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Tyler Clippard Shut Down Six Weeks With Capsule Sprain

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Diamondbacks right-hander Tyler Clippard has a capsule sprain in his throwing shoulder, he told reporters (including Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). He won’t throw for six weeks.

That rules Clippard out for at least all of April. Quite likely, the 36-year-old will be sidelined deep into May even in a best case scenario, as he’ll need some time to build arm strength back after the layoff. It’s a tough blow to a D-Backs’ bullpen that expected to regularly feature Clippard in a set-up capacity. The 11-year veteran signed a $2.25MM contract with Arizona over the offseason.

It’s also completely unfamiliar territory for Clippard, who has incredibly never gone on the injured list during his MLB career. Other than the 2020 shortened season (when he pitched in nearly half the Twins’ games), Clippard has thrown 60+ innings out of the bullpen every year since 2009. That streak will now come to an end, although there remains hope he’ll be able to log some rather significant work in the late spring and summer.

Tyler Clippard Dealing With Shoulder Discomfort

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  • Tyler Clippard didn’t retire any of seven batters faced during yesterday’s outing, and the Diamondbacks said the veteran reliever was suffering from right shoulder discomfort.  “He just felt the discomfort as the inning was building,” manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other reporters, adding that more will be known about Clippard’s condition after examinations from team trainers.  Clippard signed a one-year deal worth $2.25MM in guaranteed money last month, and is expected to work as a setup man behind Joakim Soria or perhaps grab some save opportunities himself.  [UPDATE: Clippard is getting an MRI on his shoulder, The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan tweets.]

Boras, Hazen, Lovullo On J.B. Bukauskas' Demotion

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  • Even though Diamondbacks right J.B. Bukauskas flashed an impressive repertoire across four scoreless innings this spring, the club demoted him earlier this week. Agent Scott Boras took exception to the decision, per Zach Buchanan of The Athletic, saying “we all know it’s about service-clock issues” and adding that “We all know we’ll see J.B. on April 15.” Unsurprisingly, general manager Mike Hazen denied that service time was one of the causes for the move, claiming it had “zero” impact. Rather, according to Hazen, the Diamondbacks preferred to open the season with more experienced options in their bullpen. Manager Torey Lovullo does expect the 24-year-old to make his major league debut this year, though, “if he continues on the same path.”

Latest On Torey Lovullo's Future

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  • Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo is in the last year of his contract, but he suggested this week he won’t approach the front office about an extension, per Zach Buchanan of The Athletic. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that,” he stated. “I’ve said before that I want to honor my contract.” CEO Derrick Hall said he and general manager Mike Hazen “will have conversations about” Lovullo’s status during the season, adding that Lovullo “has done a great job” as the team’s skipper. Hired prior to the 2017 campaign, Lovullo led the D-backs to three straight above-.500 seasons and a playoff berth before the team backslid a year ago. Overall, Arizona is 285-261 on Lovullo’s watch.

Zac Gallen On Contract Renewal

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The Diamondbacks renewed right-hander Zac Gallen’s contract on Thursday, meaning he’ll earn roughly the major league minimum of $570.5K this season. That’s standard operating procedure for most teams when it comes to players who aren’t yet eligible for arbitration, though Gallen said it “wasn’t fair based on my performance last year,” Zach Buchanan of The Athletic tweets. While Gallen acknowledged there’s “a business side to this game,” he would like to see the pre-arb salary situation addressed in the next collective bargaining agreement because the system’s “not necessarily in the favor of younger players.” Whether or not you agree with Gallen, there is no doubt the 25-year-old has vastly outperformed his salaries since he debuted with the Marlins in 2019. So far, the 25-year-old has logged a 2.78 ERA across 152 big league innings. Gallen is not on track to reach arbitration until after 2022. There will be a new CBA in place by then, but it remains to be seen whether it will address Gallen’s concerns on this subject.  

Contract Renewals: Gallen, Lewis, Alonso, McNeil, Anderson

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As a standard course of business every spring, teams reach agreement on contracts with their pre-arbitration players.  Since pre-arb players have virtually no negotiating leverage, their salaries aren’t far beyond the MLB minimum ($570.5K), and most teams now adopt a particular formula for assigning modest raises to pre-arbitration players who have performed above and beyond expectations.

When a player doesn’t accept this agreement, it has no change on his contractual status with the team.  It just means that his contract is “renewed,” and the team will impose the player’s salary for the coming season.  For a further explanation of the renewal process, MLBTR’s Jeff Todd provided an outline in a YouTube video last year.

