After falling to the Rangers in the World Series, the upstart Diamondbacks have acted quickly and decisively to bolster their rotation. Arizona announced the signing of left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez to a four-year contract with a conditional option for 2028. It’s reportedly a four-year, $80MM guarantee for the Mato Sports Management client.
The deal is slightly backloaded, with Rodriguez making $14MM in the first year, followed by salaries of $20MM, $21MM and $19MM. He’s guaranteed a $6MM buyout on a mutual/vesting option for 2028. The option would vest at a $17MM salary if Rodriguez pitches 150 innings in 2027 or 300 innings between 2026-27. It would vest at $18MM if the southpaw gets to 175 innings in ’27 or 350 frames in ’26-’27. The option price can escalate based on Rodriguez’s Cy Young finishes, while the deal contains a 10-team n0-trade list.
For the reigning NL champions, Rodriguez provides a third playoff-caliber arm to pair with 2023 NL Cy Young award finalist Zac Gallen and veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly. Despite excellent performances from the club’s top two arms, who combined for a 3.39 ERA across 64 starts, the club’s overall rotation ranked just 21st in the majors last season with a 4.67 ERA. That’s thanks to a dearth of quality options behind Gallen and Kelly. Arizona relied on the likes of Brandon Pfaadt, Ryne Nelson, and Zach Davies in the rotation for much of the year, each of whom posted ERAs north of 5.00 — though Pfaadt had a solid finish and was excellent during the postseason.
Adding Rodriguez to the mix should help the club’s run prevention efforts considerably. The 30-year-old southpaw enjoyed a career year in 2023 as a member of the Tigers, finishing the season with a 3.30 ERA and 3.66 FIP across 152 2/3 innings of work while striking out 23% of batters faced against a walk rate of just 7.7%. Those strong overall numbers on the season well may have been even stronger had Rodriguez managed to stay healthy all season, as the lefty cruised to a 2.13 ERA and a 25.5% strikeout rate across his first eleven starts of the season.
Unfortunately, Rodriguez subsequently suffered a ruptured pulley tendon at the end of May that wound up sidelining him for the entire month of June. Upon returning in early July, Rodriguez struggled to match his excellent first half performance. The southpaw delivered decent results, with a 4.24 ERA and 4.08 FIP over his final 85 frames, though his strikeout rate dipped to just 21.2% while his walk rate climbed to 8.9%. Fortunately, Rodriguez bounced back down the stretch to post a solid 3.60 ERA in September. Assuming the left-hander is fully healthy entering the 2024 campaign, he would be a strong addition to most any rotation in the majors.
Rodriguez’s strong platform campaign landed him the #11 spot on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB free agents list, where we projected him for a four-year, $82MM deal. He’ll land right in that range, though Rodriguez managed to secure additional incentives that could raise the value of the contract further. While Rodriguez was the seventh-highest rated pitcher on our list, he actually edged out veteran right-hander and fifth-highest rated pitcher Sonny Gray’s total guarantee with the Cardinals by $5MM. That being said, Gray’s contract comes with a substantially higher AAV.
The Diamondbacks have shown a willingness to operate at this level of the rotation market in the past. Setting aside the six-year, $206.5MM megadeal the club signed Zack Greinke to prior to the 2016 season, the largest free agent contract the Diamondbacks have offered to a pitcher was a five-year, $85MM contract for left-hander Madison Bumgarner. That contract proved to be a disaster for Arizona, as Bumgarner posted a 5.23 ERA and 5.17 FIP across 69 starts for the Diamondbacks over the life of the contract before being released early in the 2023 campaign despite remaining on the books for the 2024 season.
The deal pushes Arizona’s payroll into uncharted territory, with RosterResource projecting the club’s 2024 payroll at $114MM prior to the addition of Rodriguez. Factoring in the club’s new addition, they Diamondbacks are on the hook for $134MM in salary commitments for the 2024 campaign, just barely edging out the club’s all-time high payroll of $131MM back in 2018 (per Cot’s Baseball Contracts). The Diamondbacks have made no public indications about their financial limits this offseason, so it’s unclear how much more room, if any, the club has to maneuver for future additions. If the club has more payroll space to work with, an additional rotation arm to shore up the back of the club’s rotation could make sense, as well as a right-handed hitter to slot in at DH. To that end, the club has recently been connected to Lucas Giolito, Seth Lugo, Justin Turner, and J.D. Martinez, though it’s unclear if the club’s interest in the aforementioned starters remains following the signing of Rodriguez.
