by Hayden Hughes
2/7/14
ESPN’s Jim Bowden reported,
on Friday (2/7) afternoon, that 36-year-old starter Bronson Arroyo has narrowed
the number of teams he’s likely to sign with down from the Orioles, Dodgers,
and the Diamondbacks to either the Dodgers or Diamondbacks.
By 3:05 p.m. news broke
from multiple sources that he was a Diamondback.
Whether we are the first or
not, the High Heat Podcast would like to welcome Bronson to the desert!
Baltimore and the Dodgers
were other options Arroyo was considering, but with the Dodger’s starting
depth, he would most likely be the fourth guy in their rotation. Baltimore
reportedly was in-then-out on Arroyo.
As confusing as it may have
been, it was good news for D-Backs fans that their team hadn’t been omitted
from anyone’s reports. They now have a guy who will come into 2014 having pitched 199+ innings every year since 2005.
Going into the offseason,
GM Kevin Tower’s #1 job was to find an ace. After the trade with San Diego, in
which the Diamondbacks traded their ace in Ian Kennedy for lefty reliever Joe Thatcher,
the D-Backs needed another arm to anchor the rotation. While Patrick Corbin
supplied a stellar, All-Star 2013 campaign, fatigue reared its ugly head, as Corbin
pitched 48 more innings than he ever had before, minors included. In August and
September combined, Corbin put up a 6.05 ERA. While not good, he had just
turned 24 in July. The D-Backs got more than they could have asked out of Corbin
in 2013.
Because of the D-Backs
youth, perhaps they felt more experience would be beneficial for their club.
But given their return (or lack thereof) in this offseason’s trades, the
D-Backs felt Free Agency is a better fit for the immediate future than another
trade could be.
In losing OF Adam Eaton,
LHP David Holmberg, LHP Tyler Skaggs, 3B Matt Davidson, and RHP Heath Bell, the
Snakes have converted-left fielder Mark Trumbo and RHP Addison Reed to show for
their transactions. And between Eaton, Holmberg, Skaggs, and Davidson, Eaton
was the oldest…at 25. Bottom line: Towers has traded away a lot of prospects.
I had been buying into the
words we all heard from Towers around the Winter Meetings: that the
Diamondbacks would find their ace by means of trades, not free agents. And I
was on board with this plan. Missing out on Japanese-import Masahiro Tanaka
meant potentially giving up a draft pick as compensation for a deal with either
Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana – both would most likely prefer long-term
contracts with lots of money attached to them.
Arroyo is different.
Entering what will potentially be his last couple seasons in the big leagues
Arroyo has no draft pick compensation attached to his name and could be signed
at a decent price, considering what other free agent starters are asking for.
Here’s a breakdown of what
the D-Backs’ payroll for starting pitching is for 2014:
Player
|
2014 Salary
|
Patrick Corbin
|
Pre-Arbitration Eligible until 2016
|
Wade Miley
|
Pre-Arbitration Eligible until 2015
|
Randall Delgado
|
Pre-Arbitration Eligible until 2015
|
Trevor Cahill
|
$7,700,000
|
Brandon McCarthy
|
$10,250,000
|
On the surface, McCarthy’s
contract is what is hurting the D-Backs’ wallet. And in the immediate that’s
right. From what D-Backs fans saw from McCarthy in 2013, he isn’t worth $10.25M
following a year in which he only pitched 135 innings and posted a 4.53 ERA.
The problem is all other baseball teams most likely saw McCarthy’s performance
as well, making him unlikely to be tradable to another club.
Really, trading Cahill to
another team would be the best move, given that Arroyo signs with the D-Backs.
Arroyo is a slightly better pitcher, who pitches more innings, and is a short-term
contract. Cahill, while making a solid amount of money in 2014, gets a pay
increase of $12M in 2015, with 2016 holding a $300,000 buyout – making his
contract move movable than McCarthy.
Overall, Arroyo puts another arm in front of Archie Bradley and Randall Delgado, but Arroyo's signing also opens up options for the D-Backs to make another move involving another starter, such as Cahill or McCarthy.
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