Why would a player not accept the terms of his team’s raise?  Often, it is just a matter of “principle,” as Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty (who had his last two pre-arbitration salaries renewed) said last year, as a player who excels during a season simply feels he is worth more than the minor raise a team is offering.  Occasionally, you’ll see a player look for a more substantive raise, as Mike Trout’s camp asked for a $1MM salary for the 2013 season, following a 2012 campaign that saw Trout finish second in AL MVP voting in his first full year in the big leagues.

While Trout didn’t get his $1MM ask, some clubs have indeed rewarded players with pre-arb salaries worth well above (by a few hundred thousand dollars, in some cases) the minimum, both as a nod to performance and perhaps as a way to continue good relations with a player and his agent in advance of extension talks.

Here is a list of players whose contracts have been renewed for the 2021 season.  As you’ll note, the members of this group have already enjoyed significant early-career success.

  • Zac Gallen: The Diamondbacks right-hander finished ninth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2020, and has a 2.78 ERA over 152 career MLB innings.
  • Kyle Lewis: The Mariners outfielder took a renewal on the heels of his Rookie Of The Year campaign.
  • Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil: The two Mets regulars took renewals.  As noted by Mike Puma of the New York Post, Alonso’s 2019 NL Rookie Of The Year campaign got him a larger-than-expected salary bump to $652,521 for the 2020 season “as a goodwill gesture” from the team.
  • Ian Anderson: The Braves righty made a big impact in his first MLB season, with a 1.95 ERA over 32 1/3 innings.  Anderson also has the least amount of big league service time (0.094 days) of any player on this list.  MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that Anderson will earn $575K while in the majors and $142,978 in the minor leagues.

Offseason In Review: Arizona Diamondbacks

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The Diamondbacks went into the 2020 campaign aiming for a playoff spot, but they wound up going 25-35 and finishing last in the National League West. The D-backs nevertheless had a rather modest offseason and now look as if they’ll extend their playoff drought to four years in 2021.

Major League Signings

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

With last season on the verge of concluding, Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall suggested to reporters that the club was unlikely to make significant changes on the roster, in the dugout or in the front office. He also called it “far-fetched” that Arizona’s 2021 payroll would match the $124MM that it was projected to spend last year before the pandemic sliced 102 games off the schedule. Hall wasn’t kidding. The Diamondbacks made little in the way of notable moves over the winter, and they’re set to enter this season with a payroll of $98MM, according to Jason Martinez of Roster Resource.

Right-handers Joakim Soria and Tyler Clippard, two of the three major league free agents the Diamondbacks signed, will play important roles in their bullpen this season after signing low-cost one-year deals. It’s no surprise the Diamondbacks made improving the unit a priority, as it finished 18th in the league in ERA and 25th in K-BB percentage in 2020. Soria and Clippard – a Diamondback in 2016 – are up there in age (36), but they carry quality track records and didn’t show any clear signs of slowing down last season. They and holdover Stefan Crichton look like the top three relievers in a righty-heavy Arizona bullpen, while experienced minor league signings Ryan Buchter, Anthony Swarzak and Chris Devenski are among those vying for spots behind them.

Arizona’s bullpen did struggle in 2020, but its rotation was even worse. Even though the group logged an unappealing 5.04 ERA, the Diamondbacks didn’t make any outside pickups during the offseason.

They’re stuck with Madison Bumgarner, who bombed during the first season of his five-year, $85MM contract, and left to hope he’ll return to something resembling his San Francisco form in 2021. They’ll also need a rebound from Luke Weaver, who was outstanding in 2019 before forearm issues cut him down that season. The 27-year-old recorded a hideous 6.58 ERA in 2020, but that did come with a better SIERA (4.52) and career-high fastball velocity (94.1 mph). Caleb Smith walked almost eight batters per nine during a brief 14-inning season between Miami and Arizona, yet he’s slated to open the season in the D-backs’ rotation after coming over in the teams’ Starling Marte trade over the summer. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are also sure bets, and deservedly so in light of the production they offered in 2020. However, Kelly’s season ended in early September when he underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, which is never an easy procedure for a pitcher to overcome. Nevertheless, having exercised Kelly’s $4.25MM club option at the beginning of the offseason, the Diamondbacks seem confident he’ll bounce back.

The Diamondbacks’ offense didn’t fare much better than their pitching in 2020, as they finished 19th in runs and 26th in wRC+. Right fielder Kole Calhoun may have been their best hitter then, but he’ll miss the start of the season after undergoing knee surgery. Furthermore, before temporarily losing Calhoun, Arizona didn’t do much of anything to improve its offense. Lone free-agent newcomer Asdrubal Cabrera will provide versatility around the infield and give the Diamondbacks a switch-hitter who’s capable of roughly average offense, both of which are pluses, but he isn’t someone who’s going to move the needle much for the club.