Jon Morosi of MLB.com first reported that the D-backs were a finalist to sign Rodriguez. Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that the two sides had agreed to a four-year deal worth around $20MM annually. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal broke the exact guarantee and value of the vesting option. Robert Murray of FanSided was first with the specific salary structure and vesting provisions.
Love to see the D-Backs going for it!
Right, good for then realizing that they should only get better with more reinforcements.
Now, with their top three starters, and a good enough bullpen that could get better off of growth from within, they should be primed and ready to make another run. I think they really just need another masher at DH, and they’ll be set to go toe to toe with the Dodgers.
Except now, the D-Backs will be significantly tougher to beat in a post-season series since they’ll now have three legit starters instead of just two.
Even at his worst last year E-Rod was still.significantly better than any of their other options, and that alone should really help come post-season time.
In terms of position player depth, they have some younger guys that could debut and make an impact in their lineup this year as well.
Hopefully he doesn’t do to the diamondbacks like he did the tigers the year before.
this post exceeds the maximum amount of words that anyone is willing to read
By far nowhere nearly even my longest post on here bud…lol
Besides, it is not my fault people have TikTok brains nowadays and can only pay attention for 10 second intervals…
Squirrels have better attention spans than most people nowadays. It is sad really..
4/80 is a steal imo
idk, seems about right to me. ERod seems to have settled in as a number 3 type.
I see him as an average number 2 on about 75% of MLB teams. In free agency, those guys typically get more. Seems like the best valued signing to me so far this offseason.
Waiting for my Rays to make some moves.
Not seeing that at all w him. He has some runs of very good pitching, but overall generally ends up w an era in the 3.80-4.00 range w a whip 1.20+ and xFIP around 4, just under 3 k/bb and about 150-175ip. Thats not a good number 2. Thats why AZ has him right as their 3 even though hell prob slot between the two righties.
@ohyeadam Avg of only 134 ip 2021-23, 4.04 ERA, 3.70 FIP, projects to less than 2 WAR in 2024, Forget everything prior to 2020. He’s not that pitcher any more.
Jack, compare him to Nola who got more than twice the money. Nola does throw more innings but gets similar results. Less than half the money and not having to keep him into his late 30s makes ERod a steal for me
I don’t really care for WAR but since you used it Nola 2.1 WAR in 2023, ERod 3.5
This contract is two years too long. ERod is the type of player who you hope you can flip at the trade deadline to a desperate contender who needs a decent number 4 just to claw their way into the post season. ERod is not an ace, an all star, or even a culture/tone setting bull dog. Kudos to his agent for convincing folks he’s worth anything more than 2/40.
A perfect post.
Family
Jd or Joc is next. If not a trade for Eloy. Now the money is tough so JD makes sense for 12 to 14 mil.
Justin Turner will be cheaper and has been as good if not better than JD over the last few seasons.
Justin Turner needs to retire, you don’t want him.
This is in direct contradiction to factual information.
To quote Homie the Clown, “I don’t think so.”
Turner is good for a 1 year deal. Problem is I think he’s looking for a 2 year deal and feels he’ll get one.
He had a no trade get over it. Why fans are mad players don’t want to go somewhere different just out of the goodness of their heart is beyond me.
I hope the deal specifies that Rodriguez has to pay for his own shrinks when he spins out of control next time, For that kind of money.
Go somewhere different. Have to get a short term rental in a new city and pay more taxes.
He negotiated his no trade. His business if he wants to use it. It’s on Scott Harris for not getting clearance before spending all that time on a deal.
Block a trade mid season for your family to the west priceless.
The cost to eff your family in the off-season.. $99 million
I called it baby!!
Nice add for the Dbacks. Exciting young team trying to get better.
Mike Hazen visited in the night by the ghost of MadBum past. Don’t really get this one!
Hopefully it pans out…
I hope this contract works out better than Bumgarner and Russ Ortiz.
Greinke was a good signing.
With that signing, Snakes take the NL West in 24.
Welp, I guess it won’t be 4 years/$82.5M like I projected.
Is it gonna be one of those silly deals where that last $50k a year is a symbolic sticking point, ala Pavano’s 4 years/$39.95M deal with the Yankees, but in this case it’s 4 years/$79.95M or something? ha.
