Rondon opted to retire from professional baseball Tuesday, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.
The 33-year-old spent spring training with the Phillies before being released and subsequently signing a minors deal with the Red Sox, but he's now decided to hang up his cleats. Rondon appeared in 444 games between the Cubs, Astros and Diamondbacks over his eight-year big-league career, and he finished with a 3.49 ERA and 1.20 WHIP while recording 92 saves over 436 innings.
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Red Sox's Hector Rondon: Reaches minors deal with Boston
Rotowire
Rondon signed a minor-league contract with the Red Sox on Tuesday, Chris Cotillo of The Springfield Republican reports.
The 33-year-old with in camp with the Phillies as a non-roster invitee, but he was released by the club last week. Rondon had a 7.65 ERA, 1.80 WHIP and 23:11 K:BB over 20 innings with the Diamondbacks last season, and he should head to Triple-A or the alternate training site for the Red Sox.
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Hector Rondon: Heads to open market
Rotowire
Rondon was released by the Phillies on Thursday, Matt Breen of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Rondon was brought in as a non-roster invitee prior to camp with an eye on bolstering a bullpen that was historically poor last season, but the Phillies evidently saw enough from their numerous other additions that they didn't plan on giving him a roster spot. His 7.71 ERA in seven spring innings likely didn't help his case, though his 8:2 K:BB was solid.
Phillies' Hector Rondon: Invited to camp by Phillies
Rotowire
Rondon signed a minor-league contract which includes an invitation to big-league camp with the Phillies on Tuesday, Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The Phillies will be hoping they get the pitcher Rondon was with the Astros in 2018 and 2019, when he recorded a combined 3.46 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. He wasn't anything close to that guy with the Diamondbacks last year, struggling to a 7.65 ERA and 1.80 WHIP over 20 frames as his walk rate rose to 11.3 percent and his groundball rate fell to 35.5 percent. Heading into his age-33 season, a bounceback is far from guaranteed, but the risk of a minor-league deal is obviously quite low for the Phillies.
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Hector Rondon: Option declined by Arizona
Rotowire
Rondon's contract option was declined by the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports.
Rondon struggled in his first season with the Diamondbacks, as he posted a 7.65 ERA and 1.80 WHIP over 20 innings across 23 relief appearances during the abbreviated 2020 campaign. The right-hander has worked as a late-inning reliever throughout his career, but he may have to settle for a lower-leverage role entering his age-33 season.
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Diamondbacks' Hector Rondon: Earns seventh hold
Rotowire
Rondon allowed one hit over one scoreless inning in Friday's 6-3 win over the Astros.
Rondon, who picked up his fourth hold in his last six outings, has turned around a dismal start and slowly trimmed an ERA that was over 10.00 as recently as Aug. 25. In his last nine appearances, the right-handed reliever's given up one run over 8.2 innings (1.04 ERA) while striking out 12. Rondon is now pitching high-leverage assignments and has his ERA down to 6.50.
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Diamondbacks' Hector Rondon: Gives up three-run bomb
Rotowire
Rondon allowed three runs on two hits while striking out one over one inning in Sunday's 6-1 loss to San Francisco.
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo has yet to find the right combination of relievers to handle high-leverage innings or get games to closer Archie Bradley, and that issue came up again in this series sweep at the hands of the Giants. A day after Matt Grace let a tied game get out of hand in the eighth inning, Rondon let a one-run game escalate by surrendering a three-run homer to Alex Dickerson in the seventh inning. Rondon has allowed runs in seven of his 12 outings this year; on the whole, the one-time setup man has given up 12 runs, four home runs and six walks over 9.1 innings.
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Diamondbacks' Hector Rondon: Records first hold
Rotowire
Rondon allowed one run on one hit while striking out one and recorded his first hold in Saturday's 3-2 win over the Padres.
Rondon entered in the eighth inning with two runs of insurance and gave up one of them on a Fernando Tatis solo home run. The right-handed reliever was signed by the Diamondbacks in the offseason to be part of the setup crew, but Rondon has not delivered in 2020. He's allowed runs in four of six outings, surrendering three home runs over 4.1 innings.
