore all avenues to strengthen the team.