Diamondbacks Designate Randall Delgado For Assignment

The Diamondbacks have designated right-hander Randall Delgado for assignment, as per a team press release.  The move creates 40-man roster space for newly-acquired righty Matt Andriese, who was just acquired in a trade with the Rays.

Delgado originally came to Arizona as part of the five-player package sent by the Braves to acquire Justin Upton back in January 2013.  In five-plus seasons since with the D’Backs, Delgado has been deployed as a full-time starter, a full-time reliever and as a swingman.  He worked in this role in 2017, making five starts amidst 26 overall appearances, and posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.6 K/9, and 4.29 K/BB rate over 62 2/3 IP before a flexor strain prematurely ended his season.

Delgado was further slowed by an oblique strain during Spring Training, and he didn’t make his season debut until earlier this month.  The righty has only seven frames to his credit in 2018, with a 5.14 ERA, three walks, and two strikeouts.

Prior to his recent injury woes, Delgado has been a durable and overall effective arm for the D’Backs, making today’s DFA somewhat of a surprise.  One would think rival teams would be interested in seeing if Delgado can regain his old form, particularly given his low price tag — he has roughly $810K remaining owed to him in salary over the rest of the year, from the $2.25MM deal agreed to last winter in his final year of arbitration eligibility.  With Andriese essentially stepping into the old swingman role, it could be that Arizona is simply looking to get rest of Delgado’s salary off the books (modest as it might be) to clear some space for additional moves.