Dbacks44! Dbacks44! Dbacks44! *three claps and a ric flair, WOOOO!*
How did the Braves not jump at that price
It was up to him, not the Braves. He probably preferred Phoenix.
This is the same dude who said no to a trade to the Dodgers last year because it would leave him to far away from family on the east coast. I don’t think geography was much of a consideration if Atlanta was involved – not that we’ll ever know since AA never acknowledges anything.
That was also mid-season. Now he can move everyone wherever.
Waaaaaaaaaay less humidity.
The same guy that said he didn’t want to be traded to the west for family reasons voluntarily signs a contract out west? Sounds like a headache of a player.
He didn’t want to go west mid-year. He has a whole off-season to buy a home and get his affairs situated. Would’ve lost cash by pitching in California also.
Not that crazy to use the contractual agreed upon No Trade Clause.
Probably didn’t want to move his family twice.
if you’re psychic, what are the numbers for tonight LOLOLO LOSER
It was smart of him to veto the trade last summer. He would’ve gotten rocked outside the AL central. Coors, Dodgers, and Padres are gonna light him up the next 4 years.
Maybe his second family is out west?
Sub 4 ERA pitching in the AL East 3 different seasons. Dodgers fans being butt hurt like always
Nah, it was a smart move on his part to veto the trade. He seemingly did fare better staying in the AL Central after the trade deadline. Dominant starts against the Twins, Guardians, White Sox, and Guardians (again)… along with strong starts against the Pirates and A’s. Got lit up by the Red Sox, Astros, Reds, and Dodgers.
I’m so glad the Furniture Makers don’t have to face him again. That Cleveland lineup made him look like Sandy Koufax a few times. I have a feeling he’ll miss the potent bats of the AL Central, but he should do just fine in AZ.
@DeusSexMachina
Padres aren’t lighting any pitcher up now the fire sale has begun.
Trading Soto means fire sale? So they she just let him walk for nothing after the season? Good idea
Let’s see if ‘the family’ are as keen on spending $200m+ per year as the owner was. I very much doubt it.
@Ignorant, he hit .276 with 23 HRs and 96 RBIs, good for a 2.1 WAR. At $6.7M that’s pretty good value for a veteran presence like Turner. And although he’s best suited as a DH he’s a nice backup option for the corners and even 2B I’d really in a pinch.
He didnt get “rocked” im fenway,yankee stadium, baltimore(prechanges) or toronto..what makrle you think he would fare worse in pitching friendly nl west minus coors??
what are the numbers for tonight MORON?
Bumgarner 2.0
Is MadBum ever going to pitch in the Majors again? I mean, he would only command a?minimum salary he has all this rest now…
Good for ERod. I hope it work out for him.
I would have loved to see him make a return to where it all started for him in BAL, but we were never in on him. Would have been a good fit as a LHP throwing to a heavy RHH lineup faced with Walltimore.
Having said that, that’s a lot of money to give to a guy who’s exceeded 200 IP once, and 150 IP (barely) only two other times in his career.
Today’s 150 is yesterdays 200.
I like how fans think there’s a plethora of starters going 200 IP every year.
Kinda hoping that my Red Sox would be bringing him back to Fenway. Nice signing Dbacks!
Dodgers have got to be ticked now, after telling them he did not want to go to LA to pitch at the deadline, go ahead and sign with the D’Backs.
Why? He wasn’t the only pitcher available.
Dodgers had reason to be upset last year only if he told them at the last minute. This is different being a free agent, sounds like he didn’t want to move without a guaranteed extension. About the money not the rings for many guys and I get that if you haven’t had a big past payday.
He had marital problems the year before, so his family was his priority. He did not want to be separated for months, nor did he want to uproot his family twice in 6 months. HARRIS should have never been talking to teams on his no-trade list.
Gallen, Rodriguez, Kelly on the front end.
Still looking to get Justin Turner or JD Martinez as DH.
30-1 to win the WS??
This team is loading up. People need to pay attention.
This is a solid signing by the Dbacks, Crazy to think it seems like they got a bargain at $20 million and only 4 years. MLB economics is bonkers. But good for them.
That is no bargain. Wait and see how this guy actually does. History has not been kind. I don’t expect him to do well unfortunately.
He’s a career 4 era coming off one good season. Prior to last year he was much higher in career era. I don’t think this will go well either. He also rebounded in the worst division in baseball. In the AL East he wasn’t good at all.
