The Diamondbacks are pulling Paul Sewald from the closing role, manager Torey Lovullo announced before tonight’s game against the Pirates (X link via Steve Gilbert of MLB.com). Lovullo did not immediately name a replacement, suggesting the team could go with a committee approach.
Tonight’s game provided an immediate test. Arizona coughed up an early 5-0 lead but bounced back to take a two-run lead into the ninth. Lovullo tabbed sidewinder Ryan Thompson to close it out. Thompson gave up a couple singles and a run but successfully locked down a 9-8 victory. That usage could indicate the sinkerballer will get the bulk of the closing chances, though Arizona needed to use high-leverage arms Kevin Ginkel, A.J. Puk, Dylan Floro and Justin Martinez just to get it to the ninth.
In any case, the Snakes won’t give every narrow ninth inning lead to Sewald. The veteran right-hander had been almost spotless between his early May season debut through the end of June. He carried a 0.54 ERA over 16 2/3 frames. Sewald locked down his first 11 save chances in the process.
Things unraveled for him almost immediately once the calendar turned to July. Sewald gave up multiple runs and blew the lead in each of his first three outings of the month, all of which ended up being Arizona losses. He rebounded with five straight scoreless appearances, but he’s given up runs in three of his four most recent games.
Sewald blew a save in what turned out to be an extra-inning loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday. He got the call on Wednesday to hold a 5-2 lead against the Nationals but put four of five runners aboard (three via walk). Thompson came on and ended up securing a 5-4 win. That’s technically a hold for Sewald but obviously not a good performance.
The nightmarish few weeks came largely out of nowhere. Sewald has been one of the best relievers in MLB since his breakout with the Mariners in 2021. He turned in a 2.88 ERA over parts of three seasons in Seattle. Arizona’s call to send Josh Rojas, Dominic Canzone and Ryan Bliss to the M’s at last year’s deadline added needed stability to the back end of the bullpen.
It ended up being one of the biggest moves in the D-Backs’ surprising pennant run, as Sewald picked up 13 saves with a 3.57 ERA down the stretch. He wasn’t missing quite as many bats as he had in Seattle, but Sewald had a 2.10 ERA with a 25.2% strikeout rate over 34 1/3 innings as a Diamondback until last month. He is an impending free agent, so his performance down the stretch is especially important for him personally.
Arizona made a big deadline move for bullpen help for the second straight year, bringing in Puk for a pair of prospects last month. They swung a more minor deal for Floro minutes before the deadline on Tuesday evening. That gives them some cover to allow Sewald to work through this funk in lower-leverage spots.
The D-Backs are trying to hang onto a Wild Card spot in what remains a crowded National League field. They’re riding a four-game win streak to get a season-high eight games over .500 but are only one game clear of the Mets, the top non-playoff team at the moment.
Two big factors in their potential pennant push: Eduardo Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly. Arizona has been without two of their top starters for the bulk of the season. Rodriguez has yet to make his team debut after sustaining a lat strain in Spring Training. Kelly went down in mid-April with a shoulder strain.
The D-Backs could get a boost from both pitchers. Rodriguez should be reinstated from the 60-day injured list to start next Tuesday’s game against the Guardians, tweets John Gambadoro. Meanwhile, Gilbert relays on X that Kelly is slated to start a rehab stint that same night with High-A Hillsboro. That’d likely kick off a few week rehab process before he’s ready to get back on the mound at Chase Field.
Arizona did get a couple less encouraging updates on the pitching staff, though. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets that reliever Bryce Jarvis is likely to miss the rest of the season with an elbow sprain. The former first-round pick is not expected to require surgery but will need to be shut down from throwing. Jarvis has worked in a low-leverage relief role, tossing 59 1/3 frames of 3.19 ERA ball. His strikeout and walk profile is a lot less impressive than that ERA, but the Duke product has been a bullpen workhorse.
Rookie right-hander Cristian Mena is also likely done for the season. Alex Weiner of AZ Sports reported on Tuesday that the 21-year-old suffered a forearm strain in Triple-A (X link). Mena, who made his MLB debut last month with a three-inning spot start, is on the minor league injured list but could move to the 60-day IL if the Snakes need a 40-man roster spot. The Diamondbacks acquired him over the winter in a one-for-one swap sending outfielder Dominic Fletcher to the White Sox.
