The Diamondbacks have claimed first baseman/outfielder Christian Walker off waivers from the Reds, as Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer was among those to tweet. The move opens a roster spot for the Reds’ addition of infielder Scooter Gennett. Arizona has designated reliever Evan Marshall to create roster space, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets.
It’s not the first time that Walker has changed hands over the offseason. He bounced previously from the Orioles to the Braves before moving to Cincinnati. Though he hasn’t seen much MLB time, Walker has hit fairly well at Triple-A. In what amounts to about two full seasons at the highest level of the minors, he owns a .260/.324/.429 slash with 42 home runs.
The trouble is, Walker hasn’t quite hit enough to push out an established big leaguer from a first base job. And he is new to the outfield, leaving it unclear just how he’ll fit on a National League roster. While Arizona had previously parted with a similarly hard-to-fit player in Peter O’Brien, the club now evidently felt there was roster space to spare.
As for Marshall, who’ll soon turn 27, the results have just not been there over the past two seasons. He turned in a high-quality 2014 season (2.74 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9) that seemingly made him a long-term piece. But while his velocity has largely stayed consistent, he tumbled to an 8.8% swinging-strike rate in 2016 and was hardly dominant during his time at Triple-A. In his 5 1/3 spring innings, Marshall had permitted only two earned runs, but did allow nine base hits while compiling three strikeouts to go with one free pass.
This is definitely not a bad claim by the Dbacks.
And definitely not a good one.
Backup to Goldschmidt, which the DBacks were lacking. It’s not like Goldy is out of the lineup too much anyways. Walker is a good low risk move
Damn I knew it they should have waited for that franchise changing waiver claim that happens around this time every year. What in the hell were they thinking?
Nice try, but your comment is no different than mine was. “Not a bad claim” means what? That he’s a worthless waiver claim that won’t do anything just as I was implying. You know…not a franchise changing waiver claim.
Waiver claims can turn out to be good, especially ones who had pretty good numbers last year
Nah, they’re different. “Not a bad claim” implies a potentially high (read: above “worthless”) ceiling. That the move might help the team. Your definition is a more fitting description of just “not a good claim.”
I agree it isn’t franchise changing, but it doesn’t have to be to be good. Especially for a Dbacks team coming off a 69-win season.