The Diamondbacks' signing of Bronson Arroyo was a mistake, ESPN's Keith Law writes (Insider-only). Law argues that Arroyo's declining velocity, tendency to give up homers, and struggles with lefties all make him a bad bet for two years and $23.5MM. Arroyo allowed 32 homers last season (although 19 of them were in the Reds' homer-friendly ballpark), and lefties hit .295/.327/.529 against him. He's also had an average fastball velocity of about 87 MPH the past several seasons, which Law suggests has been one cause of his home-run problems. Here are more notes from around the big leagues.
- GM Billy Beane says the Athletics are done making significant moves this offseason, Jane Lee of MLB.com tweets. The A's have been busy this winter, adding Scott Kazmir, Jim Johnson, Luke Gregerson and Eric O'Flaherty to their pitching staff and Nick Punto to their infield. They also lost Bartolo Colon, Grant Balfour, and Chris Young via free agency, traded Brett Anderson and Jerry Blevins and signed Coco Crisp to an extension.
- Lefty reliever Bill Bray wants to continue his career, but might wait until May to sign, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (via Twitter). Bray pitched just four games in the Nationals system in 2013, missing most of the season due to injuries. He last appeared in the big leagues in 2012 with the Reds.
- The Cardinals have the flexibility to make a significant move this spring, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. After the departures of Carlos Beltran, Chris Carpenter, Jake Westbrook and Rafael Furcal, among others, the Cardinals' payroll is down significantly from last season, even after the addition of Jhonny Peralta. Their free payroll and strong collection of young pitching mean they'll be able to make a big trade if the right opportunity presents itself.
- Scout.com's Kiley McDaniel looks ahead to the July 2nd market for international prospects. He notes rumors that Dominican third baseman Gilbert Lara already has a $3.2MM deal in place with the Brewers, not generally a team known for splashy international signings. Dominican shortstop Dermis Garcia, meanwhile, reportedly has a $3MM deal in place with the Yankees, who figure to be big spenders in the international market this summer.
So, by KLaw’s reasoning Arroyo would have been even a worse fit in Baltimore than he is in Arizona, and as such the O’s did well by not signing him.
The Orioles should really be going all-out to sign A.J. Burnett rather than Arroyo. But the only team in baseball that might not have any use for Arroyo is Boston, and only because they have six bona fide MLB starters plus about three more in AAA who could pitch for a lot of teams.
Burnett has made noise that he doesn’t want to pitch in the AL, probably because he’s worried he’ll get clobbered.
Why does Kieth Law hate the D-Backs so much?
Because he is probably a Dodgers fan.
It is pretty easy to beat up on the D-Backs decisions these days. I like Arroyo as an insurance signing against injury but it’s a shame he’ll end up pushing Delgado or Bradley out of a rotation spot.
Bradley probably wasn’t gonna win a rotation spot out of spring anyway. Hopefully he takes Cahill’s spot.
People keep asking why fill in the blank hates the DBacks this offseason. Maybe it’s the questionable moves their recently extended GM keeps making.
Dont you know KLaw hates everyones team at some point or another.. LOL
Think he grew up a Yankee fan
He doesn’t like Kevin Towers at all and Towers has become the new trendy GM to hate around the internet.
Ruben Amaro?????
Dayton Moore??
I actually like Moore. He has stocked a decent farm system and I love the infante contract. The guy has a nice mix of power and patience. He restructured Guthries deal and signed vargas to a decent contract. He has also assembled a solid bullpen. They aren’t a 100 win team but they could be a 90 winner possibly this year. I just hope Calixte takes a step in the right direction this year.
Nobody hates Kevin Towers except fans of his former teams.
