Arizona Diamondbacks 10 Highest Paid Players in 2018
#9 Alex Avila – $4 Million in 2018 ($4,125,000 Million AAV)
I love saving money. There’s no shame in my game when I’m using the super saver coupon on body wash. Otherwise, that’s a dollar in the recycling bin! This one, though, was hard to wrap my mind around at first.
Diamondbacks free agent Chris Iannetta was lured away to division foe Colorado by a two-year, $8.5 million contract. Apparently Iannetta was out of Arizona’s price range. But then a few weeks later, the club signs Alex Avila to a two-year deal that will save them only $250,000 over that span.
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Initially a bit of a head-scratcher to me, if you peel back the onion a little more, however, you start to see the logic.
Avila is three years younger and, while both catchers hit for decent power and average, Iannetta boiled down to just another right-handed thumper.
The D-back’s new catcher will probably hit behind Yasmany Tomas most nights. In an Arizona lineup heavy with right-handed hitters, the left-handed hitting Avila will balance the lineup more evenly.
Alex Avila is out to prove to Diamondback fans that he is worthy of $8.25 million over the next two years and that letting Iannetta go was clearly the correct cost-cutting catching choice.