The Diamondbacks signed relievers Scott McGough and John Curtiss to minor league contracts with invitations to big league camp. The deals were announced by the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Reno.
McGough is a familiar face for Arizona fans. The 35-year-old righty has spent the last two seasons with the Diamondbacks. He signed a two-year, $6.25MM contract over the 2022-23 offseason. McGough had come off a solid four-year run with the Yakult Swallows in Japan. That didn’t translate as hoped against major league competition.
While McGough picked up nine saves in 2023, he also surrendered a 4.73 earned run average through 70 1/3 relief innings. His production went backwards last year, as he allowed 7.44 earned runs per nine over 32 2/3 MLB frames. McGough walked 14% of batters faced with a mediocre 16.7% strikeout rate. He had a better showing with Reno, where he posted a 3.22 ERA across 36 1/3 innings. McGough fanned a solid 23.7% of Triple-A opponents but still issued free passes at an alarming 11.5% clip.
Arizona had an easy decision to buy McGough out of a $4MM mutual option. The front office remains intrigued enough by his arsenal and minor league numbers to give him another look in Spring Training. Opponents have teed off on his 93 MPH fastball, but McGough has gotten strong results on his mid-80s splitter over the past couple seasons.
Curtiss is a new addition to the organization. He made three big league appearances as a member of the Rockies last season. Curtiss pitched well for Colorado’s top farm team, turning in a 3.96 ERA through 50 innings in an extremely hitter-friendly setting in Albuquerque. That came with a pedestrian 19.1% strikeout percentage but he limited walks to a 7% clip.
A veteran of parts of seven MLB seasons, Curtiss had his best run with the Rays and Marlins between 2020-21. Miami traded him to the Brewers at the ’21 deadline. Curtiss blew out his elbow shortly thereafter and underwent Tommy John surgery that wiped out his ’22 season. He returned to the majors with the Mets two seasons ago, tossing 19 2/3 innings of 4.58 ERA ball.
Minor league depth.
I don’t care for what Minor league depth. Scott is a BUM!
McGough actually looked really good during the 23 season up until around the ASG. Last season was pretty rough but to call him a bum is a little extreme. Now, MadBum is definitely a bum, hopefully McGough can once again reinvent himself to be a viable relief option for AZ.
Listen man i am a diehard dbacks fan as I am sure you are. He is so bad. He does have some good games but last year his bad games and sewald was the reason we lost crucial games. No reason to try that again. Better options out there.
Just a minor league signing. Chill, man.
I’m ssure Curtiss could be a worthy addition to the Diamondbackss rosster. If he sstinkss, he can play elssewhere.
When a pitcher has success in Japan but not MLB, especially a pitcher that relies on a split finger offering, I always wonder if it’s due to the smaller ball used in Japan and/or the reportedly better grip on a Japanese baseball.
The Dbacks used 27 pitchers in relief last year, which is fairly typical. That list includes Montgomery, Ryan Nelson and the 7 other relievers currently on the major league roster. So they will probably need about 18 other relief pitchers throughout the course of the season. One of those will probably be Jameson, and there are 2 other relievers on the 40 man roster, so here are the other pitchers who are non-roster invitees to Spring Training camp. Pick your best or favorite pitchers to fill those other 15 slots during the season from these 11 invited pitchers (these are the only non-roster pitchers invited and there aren’t enough to get through the season).
Kyle Armendt
Kyle Backhus
Jeff Brigham
Jose Castillo
John Curtiss
Scott McGough
Christian Monte’s De Oca
Juan Morillo
Listher Sosa
Thyago Vieira
Josh Winder
Now do you understand why a GM makes depth signings?
Hear hear, Scott! Can’t sign the best of the best for every position at every level. Guys like that are perfectly fine towards the front end of the bullpen when injuries occur.
McGough has to gough. He has zero fight in him. Chews gum pretty well though.