In a few weeks, we’ll be running a two-team mock expansion draft here at MLBTR – just for the fun of it! Currently, we’re creating 15-player protected lists for each of the existing 30 teams. You can catch up on the rules for player eligibility here.
So far, we’ve covered the Rockies, Dodgers, Padres, Giants, Rangers, Mariners, Athletics, Angels, Astros, Twins, Royals, Tigers, Indians, White Sox, Rays, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Orioles. The Diamondbacks are up next.
First, I’ll remove free agents Mike Leake, Jake Lamb, Andrew Chafin, and Robbie Ray from consideration. Hector Rondon and Stephen Vogt have club options for 2021, but we’ll take them out as well. In the case of Starling Marte, I’ll assume his $12.5MM club option is exercised, and that the D’Backs will protect him. In the case of Merrill Kelly, I’ll assume his $4.25MM club option gets picked up, but I’ll let you decide whether to use a protected spot on him.
I’ll lock in Madison Bumgarner due to his no-trade protection. I’ll also put Daulton Varsho on the list, as a Baseball America Top 100 prospect with a 2020 ETA. This will be the initial ten-player protected list:
Madison Bumgarner
Starling Marte
Ketel Marte
Daulton Varsho
Luke Weaver
Carson Kelly
Christian Walker
Zac Gallen
Nick Ahmed
Eduardo Escobar
That leaves five spots for the 20 players listed below. It’s worth considering that in this scenario we’re in November 2020, and the player’s remaining amount of control is a big factor.
Silvino Bracho
Archie Bradley
Kole Calhoun
Taylor Clarke
Stefan Crichton
Kevin Cron
Jon Duplantier
Kevin Ginkel
Junior Guerra
Merrill Kelly
Domingo Leyba
Tim Locastro
Yoan Lopez
Corbin Martin
Joel Payamps
David Peralta
Josh Rojas
Bo Takahashi
Ildemaro Vargas
Alex Young
With that, we turn it over to the MLBTR readership! In the poll below (direct link here), select exactly five players you think the Diamondbacks should protect in our upcoming mock expansion draft. Click here to view the results.
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Silvino Bracho
Archie Bradley
Tim Locastro
David Peralta
Ildemaro Vargas
No not Bracho
Two players at the end of the roster in Locastro & Vargas? Plus an injured unimpressive BP arm who hasn’t pitched since 2018 in SIlvio?
I don’t see that happening.
Yasmany Tomas. Got a strong hunch he’s going to make a great DH.
Lol
Yasmany will be a Free Agent. Doesn’t factor here.
Bradley
Calhoun
Dup
Lopez
Martin
This is a tough list. Peralta and Bradley should be close to automatic. Locastro is the fastest player in baseball with defensive versatility. Duplantier and Martin were top 100 prospects last year. Ginkel looked stellar out of the pen in ‘19. Lopez looked good overall as well. Cron was the MiLB home run king, and Young and Rojas showed pretty decent potential last year as well. Even Calhoun could be a candidate to protect if he bounces back in ‘20.
Not sure on Archie being automatic. He’s a reliever and will be a one-year rental next offseason.
If Arizona doesn’t see him as a long term fit, they’re best of trading him rather than risking losing him for nothing in an expansion draft
I’m confused as to why Peralta is not locked in.
He’s been pretty severely underrated throughout his career. Good glove last year. Silver slugger the year before. He’s getting older by baseball standards, but he should be a no brainer here
It’s because I think he’s a decent player, who would be heading into his age 33 season. Generally worth having around, and the contract is cheap, Kind of Kole Calhoun-ish. Not bad, but he’s a borderline call.
Why is Drew Pomeranz a lock on the Padres article?
The Padres just paid him to a degree befitting a top 20 reliever in all of baseball. You may not love the deal but, presumably, they still do and would protect him as such.
@g4 they like him enough to pay him all that money if all he costs is money. It is not self-evident that they like him enough to pay him all that money AND give up Andres Muñoz or Michel Baez to do it.
And even if they do, you leave him unprotected anyway because it’s pretty certain that he wouldn’t get taken if they left him unprotected.
