Tellez: Being DFA'd by Pirates with 6 games left 'caught me off guard'
Rowdy Tellez is still processing being designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates with just six games remaining in the regular season.
"It kind of caught me off guard really, but this game is a business, and those things happen. You don't want them to happen, but I can say (the Pirates) didn't do anything wrong on paper," Tellez said on "Foul Territory."
He added: "Ultimately, all my teammates reached out to me and expressed how they felt towards me, towards the action that happened."
Tellez slashed .232/.299/.392 with 13 home runs in 131 games with the Pirates before being cut loose in late September.
He finished the season with 421 plate appearances, four shy of the benchmark he needed to hit to earn a $200,000 contract bonus.
"There are multiple things I could have said," Tellez said. "I could have been like, 'Just give me my at-bats and then sit me' or just tell me that ahead of time."
It was a season of two halves for Tellez. He found his stride down the stretch after struggling mightily through the end of June, slugging nine of his home runs while posting a 108 wRC+ from July 1 onward.
He admitted that how he rebounded after a "bad start" also made it tougher to understand the Pirates' decision.
"I think those last three months - June, July, and August - having a really good three months, contributing as much as I could, I thought maybe I could get those last six days," Tellez said.
Tellez's best season came in 2022 with the Milwaukee Brewers when he went deep 35 times while driving in 89 runs.
The 29-year-old owns a career .739 OPS (101 OPS+) in seven seasons.