Any Mets fan knows what Paul Seward is about. Strong early then very hittable later on.
I wish Yankees would remove Holmes. I’m thinking Gil for the last few months
Never was a problem for the M’s. Mets and Dbacks just aren’t utilizing him correctly.
My account
Well, relative to each other, Seattle is a pitchers’ park and Arizona is a hitters’park, IMHO
People keep saying this but I don’t think they’re looking at home/road splits. Our SP this year are 8th in ERA on the road. Our RP last year were top 10 on the road. Sewald had a 2.95 FIP in the 1st half with Seattle and a 5.07 FIP in the 2nd half with Arizona. Seattle isn’t a 2+ run difference than Arizona.
Can you enlighten us on how he should be used? He was a closer in Seattle and Arizona and has 2 pitches so I wonder what you know better than Brent Strom, the veteran pitching coach, and the front office, that melded a WS contender last year, in Arizona.
My account
Yeah, you are correct, it is not the stadium location. Looking at his 2024 home and away splits, his road RA is double his home ERA. From 2023 to 2024, his home ERA went up only 0.20 but his road ERA went up 2.45. I understand that ERA is just one measure that means only so much, but for a simple glance, it does not appear to be the stadium after all. He had a much worse road WHIP than home WHIP in both 2023 and 2024.
Strom should tell him “Hey, pitch better.”
It’s not what I know more than Hazen, Strom, and co. because I don’t. It’s watching what Dipoto, Woodworth and co. know more than them and me relaying it. Look at his pitch mix in 2024 and usage per pitch.
Well fwiw brent strom and company have led Arizona to the 24th best era and overall bottom of the league in pitching stars this season while seattle and thier staff have the best era in baseball and are generally considered one of the top staffs in mlb ..so yea there is that lets not act like the dbacks are getting it done
@mlbnyyfan Not with Boone’s and Judge’s blessing. The Yankees are also not going to do him dirty by removing his closer’s role after an “All-Star” season during his walk year.
Gil needs to remain stretched-out for the postseason so moving him to the pen as a multi-inning reliever with mandatory days off is probably the best course of action to limit his innings.
If anyone having anything to do with the Mets knew what Paul Sewald was about, they wouldn’t have let him go.
Snakes were saved by the Bell
Yay! My feelings on this subject are well known.
His performance with Arizona has made this a decent trade for Seattle. M’s might be able to afford him this offseason now, and I’m sure he would revert back to a sub-3 ERA with us.
The instability in the bullpen is the major concern right now. Even if/when Rodriguez and Kelly come back into the rotation, neither pitcher will be able to go deep into games until mid- to late-September, so the bullpen is the key. Right now the Dback’s dynamic offense has been bailing out the pitching staff. Tonight was a perfect example with 5 HRs and a great comeback led by the offense.
I wouldn’t count on Eduardo Rodriguez for anything. If he doesn’t feel much like pitching, he’ll return to the IL and collect a paycheck or if he doesn’t feel much like doing what’s required to remain on the IL, he’ll disappear to attend to family matters. After all, that’s the kind of reliable, responsible family man he is.
Lose-lose for both sides on the trade? Or Meh-meh?
Meh-meh in my opinion. Sewald was solid for them last year until the playoffs and I think Bliss still has some promise.
The truth of the matter is you cannot give Winner/Loser grades on a trade this soon after the fact. Canzone and Rojas could still contribute to a World Series this year or next just as Sewald did with the Snakes last year.
I’m sorry you are so sad and tormented, but the fact is that without that trade for Sewald last year and the way he single handedly stabilized the bullpen down the stretch and throughout the playoffs, the Dbacks would never have made it all the way to the World Series. That one season was enough to solidly cement the trade in the Dback’s favor. Doesn’t matter how Sewald performs this year, the die is cast…the Dbacks overwhelmingly won that trade!
That’s a beyond silly outlook. The M’s still have 6 years of control on Bliss, who has looked promising in his role so far. There’s no way to truly assess this deal yet.
