Diamondbacks outfielder David Peralta will undergo season-ending surgery on his right wrist Thursday, reports Steve Gilbert of MLB.com (Twitter link). Peralta’s right wrist has been an issue since he first injured it last year, when he was informed that he may have irritated a ligament, and he has endured two different stints on the disabled list this season because of it. Arizona sent him to the DL on Sunday, and now his 2016 will come to a premature end.
As has been the case with his last-place team, 2016 has been an enormous disappointment for Peralta. After combining to hit .301/.351/.492 with 25 home runs in 865 plate appearances from 2014-15, Peralta’s offensive output dipped to .251/.295/.433 with four HRs in 183 trips to the plate this season.
Injuries obviously didn’t help matters for Peralta, who also spent time on the DL with a lower back strain, nor have the lengthy absences of him and star center fielder A.J. Pollock aided a 47-66 club that entered the season with playoff aspirations. Pollock has missed the entire year because of elbow surgery, though he is working his way back and could return sometime this season. In the meantime, the D-backs will have to rely on the underwhelming group of Michael Bourn, Yasmany Tomas, Socrates Brito, Brandon Drury and Rickie Weeks Jr. in the outfield, as their depth chart indicates. With little contribution from Peralta and none from Pollock, Arizona’s outfield ranks last in the majors in fWAR (minus-1.9).
Going forward, the ultra-cheap Peralta ($529,600) won’t be arbitration eligible until after next season, so the Diamondbacks will get another inexpensive year from him. They also control his rights through the 2020 campaign.
Enter Gomez?
Pollock is starting his rehab assignments already. No reason to add a center fielder at this point on a last place team
If they can get him for nothing or next to nothing, it could potentially improve the team. They’re not likely to make it to the postseason, but they didn’t sell off at the deadline either. With how bad their outfield is this year, I could imagine them giving Gomez a shot.
Gomez is a FA though at the end of this year. Doesn’t make a ton of sense for a last-place team to sign. Bourn can be a subpar placeholder and not cost any extra money. I assume Gomez would like to play for a contender anyways
Honestly, I don’t get all the hate for Tomas, he’s been a solid, solid bat– and he’s gotten nothing but criticism.
Also, give Drury and Brito a little bit of time.
You are right about Tomas
I hear where you’re coming from, but I think he gets the hate because he’s being paid a lot of money just to hit, because every other part of his game is somewhere between bad and scary, and while he’s been a solid hitter, he hasn’t been nearly a good enough hitter to overcome his many other weaknesses. However, if he can take another step forward next year as he did this year, maybe it will be a whole different story.
Tomas being overpaid is only a slight portion of why he gets the hate he does. The majority of hate Tomas gets stems for the fact it looks like he doesn’t care or isn’t giving 100 percent on the field. He is 20-25 pounds overweight, a defensive liability, and has little to no disciple. Some of his at bats look amazing but other look like a little leaguer playing against pros, he consistently swings at pitches that are in the dirt or at head level. In the outfield he covers very little ground. Also his throws are wild and misjudged. Like Yasiel Puig he consistently doesn’t hit the cut off man but unlike Puig he doesn’t have the arm strength to make up for it.