Keep building D’Back now on a DH, really stick it the Dodgers sign JD Martinez now.
Are they really sticking it to LA if they sign the prize of the off season? JD and Ohtani can’t be on the same squad.
You’d be better off getting Justin Turner
Justin Turner is 49 years old !!!!!
And still better and more useful than JD Martinez.
Only if JT plays the field and he didn’t do that hardly at all last half of the season. He’s getting kinda old for playing defense every da.
He just had a minor foot thing. He played quite well at 1b, 3b and 2b when needed.
How is he better than JD Martinez exactly?
He isn’t a DH only and he produces just as well. Plus he’s great in the club house, JD is whiny
You think this sticks it to the Dodgers? Sure, he would have been a solid pick up at the deadline but he doesn’t have the most rock solid track record.
Will love to boo this man when he comes to LA
Will you be there in the ninth when they pull him for a closer? ON the road by the eighth.
Didn’t this dude reject a trade to the dodgers because he didn’t want to play on the west coast away from his family?
I didn’t realize Arizona was the Midwest. Just wait until it’s Arizona Bay like Tool said. Bad joke. But in all seriousness, great signing. I’d saw money brought him to Arizona but you’d think he coulda gotten more.
He didn’t wanna uproot the family in the middle of the season was his reason.
I thought because the Dodgers would not add one expensive year on the contract was the reason?
Tool copied that from Bill Hicks & Steely Dan.
Arizona had to do something to fix the rotation after the top two. Don’t know if this will work but at least they’re trying.
Well, I sort of called it. If it goes to 5 years it’ll be just a shade under $20M AAV… why? lol? Why not give him that final $1M?
Must be like 4 years/$78M w/ a $2M buyout on a $21M option.
Weird how it can get down to symbolic levels or teams really want that $1M discount.
you didn’t call anything, shut up
I guess he lied about staying on the east coast. I hope he can pitch a full year for you d backs fans, he couldn’t for us tiger fans.
He opted out of his Tigers contract with 3 years and $49M remaining for a new 4 year $80M contract…this means he’s netting an additional $31M. So had the Tigers increased each of the next 3 years by $3.5M they could have had him for a 4th year at about $19.5M…does not look like a good move by the Tigers, or maybe it does???? Time will tell as it always does
Good riddance, pitched well for two months for the Tigers
The Tigers contract had been signed in Nov of 21. For all we know the Tigers could have tried to extend him and he declined.
The biggest issue I had with both Baez and ERod’s contracts were the one sided opt outs. It was obvious if either did well as ERod had they’d exercise the opt out. And had either took a s$#& as Baez has it was also obvious they’d be stuck with a bad contract.
I respect Eddie. He moved his family when he was damn ready! Not at the whim of an organization
Agree. Family first. Why HARRIS wasn’t aware of the player’s concerns, and was shopping him to teams on his no-trade list is an epic failure on his part.
@Stymeed they might have been only team offering anything of interest to Tigers. Not saying that was the case, but we don’t know.
I to was a bit confused thinking he should of had a plan b in place as that was a last minute thing. But like I said, there just might not have been any other appealing deals out there.
@tigers
You realize that a team offering anything is better than the nothing they have right now? It was a horrible mismanagement by the tigers
You do whatever the hell you want when you sign a contract. He got a NTC and used it. He got an opt out and used it.
Blame Al Avila for giving him it or Scott Harris for not getting approval ahead of time if you’d like to blame anyone.
“East Coast guy”
I thought this clown didn’t want to pitch on the West Coast? He will have a high ERA like he did in Detroit.
Maybe he just didn’t want to pitch for the clowns dodgers? I don’t blame him lol
The player had a no trade get the f over it. Buffoons mad at players for using their contractual right. Fans should be furious every time they sign a free agent with a no trade, that way in two years when they forget they were excited for the signing they can remember he’s got a no trade and can’t be moved.
Are you delirious or stupid Dodger JR?
That’s a solid signing. I wish E Rod the best out West. Good to see the Diamondbacks making an effort to build on their 2023 success.
Lot of $ for this guy. He’s gonna be hurt half the contract.
You can say that about every pitcher signed to multiple years in their 30s
5 of the last 6 seasons(he opted out of 2020) he made 25 or more starts. In 2022 he took a leave of absence for family reasons but still started 17 games. The first 2 seasons of his career he started only 20 and 21 MLB games but also spent time in Minors.
