Veteran Joakim Soria to anchor pen
The Diamondbacks formally introduced their newest reliever, right-hander Joakim Soria, on Monday, finalizing the kind of bullpen reconstruction move that has become standard fare for this organization in recent offseasons.
But General Manager Mike Hazen expressed optimism his club won’t have to make such moves every winter going forward, pointing to a stable of young pitchers he hopes will both claim roles and pitch well this season.
“The goal shouldn't be to rebuild the bullpen externally every single year,” Hazen said. “There's got to be opportunity for our young pitchers -- starters, especially, that don't find their way into the rotation right away -- to still have opportunities to come up here and pitch and get their feet underneath them at the major league level.”
He named right-handers Taylor Widener, Taylor Clarke and Jon Duplantier and left-hander Alex Young as examples of young pitchers who have had varying degrees of success in relief for the Diamondbacks in recent seasons. This does not mean they are assured of jobs entering this year, but the club would love to see their development continue to the point that the club doesn’t have to cast so wide a net for relief help every offseason.
“I think we have a desire to see those guys seize those jobs,” Hazen said. “(But) those guys have to seize those jobs.”
Of course, for a club that has made just one notable addition (Soria) this winter and has a projected payroll, per FanGraphs’ Roster Resource, of $95.6 million -- a number that is 14 percent lower than last year’s projected prepandemic $111.7 million -- Hazen’s sentiment could be interpreted as convenient for a team intent on cutting costs.
Hazen said the club does not have “all that many” relievers who are assured jobs entering camp. Stefan Crichton, who finished last season as the closer, is one.
Soria, of course, is now another. A native of Mexico, Soria, who received a one-year, $3.5 million deal, called the Diamondbacks a team in which he has always had interest, in part because of the sizeable Latino community in the Valley.
“I think I can have an impact in the Hispanic community,” he said, “not just playing baseball but outside (the park), too.”
He also liked the idea of close to his Scottsdale home.
“It’s crazy -- the world is a little crazy,” Soria said. “I’d rather be with my family than be out there.”
Soria, 36, has a 3.01 ERA in parts of 13 seasons in the majors. He logged a 2.82 ERA in 22 games for the Oakland Athletics last season.
Though Soria appears
to
playing
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the most likely candidate to take over the closer’s role, Hazen stopped short of calling him that, saying he wanted to foster competition in spring training by leaving the job open. Soria called winning the job his “main goal” this spring.
“I think everybody who has been in that bullpen role in the majors, they want to be the closer,” he said. “Obviously, being the closer, you’re an important part of the team and if you have that it’s because you are doing something good.”
Since becoming the Diamondbacks’ GM prior to the 2017 season, Hazen has brought in a new closer in four of five winters, signing Fernando Rodney (2017), Greg Holland (2019) and Soria and trading for Brad Boxberger (2018). Only last offseason, when Archie Bradley was the de facto closer, did Hazen stand pat.
Beyond Soria, the Diamondbacks have made only small-risk bullpen additions this winter, signing lefty Ryan Buchter and right-hander Chris Devenski to minor league deals. As to whether the club is targeting more noteworthy late-inning options beyond Soria, Hazen said the club remains “actively engaged in that part of the market.”
Hazen said the club’s slow offseason to date could be explained in part by an initial focus on the trade market, where nothing came to fruition.
“The trade market was a little challenging for us because if you're not going out rebuilding it wasn't as definitive of a path for me to identify certain deals that we had,” Hazen said. “I feel like (with the potential trades available) I was either making the major league team, the 2021 team, better or -- you know, doing it to make the 2023 team better wasn't necessarily a goal, and that was probably more what we had available to us in this offseason.”