Juan Rivera traded from Toronto Blue Jays to Los Angeles Dodgers – MLB News
Toronto Blue Jays’ left-fielder, Juan Rivera, who spent his baseball career with many teams, now returns to the Los Angeles Dodgers to show his abilities. The deal about tenure and cash will be discussed later but he was named in the Dodgers’ roster on Tuesday,
July 12, 2011.
The player to be exchanged is still in consideration. However, Rivera got benefit due to his last week’s performance as he faced the pitchers with full batting experience and hit shots all over the ground. Rivera had a better batting record with the Blue
Jays as he had six homers, 27 RBIs and batting average of .243 in 70 games during this current season.
The 33-year-old Rivera started his career with the New York Yankees in 2001 and then he was traded to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2004 due to his impressive performance. Rivera served the Angels with his tricky tips of batting and potential as he got
a title of ‘Everyday Player’ in 2006.
Rivera reconciled with the Angels for three more years after his previous agreement and inked a three-year contract worth $12.75-million. However, due to his shaky performance at the end of 2010, he was not able to continue with the Angels and was traded
to the Blue Jays. In 2010 season, Rivera had just 15 homers with a batting average of .243.
The Blue Jays accepted the deal of exchanging their out-fielder Vernon Wells with Rivera and Mike Napoli in 2010. After having a strong Spring Training season, he struggled a little bit to start the new season with full momentum. Later on, Rivera was shifted
to first base position due to an injury of Adam Lind and proved his performance expertly.
Before the recovery of Lind, Rivera performed his duty at first base in 21 games and did not feel something new as he played with full commitment.
Then, Rivera had to close all the assignments and tasks given by the Blue Jays on July 3, 2011. The Jays’ club recalled their veteran out-fielder Travis Snider from Triple-A Las Vegas and told Rivera that he was to be traded after 10 days. Now, he becomes
a part of the Dodgers after being traded from the Blue Jays.
The Dodgers’ General Manager, Ned Colletti said, “Juan will provide us with a right-handed hitting counterpart to Tony Gwynn Jr. and can also fill in for James Loney from time to time at first base.”
Now, it will be a new challenge for Rivera to display his amazing performance with the Dodgers also for proving his spot. Rivera had 118 home-runs, 446 RBIs and had batting average of .277 in his overall 887 career games.
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