He might not be the poster boy for durability or anything, but overall he has been fairly reliable throughout his career. And nothing indicative of him likely missing half of this contract.
He was tired of playing in cold, rainy, miserable climates…..
The D-Backs rotation is scary good. They could use some bats though.
It’s not that scary. Gallen is the only real stud. Kelly and Rodriguez are journeymen.
You do realize that Merrill Kelly was 24th among all SPs last season by fWAR, xERA, and xFIP, right? He was also 22nd among all SPs by FIP and 11th among all SP by ERA, along with a pretty good Postseason showing. Not exactly “journeyman” results.
He’s 35 and didn’t make his MLB debut until he was 30.
Lifetime record of 48-43, 3.8 ERA, and has more hits allowed than strikeouts. That’s nothing special.
That’s nothing special? Ah yes, it’s very frequently that we see players make changes in KBO/NPB that they actually translate into consistent success in MLB; success in this case being the production of a good #2 starter.
Last season he was: also 24th by fWAR, 26th by ERA, 25th by xERA, 27th by FIP, and 31st by xFIP. How terrible that he wasn’t top 30 last year /s. It’s not an isolated incident that he was one of the better pitchers in MLB.
You and I have very different definitions of “special”. There are 29 other rotations that would be improved by the addition of Kelly; I’d say that’s pretty special.
P.S. A 3.80 career ERA is actually quite good, so I don’t know why you’d use that for your journeyman argument.
I actually had more faith in Kelly pitching than Gallen.
He also has a 2-10 record against the dpdgers. but he swept them out of the playoffs last season. DBacks will smash them again next season.
The ERA is OK, but consistently elite pitchers compile significantly more strikeouts than hits allowed.
Just comparing him to Gallen, Gallen has struck out 729 and allowed 534 hits in 667.1 career innings pitched.
Kelly has struck out 681 and allowed 683 hits in 750.2 innings pitched.
In my book, Gallen at 28 is a true ace that hitters fear while Kelly is a respectable no. 3 or no. 4 guy and nothing special, and he’s peaked at 35 and not likely to get any better. Regression is more likely with age.
The Dbacks did very well in winning the pennant, but pitchers like Kelly aren’t difference-makers such that they make the team a favorite to duplicate their success next year, IMO.
I am going to somewhat disagree with you. M Kelly has a career ERA+112, and was at 132 last year which was better than Gallen (125 last year). Gallen of course has a career ERA+ of 133.
Despite age, M Kelly has been getting better every year. Not going to keep happening obviously, but he was more consistent than Gallen last year and has a career Whip ~1.2 (which is pretty close to a #2).
M Kelly (and Pfaadt) were the playoff studs, not Gallen (who was pretty bad all post season except for the last game).
I know Gallen got Cy Young votes, but that was due to his scoreless streak prior to the all star break. Gallen had a far better year in 2022 (and was not even considered for Cy Young). Gallen is the better pitcher when he is ‘on’ (like Blake Snell). He needs to be more consistent to be a real ‘ACE’.
Rodriguez is an expensive #3 that can flash dominence at times. Problem is that Henry (and Walston) are really the only LHP in the system (#5’s art most), so the Dbacks ‘needed’ to address LHP.
@Blue Barin, Kelly has also been very reliable in the 4 non Covid years of his career he’s started 30+ 3 times and 27 the other year.
if you’re so smart, why don’t you have a podcast or a sports network to share your thoughts?==>NOT SMART
you’re a troll, troll
No one said Erod was scary loser blue ball baron
Says the biggest troll loser on here.
Snakes have a 2 year window before Gallen gets his bag and Merrill Kelly gets his Medicare card. They had to make this type of SP move. Need a RH bat w/ pop and need to keep some $ in reserve for the trade deadline to cover unexpected injuries/underperformance.
“I want to stay on the east coast.” Reminds of the time Roger Clemens was interviewed about his free agency back in ’96.
“I want to go somewhere closer to home,” he said. So, of course most reasonable people would think he would either sign with the Rangers or Astros, him being from Texas and all.
Naturally, it came as a surprise when he signed with the Blue Jays. But of course they gave hiim 40 million reasons to back then.
Here we are 27 years later and the D’backs are giving Rodriquez 80 million reasons to sign with them- double what Clemens got.
It’s not double when you account for inflation and revenue growth.
