3 Possible New Stations For the "Freight Train"
So currently on their 40-man roster, they have 6 outfielders. We will start with the most notable in Kevin Kiermaier, who by the way is the club's oldest player as well at 32. He is known for his defense, in 2022 he has only had 1 error in 129 chances, all in center field. With a .992 fielding percentage. But that comes with an offensive price, which would be a 50% ground ball rate, 28.7 strikeout rate, the highest of his career (league average is 21.6%), and his lowest walk percentage at 4.8% of his career when the league average is 8.3%. Harold Ramirez has played mostly DH in 2022 for the Rays. Now, he gives you a nice .297 batting average and 47 hits, but only 10 of those 47 hits have gone for extra bases. He hits the ball on the ground a lot, his ground ball percentage is 52.9% while his fly ball percentage is a putrid 15.0%. Good average, no power. Brett Phillips has played in 49 games and is batting .173 with 10 RBIs, ouch.
Manuel Margot does have the second most hits on the team with 54 and he owns a robust .303 average, but like Ramirez, he has only 14 of those 54 hits for extra bases. Josh Lowe has only played in 19 games, but he is batting .188 with 1 home run and 6 RBIs. Randy Arozarena is the best average performer across the board with 7 home runs, 14 doubles, and 31 RBIs to go along with 12 stolen bases. Collectively this group of 6 outfielders doesn't even have 25 home runs combined. I would say they need an upgrade. Peralta in left, Kiermaier/Margot in centerfield, and Arozarena in right.
Who should the Diamondbacks Target?
Ryan Yarbrough is a left-handed pitcher who has been used in a starting and relief role in his 4 years with the Rays. This season was not a good one for the southpaw, and he was sent to the minors because of it. Ryan was 0-3 with a 5.65 ERA in only 28.2 innings. But, if you look at his career numbers, he may be a candidate for a bounceback. In his 4 seasons, his record is 37-26 with 119 walks and 426 strikeouts with a WHIP of 1,194. Plus, he is starting to get expensive, at least for the Rays. He is signed for $3.8MM this season with 2 more arbitration years left, therefore he is not a free agent until 2025.
The Braves' outfield is a mess, a $35.2MM mess to be exact. That is the salaries of Eddie Rosario, who is on the 60-day IL, Alex Dickerson .121/.194/.212, Adam Duval .205/.274/.366 and Marcell Ozuna .227/.277/.409. Combined home runs 21, combined RBIs 54, combined strikeouts 158, combined walks 45. That is just awful. I think it is safe to say they could use an outfield upgrade.
Who Should the Diamondbacks Target?
Left-handed reliever Dylan Lee. I understand in the majors he has a very small, but impressive sample size. In 13.2 innings 1.98 ERA 2 walks and 14 strikeouts with a batting average against in 2022 of .186. But in the minors his numbers were similar. His numbers over 6 minor league seasons are 310.1 innings pitched he has a 2.99 ERA with 83 walks and 282 strikeouts.
The "Freight Train" has been a great player and representative of the Arizona Diamondbacks. But what winning clubs do is trade from their strengths and acquire weaknesses to fill out a winning club. In each of these proposed trades the Diamondbacks trade an aging veteran for a pitching need. As stated earlier in the article the Diamondbacks have 10 outfielders on their 40-man roster, with more outfield talent in the minors. A current need on the big-league club is relief pitching (I am not saying that is the only need) so you trade from strength and get back a piece of need. Plus, if the Diamondbacks don't make the playoffs, we could watch one of our own in the play-offs and give us another reason to watch the MLB playoffs. So, give me one more whistle, and a trip around the tracks, or I mean diamond and send the "Freight Train" to a different station.