D-Backs move to prevent another Rule 5 draft loss
After losing a pair of players last year in the Rule 5 draft – one of whom, righthander Brad Keller, went on to turn in a strong rookie season with the Kansas City Royals – the Diamondbacks were more aggressive with their 40-man roster additions on Tuesday, selecting the contracts of five prospects.
General Manager Mike Hazen would not draw a line connecting one event to the other but issued a mea culpa when it came to Keller, who posted a 3.08 ERA in 1401⁄3 innings with the Royals.
“I think (the additions are) more about (having) the flexibility,” said Hazen, whose roster is at 38 and could dip lower with potential nontenders. “Look, Brad Keller, I made a mistake there. I don’t think it’s in our interest to veer back in the other direction – I don’t think we did that here – but I do think it sort of reminds you that you need to be right on these evaluations.
“There are players in Double-A who can go to the big leagues and be good. As much as we talk about how hard that is, it can happen. You don’t want to play defense on this, but if you have some added flexibility you have the ability to do that.”
Of the five additions, two seemed relatively easy to forecast in right-handers Taylor Clarke and Emilio Vargas. Clarke, 25, is one of the club’s top starting pitching prospects and could be in line for a big-league opportunity in 2019; Vargas, 22, had an impressive year between High-A and Double-A, finishing with a combined 2.88 ERA in 143 2/3 innings.
First baseman Kevin Cron and righthanders Bo Takahashi and Joel Payamps also were added.
Cron, 25, whose brother, C.J. Cron, has spent the past five seasons in the majors and whose dad, Chris, is the Diamondbacks’ minor league hitting coordinator, posted a fourth consecutive impressive offense season, this time in Triple-A Reno, but joins a 40-man that also includes two other first base-only types in Paul Goldschmidt and Christian Walker.
Payamps reached Triple-A while Takahashi got to Double-A, and while both have things to like, neither was universally lauded as a prospect. Payamps, 24, has a fastball that can reach the mid-90s, was dominant during his time in Double-A and would seem to fit the profile of someone plucked in the Rule 5 and dropped into a relief role.
Takahashi, 21, meanwhile, is less about pure stuff than he is pitch execution and aggressiveness. He also has good deception in that he has a high spin rate on his low-90s fastball, allowing him to get swings and misses on the pitch, particularly up in the strike zone.
The club also announced that righthanders Braden Shipley and Artie Lewicki were outrighted to Triple-A Reno after being removed from the 40 and clearing waivers.
Mathis departs
Catcher Jeff Mathis’ two-year, $6.25 million deal with the Texas Rangers was announced Tuesday, bringing an end to his two-year run with the Diamondbacks. The light-hitting Mathis was often credited for helping turn around the club’s pitching staff the past two seasons.
Hazen said that for as much as they valued Mathis, the Diamondbacks weren’t ready to commit the roster spot to him, given that it would mean committing to a three-catcher rotation.
“I’m not saying we won’t do that, but we needed to maintain flexibility through this period,” Hazen said. “If we had done that given that, obviously, we have Alex (Avila) and we have (John Ryan Murphy), between the three of them, there’s no flexibility there. We were pinning the roster to a three-catcher setup. That’s great and we value it and like it, but we just didn’t feel like we wanted to do that on Nov. 15.”
Short hop
As expected, left-hander Patrick Corbin and center fielder A.J. Pollock declined qualifying offers last week, setting the Diamondbacks up to collect draft picks should they sign elsewhere.