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Diamondbacks' Hector Rondon: Fails to squelch rally
Rotowire
Rondon allowed two runs on two hits and three walks while striking out one over two-thirds of an inning in Wednesday's 7-4 loss to the Rangers.
Rondon and Andrew Chafin before him combined to give up five runs, the fifth time this season Arizona pitching surrendered at least three runs in an inning. Rondon is expected to be part of the setup crew, but in two appearances, he's failed twice in the late innings. He's given up four runs on four hits (one HR) and four walks over one inning.
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Diamondbacks' Hector Rondon: Not picky about role
Rotowire
Rondon is expected to be the setup reliever for closer Archie Bradley, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports.
Rondon said he's not picky about about having a particular role, but he wants to know what the role is. "If you know your role, it's in your mind that you could throw the seventh or the eighth and you can prepare your body or your mind for that inning," Rondon said. "If you don't know what situation you might come in, every time the phone rings you go, 'Is it me?' and it's hard to prepare." Rondon, 32, has extensive experience in late innings, including logging 92 saves during his seven MLB seasons. RotoWire slots Bradley among a group of closers with low job security, so Rondon could work his way into a prominent role with more fantasy relevance.
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Diamondbacks' Hector Rondon: Heads to Arizona
Rotowire
Rondon signed a one-year deal with a club option for a second season with the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports.
Rondon is guaranteed $3 million, with $2.5 million of that coming in 2020 and $500,000 as a buyout on the team option. The veteran has 92 career saves to his name but probably profiles best as a setup man heading into his age-32 season. His solid 3.71 ERA in 60.2 innings for the Astros last season came with an unimpressive 4.96 FIP as he saw his strikeout rate plummet from 26.8 percent in 2018 to 18.7 percent in 2019.
Rondon didn't dominate this season, but his solid 3.71 ERA was still good enough for him to make the team. His 4.96 FIP hints at worse things to come, however, and he saw his strikeout rate plunge from 26.8 percent to 18.7 percent. The Astros will likely prefer to keep him in medium-leverage situations.
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Astros' Hector Rondon: Slides into Pressly's role
Rotowire
Rondon allowed a solo home run but picked up a hold in Friday's 5-4 win over the Angels.
Rondon entered the game in the eighth inning, the usual landing spot for Ryan Pressly, who is on the injured list with a knee injury. Rondon had been part of the back end of the bullpen in 2018 before the Astros acquired Pressly and Roberto Osuna, so he was a natural fill-in for a setup role.
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Astros' Hector Rondon: Gets shelled in first career start
Rotowire
Rondon (3-2) served as the opener in Tuesday's loss to the Angels, retiring only two batters and giving up six runs on five hits and a walk while striking out one.
After 396 games as a reliever, Rondon was given the opportunity to open a game for the first time in his career. Needless to say, the experiment did not go well, as the 31-year-old gave up five runs and allowed the first six Angels hitters to reach base before recording his first out. The blowup increased Rondon's ERA from 3.34 to 4.79 over 38 appearances.
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Astros' Hector Rondon: Serving as opener
Rotowire
Rondon will serve as the opener for Tuesday's game against the Angels, manager AJ Hinch told MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM.
The outing will technically be Rondon's first career start as a major leaguer, but it would be a surprise to see him pitch for much longer than an inning. The opener role isn't a very interesting one for fantasy purposes, as it guarantees that Rondon will face the toughest part of the Angels' order and removes even the slim possibility at earning a win. Rogelio Armenteros will pitch the bulk of the innings behind Rondon.
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Astros' Hector Rondon: Notches third win
Rotowire
Rondon (3-1) worked around a leadoff double to pitch a scoreless seventh inning and earn the victory in Friday's 3-2 win over Oakland.
Rondon was the pitcher of record when Derek Fisher hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning. As he's done several times this season, Rondon was used in the seventh inning before Ryan Pressly and Roberto Osuna closed out a win. Rondon has a 2.70 ERA and 1.35 WHIP with eight holds in 2019.