People just laugh at Towers because of his track record
Because they make horrible baseball decisions all the time. The only team more clueless is the Angels. The Diamondbacks have done nothing to improve themselves from last year. Adding Arroyo and resigning Chavez is not gonna get this team past a .500 record for the umpteenth year in a row. I don’t hate the D-backs but it’s easy to see why every move, and non move they make is scrutinized. Extending Towers and Gibson was totally unnecessary and inexcusable. Like any team that makes bad decisions over and over again, they deserve what they get. Stinks for the fans though.
what about brining in all dem trumbombs
Oh yeah, bringing in a guy with a career OBP under .300 is going to make them instant favorites for the World Series.
Really glad to see the crew keep utilizing international avenues to bring in solid talent.
I assume this is sarcastic?
I wish goold would stop trying to pilot a new addition.
The cards are basically set, with depth at every position except catcher, and a loaded roster.
Save the payroll for when the pre-arb guys need to be extended, like matty c, boujos, Wong, Taveras, miller, wacha, rosenthal, etc
I hope they are putting all of that money to the loans for ballpark village so when those guys do need extended, there is all that extra revenue with no loan payment to pay them. Those guys are going to all get expensive at about the same time.
I also think the TV contract for the Cardinals is up after 2017. That will also infuse the team with more money.
The payroll is around 105 million right now. That’s down from over 116 million last year. When these young players come up for arbitration in the next 2-4 years, some of these big contracts will be off the books. Including this season, Holliday and Garcia have 3 years left. Molina and Peralta have 4. Wainwright has 5. Some of these guys have options but that are not in the players control.
Why can’t John Mozelaik be the Phillies gm??
I don’t expect the Cardinals will make a single trade this season, considering they didn’t make one to fill their biggest need at shortstop.
Doesn’t mean they didn’t try.
Just depends if a major need pops up and the market allows for a complimentary move
I think they will make a trade, but it won’t necessarily be to upgrade, it will be to deplete some of the over abundance they have. If Jon Jay is wearing a Cards uniform on August 1st, it means Bourjos or Taveras is hurt….
They didn’t have to make a trade when they had the payroll to sign Peralta. Why give away arms when you can have one of the most consistent hitting SS’s the past 5 years?
Of course Law would say that. He is a notorious Dback hater. He has panned every Dback move for the last three seasons.
I think he liked the Brandon McCarthy signing if I remember correctly and he’s relatively high on some of the Diamondback prospects ( Bradley and Shipley at #26 on his top 100)
He’s been right too. Can’t argue with his track record of calling out boneheaded moves.
ehh, He hated the Bauer for Didi trade and that’s turned out alright so far
I think the jury is still out on that one. So far though, I’d give the D-backs the win on that one. Didi has easily been better/more valuable than Bauer so far.
That was very good move by Towers.
Bauer seems like he’s a bit dysfunctional, may be something like Aspergers. And will take a great deal of work to get to the majors.
Hilarious to see people trying to declare the trading of Bauer as a good thing already.
Regardless of how Bauer, Gregorius, and the others involved in that trade pan out, the deal will still be questionable because it felt like Arizona could have gotten a lot more back than they did.
So being correct honest about laughable moves is hating on the D backs now?
Perhaps if the D-Back made Good moves Law wouldn’t have anything bad to say about them.
D-Backs will never win anything meaningful with Towers as GM, just accept the fact that your team has a poor GM.
Anybody remember the days where this article would be titled Odds & Ends? Throwback
Oh man. Yea.
Arroyo has had a mediocre fastball his entire career, has played in good hitter’s parks his entire career as well, and 32 homers allowed is not out of line with his past. I don’t see any reason why going to the D-backs should make him any more or less effective than he always has been. There’s always a risk at 37 of a guy falling completely apart, but Arroyo’s pitched some of the best ball in his career this last two seasons.
Agreed. He’s been good enough that I’m glad to have him out of the Central.
Wow didn’t know International prospects could just have contracts already ready with teams like that before the signing period in the summer…
Dodger fans will miss Nick Punto.
But we will laugh at Bronson Arroyo.
It nice to not only see the Brewers go out and sign an international FA, but to get one projected to be All Star caliber at 3B.
Seeming quite a few good players come out of the Int. FA market now…could way to help and boost the farm system.