“I want to go somewhere closer to home,” he said.
=============================
That was one of the most embarrassing things I ever heard a player say.
He said he was leaving Boston to be closer to home.
Texas offered him $24M/3.
Toronto offered him $24.75M.
So for $250,000 a year, he left the country, rather than live a short drive away from home.
He was completely effed up on roids. His display in the 2000 World Series throwing the bat at Piazza was disgraceful and should’ve gotten him ejected.
shut up troll, write something intelligent moron
ABCDE_ that guy
This wedding is horseshit
Sneaky sneaky. Nice move for them.
Not wanting to movie your family mid season is very different from moving at the end of the year. He never said he didn’t want to play on the West coast only he didn’t want to move his family mid season.
The D’Backs needed a left handed starter. Now, a DH
In Chaim Breslow we trust!
I hate this for the dbacks. I’m a fan of both the red Sox and Diamondbacks and I saw him up close for years. He’s selfish, doesn’t pitch deep into games and has really only had two good seasons in his career. They could have spent that money in a better place.
RE TI
“I’m a fan of both the red Sox”
I love how people add this like it’s relevant
“I watched him for 10 years in X” then they make the most generic baseball fan statement ever.
It’s relevant and accurate. Calm down
TI
It may be accurate, that you’re a Red Sox fan
It’s not at all relevant.
Weil, maybe, MAYBE, in that it helps people to see your biases. It certainly doesn’t mean you’re any more informed – especially when followed up by the nothingest of nothing burgers statement that you made
Go ahead and watch it unfold in AZ then. He’s a prima Donna and Alex Cora used to get into it with him quite often. A lot of red Sox fans didn’t want him back. That should be pretty telling by itself given how bad our rotation is currently.
TI
“Go ahead and watch it unfold in AZ then. He’s a prima Donna and Alex Cora used to get into it with him quite often. A lot of red Sox fans didn’t want him back. That should be pretty telling by itself given how bad our rotation is currently”
getyarn.io/yarn-clip/c24156e2-bb56-485f-8c29-03276…
If fans didn’t want him back that must mean… Next to nothing
This was the move Dbacks fans hoped to see, and Hazen got a good one! Adding Rodriquez and another year of development time for Pfaadt and Henry gives the Dbacks a rotation capable of getting 10 more wins over last year’s 84 regular season wins. And gives the Dbacks a much stronger post-season rotation.
Lol.. A team that wasn’t even a top 10 team last year that won’t win 80 games this year
…..yet made it to the World Series.
Great job adding Rodriquez and Suarez. Those were the 2 highest priorities this off-season.
Three more moves: RHH DH, RHH left field platoon with LHH Jake McCarthy, and backup catcher capable of handling about 50 starts to spell Gabby Moreno.
One other possible acquisition would be an opportunistic get of another bullpen arm. Then take a look at any needs at the Trade Deadline.
Anybody get this one on their Free Agent Bingo Card Sweepstakes??
ESPN shouldn’t be scooping you guys like this…
Career year, 20 a year. That’s baseball today.
Not sure you understand value
Dodger faithful are going to have a lot of fun with this guy. youtube.com/shorts/NgzG9vhCGIU?si=jDqFG3cXu3FJyD8q
That was like 50 years ago
Pitching wise he looks better than most the guys who got 60 70 million last year. As long as he is healthy with a healthy marriage it look like a fair contract.
lol. There lies the issue. He almost certainly will not be healthy.
He knows Arizona isn’t near the East coast, right?
Maybe he’s thinking Phoenix, Maryland or Phoenix, New York?
Sorry, he wasnt being specific. East coast of Lake Havasu not the United States.
Can’t wait to see Mad Bum outduel Rodriguez in game 7 of the NLDS this year pitching for the Giants!
Always been an Eddie Guardado fan!
Big overpay and gamble given his past numbers and limited time on the field. He has a better team around him than in Detroit and it’s more similar to some of those earlier Boston teams but I bet only half of the seasons will pan out on this deal with #3-4 starter value.
Too many great contract year performances drop off a cliff after a big deal is signed. I expect the same here, but hope I am wrong.
Po Boy missed out again. Instead he loads up on infielders.
I like this for the DBacks. Let’s see if this leads to another postseason for them because even though they got to the World Series, they have a tough hill to climb.
Very glad the Tigers did not sign him. He didn’t look as good after the injury and is not blameless in the whole trade deadline scenario. Now Harris needs to go big with his replacement…Yamamoto would make people forget Erod pretty quick!
