Bronson Arroyo, who had an early offseason flirtation with the Giants finally ended up signing a free agent contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arroyo had been quite vocal about looking for a 3 year deal. He finally backed off that demand as spring training rapidly approached, settling for 2 years at $9.5 M per year with a 3'rd year option with a $4.5 M buyout. The total guaranteed value of the package is $23 M.
Arroyo joins a starting rotation that already has 5 members with MLB experience: Patrick Corbin, Wade Miley, Trevor Cahill, Randall Delgado and Brandon McCarthy. The D'Backs also have RHP prospect Archie Bradley who was expected to challenge for a spot in the MLB rotation, but will now likely start the season in AAA. Barring injury, I expect Delgado to go to the bullpen as a long reliever, 6'th starter, a strategy for expanding depth to the rotation that we are seeing from more and more teams.
I would expect Arroyo's performance to be similar to what we've seen from him in Cincinnati as the ballparks are both hitter friendly. He has been very tough on the Giants of late, so I can't say I'm happy to see him in the NL West.
I know Arroyo has his detractors and admirers. I am not thrilled by that smug smirk on his face when he's pitching against the Giants, but I was hoping the Giants would sign him. He's a perfect fit for AT&T Park. He doesn't get a lot of K's, but also does not walk anybody and induces weak contact with great location on his pitches. He is a RH flyball pitcher so tends to give up dingers, but AT&T suppresses HR's as well as any park in baseball and is particularly tough on LH hitters.
Arroyo was demanding a 3 year deal up until this week and I know Sabes was dead set against anything longer than 2 years, but man, if Vogey struggles again, I will be grinding my teeth at what the Giants rotation might have done with Arroyo in that #5 slot.
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Well, nothing is going to come easy.
ReplyDeleteAt this stage of the offseason, we will responds with a 'we have to get our own you-know-what together.'
And hope for a few dark-horse, mystery prospects (with nasty stuff as far as the pitchers are concerned) to emerge
The concept of "nasty stuff" seems to have taken on a life of its own.
DeleteBronson Arroyo does not have nasty stuff. He teases the strike zone with dookie and fills it up when he has to.
DeleteI just think Arroyo's game is tailor made for AT&T Park. His one big negative is giving up HR's to LH hitters and AT&T would help him with that a whole lot.
DeleteArroyo would have been a good #5 starter but I thought that once Hudson was signed, Arroyo was out of the picture. I like Hudson better then Arroyo because Hudson has been consistently good for a long time throwing that sinkerball of his.. I like Vogey and am a supporter of the FO... If he does struggle, I can see the FO being 2nd guessed on giving him a guaranteed contract and not waiting for the prices to drop on some of these FA pitchers.. I see that the Bums signed a decent FA starting pitcher Paul Maholm to a 1 yr $1.5 mil contract..
ReplyDeleteLG
I Sabes has said that he made a commitment to Vogey when he signed that he would not have to compete for a job in the rotation. I think that is when Arroyo's ship sailed. If Arroyo would have taken his current deal back when the Giants were still in the market, I think he might be a Giant instead of a D'Back.
DeleteDodgers did real good by signing Maholm to that pittance salary. Sometimes good things happen when you wait out the market. I'd take Maholm and the savings over Vogey and the uncertainty despite all the admirable qualities he possesses. Maholm has worked from the pen. Giants could use another lefty to juggle the rotation. But I suppose that is Escobar's job.
DeleteSometimes I wish Sabes was a little more patient about waiting out the market, but he's never operated that way. Once again, he has his strong points and weak points. The strong usually outweighs the weak.
DeleteGetting ahead of the market for Pence worked out, though. I'll take the $30+ million savings from that early resigning along with whatever the loss was in resigning Vogey early. It's risky to try to predict the market, but Sabean usually does a pretty good job of it. Anyways, I don't think anyone could have expected the whole Tanaka saga to drag out so long. That in of itself probably ruined the market for the other starting pitchers.
Delete