Arizona Diamondbacks Free Agent Target: Doug Fister

Another free agent pitcher the Arizona Diamondbacks may have on their radar is right-hander Doug Fister.

The Arizona Diamondbacks made some news in the free agency world over the weekend but not the kind you want. Right-handed pitcher Johnny Cueto turned down the team’s offer of a six-year, $120 million dollar deal. Other free agent dominoes began to fall, first with Jordan Zimmerman signing a five-year, $110 million dollar contract with the Detroit Tigers. Then one of the two big guns this offseason, David Price, scored a seven-year, $217 million dollar deal with the Boston Red Sox. Other guys, including Cueto and Zack Greinke now have a baseline with which to work with as far as dollars and length of contract goes. The D-backs will be in the thick of the rumor mill, having already been linked with Mike Leake, Yovani Gallardo and Kenta Maeda. There is still another name out there that makes sense for them.

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Doug Fister has been overlooked as a candidate for the Snakes. In fact, the 32-year old right-hander has been overlooked for much of his career. There he was toiling away for bad Seattle Mariners’ teams before being dealt to the Detroit Tigers at the 2011 Trading Deadline. At the time, he was 3-12 but with a 3.33 ERA. All he proceeded to do upon his arrival in the Motor City was go 8-1 with a 1.79 ERA in 11 starts to propel the Tigers to an American League Central Division title. After going 14-9 with a 3.67 ERA in 2013, Fister was traded to the Washington Nationals, going to a staff that had the flashier names of Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman. All he did was lead the 2014 National League East Champions in wins with 16 and ERA at 2.41. Now he is coming off a less-than-stellar season where he spent time on the disabled list with tightness in his pitching forearm.

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So here it is, the 2016 offseason and hardly anyone has been talking about Doug Fister. Let’s face it, this is a deep class of free agent starting pitchers and Fister is on the older end of the second tier crop of hurler. Plus, he has spent time on the DL the last two seasons with injuries to his pitching arm. However, he is a guy who is a playoff veteran, owning a 2.60 ERA in nine postseason appearances. Fister wouldn’t cost as much as the other names on the market and could allow the team to sign a second pitcher should they decide to do so. Though I don’t envision the D-backs making a serious run at him, I do believe he would make a good fallback option.

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