Good deal both ways.
All of a sudden, the D-backs’ two-man rotation (Galen and Kelley) is now a solid four-man rotation with this signing and the emergence of Pfaaadt.
Bullpen is solid. Defense is way above average, especially in the OF. Need to add a bopper to play LF. If not a bopper, then two lesser lights who make a lot of contact, one LH and one RH, to platoon there.
Definitely stoked on the rotation upgrade; I would still ideally like to see an improvement over the Cecconi/Henry/Jarvis/Nelson/Walston cluster for the #5 spot. That’s a fine group for injury replacements, but it’s a pretty heavy drop-off.
Interestingly, between LHH Jake McCarthy, LHH Dominic Fletcher, and RHH Diego Castillo, they may already have the candidates for that contact hitting platoon in house; so a bopper to play LF may not be the highest priority.
I’m more curious how the backup SS position looks, because I don’t know that Lawlar is ready (but we’ll likely see in ST) and Jace Peterson is not good at playing SS and hasn’t played there in years. It’s possible that Diego Castillo could see some time there as well, since he had a decent showing there with the Pirates.
That and the backup C position; I’m one of Jose Herrera’s biggest believers, but he was pretty bad last season. That’s why I’d love to see them target Mitch Garver. The team outright said that they’re trying to get Gabby 120 games, so Garver wouldn’t have to cover a huge number of games behind the dish and would fill the DH role the rest of the time.
Garver would be my next highest priority, then check on if a decent back-end SP is affordable and available, and then see if there’s a decent/affordable RHH COF (I personally like Edward Olivares of the Royals as a target).
The team is definitely shaping up, though. And there are still all of the young guys that can expect some degree of improvement as they settle in (still patiently waiting on Alek Thomas to make good on his offensive projection). DBacks should definitely project pretty well and it looks like an exciting roster.
highheat
Appreciate your analysis as usual. What you didn’t comment on here is the DH spot. I know Hazen said he was open to the possibility of a full time DH, but I think he was just trying to say that JD and JT added two more possibilities for filling the need for a RH bat, and I don’t think a full time DH is right for the Dbacks. Your thoughts on a full time DH?
highheat
I think that half of the COF spot is already on the roster in Jake McCarthy, with Dominic Fletcher the depth piece. I say half because I think it should be a platoon, and because I think McCarthy needs another shot at proving himself.
The Dbacks need a RH bat for COF and should not sign a full time DH. Both JD and JT are reasonably expensive/reasonably affordable, but I think the Dbacks would get more bang for their buck and more roster and lineup flexibility by trading for a reasonably priced RH COF. I’ll check into your suggestion of Edward Olivares of the Royals, but maybe him or someone similar would work?
I didn’t explicitly state it there, my bad. But since Gabby is being ticketed for ~120 games, Garver would only need to cover what’s left over at C. Or if they don’t expect him to cover the other ~42 games, whatever time they do play him there would be time that Herrera isn’t playing there (even if he does have to cover a bit of time).
The rest of the time Garver would be in the lineup is in the DH spot; since he’d have games playing at C, that would free the DH spot up on those days to rotate guys through the lineup on rest days.
That’s why I consider Garver the best choice and the highest priority; he addresses the DH spot without completely committing it to one player and also minimizes the damage that Herrera can do (since he put “up” -0.7 fWAR in 120 PAs).
highheat
I too am curious about how the SS position will shake out this year. Is Lawler ready? I don’t think so, but maybe by mid season?
Are the Dbacks better off trading either Lawler or Perdomo? I wouldn’t trade them for one year rental pitchers, but I would trade Lawler as the headliner in a package deal to the White Sox for 4 years of control of Luis Robert, Jr.
highheat
On Garver….I think that’s a good idea except that he definitely can’t handle catching for 45 games (I’m assuming another deep run into the playoffs)! And, that leaves the Dbacks with the need to carry 3 catchers on the 26 player Active Roster, which isn’t optimal for flexibility. It also installs Garver as a virtually full time DH, which I’m against for the same flexibility issue.
I agree on half of a platoon already being in-house, but I also think that Diego Castillo has a place on the roster as the RHH half of an OF platoon and also as the backup SS. Castillo didn’t really impact the ball at AAA (.097 ISO) but he did walk more than he K’d; that certainly has to be intriguing to the FO.
