Diamondbacks Avoid Arbitration With Randall Delgado

Jan. 9: Delgado’s deal is worth $2.25MM, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.

Jan. 8: The Diamondbacks have agreed to a one-year deal to avoid arbitration with righty Randall Delgado, per a team announcement. Terms of the arrangement with the MVP Sports client were not announced.

Entering his final season of arbitration eligibility, Delgado was projected by MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz to earn $2.5MM in 2018 salary. He had settled with the team for $1.775MM for the prior season.

Originally acquired in the 2013 Justin Upton swap, Delgado did not stick in the Arizona rotation but has been a useful reliever over the past several seasons. Delgado’s background as a starter was put to good use by the Snakes in 2017, as the club frequently asked him to throw two or more innings and even gave him five starts, representing his most extensive rotation work since 2013.

Delgado was thriving in a swingman role, as he ran up 62 innings of 3.05 ERA pitching before taking the ball on July 15th. Unfortunately, that appearance proved to be his last on the year; it left four earned runs on his balance sheet and Delgado nursing what turned out to be a season-ending flexor tendon injury.

On the bright side, it seems the Diamondbacks have confidence that Delgado avoided a more serious ailment and will be back to full health for 2018. So long as he can build up to his usual form in camp, he’ll be expected to play a significant role in the Arizona relief corps for one more season before hitting the open market.

Follow all of the year’s arb proceedings with MLBTR’s MLB arbitration tracker for 2018.