Besides, Sewald performed decently yet exponentially worse in the 2nd half with AZ (3.57 ERA, 5.07 FIP, 5.1 BB/9, 10.9 K/9) than the 1st half in SEA (2.93 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 2.4 BB/9, 9.5 K/9) in 2023. Sounds like the M’s sold high and were smart to get something for him. Now he’s tanked his market enough that the M’s can probably sign him back this offseason and get him back to form since Arizona has no idea how to deploy him and isn’t having him use his best pitch enough.
scottaz the fact of the matter is Rojas and Canzone can just as likely take the Mariners to the World Series this season or next season and/or Bliss could turn into somebody that takes the Mariners to the World Series in some year after that. The point of the matter is you cannot assess the winners/losers of a trade until two or three seasons out, at least.
“The Rule of Seven” states that seven years must pass to evaluate a transaction.
I’m going to give Seawald a lot of credit here. When he was on the Mets, he was no different then guys like Stephen Nogosek, Drew Gagnon, Tyler Bashler, Eric Hanhold, Drew Smith, etc. I never saw anything in him. With that being said, he worked hard on developing a new pitch (believe it was a sinker) after he was practically kicked out of the MLB. It looks like he got in the gym and just grinded. He looks a lot bigger than before. He is the definition of hard work pays off. I believed that he would amount to nothing and I was completely wrong. For whatever else happens in his career, I can say that at one point, he was a great reliever
Sewald figured out that release point where he flings the ball out from a low trajectory. It caused his middling fastball to have a sort of rising action and hits the strike zone right at the top rung. For the batter, it’s almost an optical illusion. The problem is the velocity with the fastball is so meh, that if he is off by even a little bit on command he gets hammered.
I would just like to thank the lord that Luvello finally made an adjustment! Only took a full month but at least it happened.
His name is Lovullo and Mike Hazen is calling the shots in Arizona.
You’re assuming they’re talking about Torrey Lovullo. Based on comment, dark ghost “could” be expressing dismay with Luvello, his barber.
Torey*
I am reminded of Todd Jones and Jose Valverde all those years ago. I still wonder what could’ve been and hold a grudge if Jim Leyland would’ve handled his pen competently.
I like AJ Puk to close, Being LH it’ll help when we face a team like LA and others who have big LH bats like Ohtani and Freeman. Plus, I think Puk offers better control than Ginkel. Nothing worse than to see a closer walk the first guy he faces in a Save situation.
Rojas has been a decent player this year. At times looked great at times you scratch your head. He went on a tear for awhile wish he would do it until September again.
Canzone will lose most of the year and probably go to AAA ball this year. Not sure who he replaces in the lineup. He also has had streaks. One thing is for sure the ball jumps off his bat.
Bliss was fun to watch and he might turnout to be a good one. Electric speed decent fielding for his age and OK right now at the plate. Still needs more ABs.
Truthfully though I am not sure any of them have a long term job in Seattle. With Cole and Colt coming up in a few years Bliss might be the next Dylon Moore. Or Rojas for that matter. He will need to learn another spot or two.
Down the road I see in my crystal ball Colt at 3rd Cole at SS and JP as he ages moves to 2nd. They could leave Rojas at 3rd and Colt at 2nd if JP is done in a couple years. Celestin will be up a year or two after that then the infield will be tough.
One question for guys that have watched them play. Who between Vic and Randy has the better arm? One will have to play RF and I haven’t watched enough to see. I am guessing probably Victor since Randy has been mostly a LFer. How much bigger does the no fly zone get with those 3 out there? Told my son signing Victor was dumb. We have a whole team that can’t hit why pick up another one. Victor seems to enjoy it here and proved me wrong so far. Keep it up and we could make a deep run.
Before everyone on here starts bringing up stats for this and that. I respect those stats but I am old and have not grown up like some with them. They confuse me at times because I forget what a bWar is to just plain war. It goes on and on. I like the eye test. May not be as scientific as these numbers but have been good enough for a long term. Being new just found this site a few weeks ago I hope you can be nice to a newcomer and not tear my options to pieces. You can tell me I am wrong and show me stats to prove it and I will concede. I don’t not look at stats except win/loss record for pitchers I just don’t get as deep as some of you do.