Lawlar looked overmatched, but I don’t see him getting dealt. And truth be told about Robert? His plate discipline terrifies me. He’s young enough that it shouldn’t be a concern, but these are Baezian BB/K levels we’re talking about. I wouldn’t trade Lawlar or Perdomo at this moment.
I also agree on McCarthy deserving another shot. He hit the ball much less hard, but he improved his BB and K numbers and has historically been a platoon neutral hitter. I definitely want to see if that’s as sustainable as he’s shown thus far, and if it is? McCarthy is easily an everyday player, so a platoon wouldn’t be necessary.
Personally, I’d also like to McCarthy start getting games at 1B again. Walker doesn’t need that many days off a season, but getting McCarthy’s bat in the lineup on the days he does is very enticing.
Fletcher hit RHP very well, and has had a tendency to run pronounced platoon splits. He might strictly be a platoon guy at this point, but he’s a long half that performed fairly well with the advantage and has a pretty good glove.
As far as the Garver idea goes, the Active Roster isn’t exactly set in stone. There are guys that have options, and Jose Herrera is one of those guys. I’m not exactly expecting Garver to play all of the leftover games, but there will be stretches of the season where certain types of bench players will be more preferable than others. Some stretches of the season it won’t be necessary to carry another C.
120 games works out to 1-2 games off a week, so if Gabby hits his goals I’m sure Garver can live with crouching one or two days a week for some stretches. As we start to get to the dog days heading into the All-Star Break and heading towards the end of the season Herrera may be necessary, but it’d also work out to less than 120 PAs for him (so less opportunities to cost the team value).
And as far as a Postseason run goes; supposing it gets that far, there are frequent redt days and we just watched Gabby play essentially every day in the Postseason.
Garver would be a “mostly DH” kind of acquisition, as opposed to the “strictly DH” tags on Martinez/Turner. Plus, he should cost less than either (even if only slightly less than Turner).
Nola got paid 2 years and $50 more than market value. Sonny Gray or ERod seem more logical
Good luck with him
Very nice signing and iam a cubs fan too
No chance this works out. Guy is injured every year.
All those trashing him for vetoing a trade, which was his right, show how many tool bags there are in the world. Good for him.
It fits the D’Backs payroll, they did not overspend, they are taking a chance. Rodriguez has connections with Hazen and Lovullo when they were in Boston.
They can’t stop now. If they add a Stroman or Flaherty to fill that out, they could have the best rotation in the NL
Overpaid just to finish third or worse in the NL west next season.
Finishing third and making the wild card ain’t that bad.. I’d be happy to make the wild card again and beat the Dodgers again (;
Shocking how many people in here think this is a good deal. Check out this guys numbers vs non AL Central teams. He’s now going to a more competitive division and league.
DBacks signed a solid starting pitcher by acquiring E-Rod. They should sign JD Martinez to a 2 year contract as their DH and flip McCarthy, Pavin Smith, and/or minor leaguers not named Jones, Troy, or Lin for bullpen improvement. Bringing Gurriel back would be a good idea too, if he is affordable, but their farm system has players who can be brought up to fill his spot.
There are teams that say they want to win and there are teams that put their money where their mouth is. Don’t be surprised if the Giants walk away with Ross Stripling and Mitch Hanniger 2.0.
Don’t be surprised when Eduardo Rodriguez disappears mid season after his “family’s” swamp cooler breaks down.
Arizona solved one of its biggest problems, they’re definitely going to be a playoff team next year.
Shame Harris didn’t offer him 80 million plus to stay in Detroit, although he probably just wanted out of that disaster that Harris is building!
Yes just terrible… Improved by 12 games from last year. Multiple 20 plus homer guys. A young core of hitters and pitchers. Really one spot up in the air at 3b. More reinforcements on the way from the minors this year and next (Keith, Malloy, Jung, Jobe, Madden, Flores). Clark, McGonigle and others on the horizon. Just terrible.
You must be watching another Tigers team dude.
Even though they will miss E-Rod, the Tigers have a very good, balanced team with youth and veterans Sure hope AJ Hinch brings them back to the playoffs soon.
This is a big contract and a risky one at that. Mental health issues don’t just go away and never return. This is a lifelong struggle, my hope is the dbacks support him and his needs throughout the life of the deal. Best of Luck, help the snakes win it all!
I don’t like the backend of that deal for ARI.