Let it go Mike
I agree with you but its not a crazy thought that SD might like him more than the avg bear ….. I can think of 34 million reasons to support that
Even if you like him the fact remains that he’s not going to get taken. For that reason, you leave him unprotected. The same as how your team would leave David Price unprotected and the Red Sox would leave Nathan Eovaldi unprotected.
Indeed but they are listing 100’s of players a day, an oversight is bound
That’s why we have a comments section, you’ve said your piece,many times, you are correct with Pom . It seems now you just want a cookie for it
Actually what I want is an explanation for why he would be a “lock.” He is literally only mentioned once in the whole article.
Hmm fair enough, I assume instead of taking the time to answer your question hes just been moving along his day putting out 3 new great articles on new teams today
@Mike Fair points. He could be one that you try to sneak through.
I think he’d get popped because he’s a player who — if performing well — could be dealt for a better prospect than available in expansion draft to a contender midseason. I voted to keep Munoz but have soured on Baez.
Maybe Pom should’ve been left to the voters, but I think the Padres want to win sooner than later and would likely have felt compelled to keep.
I feel that they should be more conservative on who they have as a “lock.” If the general consensus is that a given player should be protected, the voters will do it for them.
For the Padres, the only “locks” I see are Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado because of their no-trade protection, Fernando Tatis Jr and Chris Paddack. Everyone else I’d have no problem letting the voters s decide. With the exception of Pomeranz, I’d assume all of the guys Tim had as “locks” would get enough votes to be protected anyway.
On Pomeranz, the Padres already overpaid to sign him. Why take him when there are other talented players available who will make the league minimum?
Ngl I wanna see Timmy L go tear up the base paths for an expansion team…
Although Bochy would occasionally use Lincecum as a pinch runner when the bench was thin, he wasn’t actually all that fast.
Regardless of his status as a fan favorite Archie is a relief pitcher on a one year contract, he shouldn’t be protected in an expansion draft IMO.
Duplantier, Peralta, & Martin would be my first choices. The next two spots would probably be Cron and Lopez but I could see a case for a few others
Man, Ketel is a stud.
Bradley
Duplantier
Martin
Peralta
Rojas
Agree on top 4, I had Young over Rojas but it was a close call with Kelly in the same mix.
I think teams will usually protect promising if unproven pitching over solid but unspectacular hitting.
Bradley
Calhoun
Martin
Peralta
Rojas
Hard to let Duplantier go, but I’m pretty low on him at this point. Would rather be realistic and keep the major leaguers.
Corbin Martin, David Peralta, Archie Bradley, Tim Locastro and Vargas. I was also thinking about Merrill Kelly
Leaving Ginkel off this list would be a huge mistake. I have him with Cron , Peralta , Rojas & Bradley.
Duplantier and Martin should be in the starting rotation next year, replacing Leake and Ray, so must keep both. Dback’s stud OF prospects are at least 2 years away, so keeping Peralta is a must as well. I’d certainly leave Cron unprotected, hoping he would be one of the first selected, because Dbacks have 1b depth with Walker, Beer and Pavin Smith. Also, because he is really a power bat with no defensive position, Cron is really an AL DH type, so let him go. For the last two protections, I’d try to hang on to back end of the bullpen pieces, Bradley and Yoan Lopez would be my choices. Then when the Dbacks can protect 3 more, hope that Ginkel will still be here.
Got to protect that young, relatively cheap, coveted pitching. I am borderline on Bradley because he’s getting more expensive and he isn’t quite back to his elite level with his secondary pitches and his fastball is too straight to be overpowering. Probably go with Bradley, Duplantier, Young, Martin, and Peralta, who is too important for his leadership and he works extremely hard to where he isn’t peaking yet.
lots of talent but the cream of the crop is easy to see. Martin, Peralta, and Duplantier gotta be protected, and i see Clarke as well. tempted to keep Young as well but already have a lot of SP on there so id give the 5 spot to Ginkel. odds are you lose Young and Cron in the 1st and then you can protect the rest of the important guys for the 2nd.
Jd archie young peralta clark