Rays lose Rene Pinto and Justin Sterner to waiver claims; grant Joey Kuhnel free agency

Despite being their Opening Day catcher, Rene Pinto only played in 19 games this season

The Tampa Bay Rays announced that they’ve made several moves in order to clear 40-man roster spots for the upcoming offseason, having placed C Rene Pinto, RHP Justin Sterner, and RHP Joey Kuhnel on waivers, losing all three.

Pinto would be claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles and Sterner was claimed by the Athletics; Kuhnel went unclaimed and became a free agent. The Rays receive a small fee from the Orioles and Athletics for their waiver claims.

Entering the season, there was hope that Pinto would become the Rays starting catcher and he opened the year behind the plate on Opening Day. Unfortunately, Pinto struggled and was quickly relegated to a backup role behind Ben Rortvedt.

Pinto only received 49 plate appearances with the Rays, hitting .214/.292/.429 with 2 HR, before being optioned just one month into the season. While in Triple-A, Pinto’s struggles continued and his season came to an abrupt halt in July when he injured his wrist; he did return to the Bulls for a couple of games to close out the season.

The Rays originally signed Pinto as an international free agent following the 2013 season. Pinto made his big league debut in 2022 and in parts of three seasons with the Rays, he hit .231/.263/.404 with 10 HR over 237 PA, registering a 87 wRC+ and accruing 0.4 fWAR.

Erik Neander spoke to the media about the decision to cut ties with Pinto,

“He’s got power, he can control the running game, he does some really good things behind the plate. We made a decision at the time to go with Jackson instead of Rene, because we thought that was a better play. Things never really got untracked from that point forward for Rene. It’s not what we envisioned, not what he envisioned. Parts of his game perhaps didn’t take the step forward we were hoping for, some injury, some loss of opportunity.”

Sterner came to the Rays in the trade that sent David Hess to the Miami Marlins in early July, 2021. During his time in the Rays system, Sterner showcased an ability to rack up strikeouts, eventually leading to a brief opportunity with the Rays during the 2024 season. Sterner made two appearances for the Rays, allowing two runs — one earned — on five hits, while he walked one and struck out four over four innings pitched.

Kuhnel was claimed by the Rays off of waivers in July. The 29-year old veteran reliever had already pitched in the Majors for Cicinnatti and most recently with the Houston Astros before the Rays picked him this past Summer. In five games for the Rays, Kuhnel compiled a 1.13 ERA | 3.79 FIP with a 14.3 K% and 0.0 BB% over 8 IP.

With the open 40-man roster spots, the Rays activated LHP Shane McClanahan and RHP Jacob Wagespack from the 60-day Injured List; the Rays now have one open spot on their 40-man roster.

The next deadline this offseason will be on November 19th, when teams need to add eligible players to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.