To a large degree, the Diamondbacks are betting on rebound efforts and breakouts to lift their offense this year. Center fielder/second baseman Ketel Marte was an MVP-caliber player in 2019, but he was merely ordinary last season. Meanwhile, third baseman Eduardo Escobar and catcher Carson Kelly registered disastrous numbers after impressing in 2019. Calhoun, first baseman Christian Walker, shortstop Nick Ahmed and left fielder David Peralta each put up above-average production last year, though there’s no fearsome presence in that group. The lack of standout talent could leave room for some of the D-backs’ less experienced hitters (e.g., Josh Rojas, Daulton Varsho and Pavin Smith) to establish themselves this season. Rojas has thrived this spring, albeit over a small sample of at-bats, and has a chance to start 2021 as the team’s No. 1 second baseman. Varsho and/or Smith could claim a roster spot with Calhoun on the shelf.

In looking at the Diamondbacks’ roster and division, there’s a strong case general manager Mike Hazen & Co. should have sold, not sit on the fence, during the offseason. PECOTA projects Arizona will win 79 games, which appears to be a reasonable figure and would place them a distant third in the NL West behind Los Angeles and San Diego – both of which are legitimate World Series contenders. Of course, if the Diamondbacks are out of contention as the trade deadline approaches, they could at least shop some of their veterans (Soria, Clippard, Kelly, Cabrera, Calhoun and Escobar, to name several) in an effort to further bolster a farm system that ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranks 10th in the game.

How would you grade the D-backs’ offseason? (Poll link for app users)

Where Will Daulton Varsho Play?

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  • “Catcher/center fielder” isn’t exactly a common defensive skillset, and while Daulton Varsho saw more time in the outfield than he did behind the plate in his rookie season, the Diamondbacks are clear about their top prospect’s future role.  “We see him as a catcher who can play other positions, not as a center fielder who can catch,” Arizona assistant general manager Amiel Sawdaye told The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan.  Varsho is happy to play wherever, and the outfield might be his clearest path to more MLB playing time in 2021, considering the D’Backs have Carson Kelly and Stephen Vogt as their regular catching duo.  The team doesn’t want to take too much time away from Varsho’s development as a catcher, however, given the amount of specialized work that goes into learning the position at the big-league level.

Latest On Kole Calhoun

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  • Diamondbacks outfielder Kole Calhoun underwent surgery on a torn right meniscus Wednesday, but he expects to recover on the shorter end of the four- to six-week timetable, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com relays. Either way, it doesn’t appear the Diamondbacks will go too long in the regular season without Calhoun, who was one of their most productive players in 2020. The former Angel batted .226/.338/.526 in 228 plate appearances and led the team in home runs (16) and fWAR (1.8.).

Diamondbacks Sign Anthony Swarzak

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The Diamondbacks have signed veteran right-hander Anthony Swarzak and added him to Major League camp as a non-roster invitee, per a club announcement. The Jet Sports client worked out for clubs back in January after he didn’t pitch with an organization during the 2020 season. (He was with the Phillies on a non-roster deal but was cut loose at the end of summer camp.)

It’s been a few years since Swarzak, 35, enjoyed a full, healthy season at the big league level. He inked a two-year, $14MM deal with the Mets prior to the 2018 season — a move that proved regrettable when shoulder and oblique issues derailed much of his 2018 season. The Mets included him in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz/Jarred Kelenic blockbuster, primarily as a financial counterweight. He was traded to the Braves early in the year and went on to pitch reasonably well with Atlanta, though he again spent time on the IL that summer due to shoulder problems.

Back in 2017, Swarzak thrived in a career year split between the White Sox and Brewers. Through 77 1/3 innings, the righty worked to a 2.33 ERA with a terrific 30 percent strikeout rate against a strong 7.3 percent walk rate.

It’d be a stretch to expect that level of dominance at 35 years old and after a year of not pitching, but since returning from a KBO stint in 2015, Swarzak has tallied 201 1/3 innings of 3.98 ERA ball with peripherals that generally match that output. He’ll give the D-backs some depth in the bullpen and, given the unsettled nature of their relief corps, ought to have a chance at winning a spot on the Opening Day roster. Arizona has shored up the bullpen a bit over the past month, signing Joakim Soria and Tyler Clippard, but there are still multiple spots up for grabs.

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