Three remaining free agents the Arizona Diamondbacks should consider
The Diamondbacks have been active this off-season, but they shouldn't call it quits yet. They should consider going after these remaining free agents.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have had a very active off-season. They started it off by acquiring Eugenio Suarez from the Seattle Mariners. Then they signed Eduardo Rodriguez to lockdown the starting rotation. Their third big move was re-signing left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Their most recent signing was Joc Pederson. But there’s still over a month left in the off-season. The Diamondbacks shouldn’t consider it time to lay back and relax. There are still areas on the roster to reinforce. The Diamondbacks should consider pursuing these three remaining free agents before calling it an off-season.
DH/OF Robbie Grossman
Signing Pederson means the Diamondbacks will need to find a platoon partner for him. They don’t have a great option currently on the 40-man roster, and I doubt that they want to turn to one of their minor league signees like Kevin Newman or Andres Chaparro. But veteran outfielder/DH Robbie Grossman could be a great candidate to fill this role.
Grossman turned in a .238/.340/.394 triple-slash, .324 wOBA, and 102 wRC+ through 420 plate appearances. The switch-hitter walked in 13.6% of his plate appearances, marking the eighth season in a row his BB% was above 10%. His 23.3% strikeout rate was slightly below average but manageable. Though Grossman’s .156 isolated slugging percentage also fell just shy of the league average.
But most of Grossman’s damage with the bat came against left-handed pitching. Grossman slashed an impressive .309/.416/.536 against Southpaws. He was one of just 14 batters with a wOBA above .400 at /403 and one of 17 batters with a wRC+ above 150 at 158 against lefties in at least 130 plate appearances. He also led all batters in walk rate vs LHP at 16.8%, more often than the likes of Mookie Betts, Adley Rutschman, and Andrew McCutchen.Grossman may have had a sub-.100 ISO against righties but topped out at .227 against lefties.
Grossman would definitely pay well with Pederson as his platoon mate at DH. It’s not an exact science, but if you were to take Grossman’s numbers vs LHP and Pederson’s numbers vs RHP and combined them, you’d get a .266/.369/.461 batter. If you want to know what that looks like, Brandon Nimmo from the New York Mets posted a very similar triple-slash last season.
RHP Jakob Junis
The Diamondbacks have a handful of decent relievers. The backend is held down by Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald, who could be a very underrated 8th/9th inning duo this season. Ryan Thompson and Andrew Saalfrank pitched great in September. Hopefully, Joe Mantiply can pitch more like he did in 2022 and in August and September of this year, and Miguel Castro is a solid middle relief arm. But Jakob Junis could serve an important role as a hybrid starter/reliever and fill multiple roles.
Last season, Junis pitched to a 3.87 ERA, 3.74 FIP, and 1.29 WHIP through 86 innings of work. Junis had a healthy 26.2% K-rate with an even more impressive 5.7% walk rate. His 4.57 K:BB ratio was the 22nd highest among any pitcher with at least 80 IP last season. Junis’ HR/9 of 1.26 was about league average, but will probably play fine in Chase Field.
Junis could be even better next year. He had a 3.36 SIERA and .335 batting average on balls in play, compared to his career average of .313. The Giants weren’t a horrible defensive team in 2023, with -15 defensive runs saved but +15 outs above average. But the Diamondbacks were one of the best teams when it came to fielding, with +46 DRS and +31 OAA.
Junis pitched nearly 90 innings in only 40 games. He was used as a starter four times, and 23 of his outings lasted at least two innings. That’s a lot of volume from a bullpen/swingman arm. He provides a lot of value because of his ability to fill multiple roles on a pitching staff.
RHP Brandon Woodruff
Rotation depth is always important, especially when you’re in the middle of the season. The wear and tear of a 162-game campaign can grind down pitchers. The Diamondbacks could make a now investment for production later on in the year by signing Brandon Woodruff to a contract with the hopes he could be a major mid-season reinforcement.
When healthy, Brandon Woodruff can be an ace-caliber pitcher. Over the last three seasons, Woodruff owns a 2.70 ERA, 3.11 FIP, and 0.98 WHIP. He has struck out 30% of the batters he’s faced in this time frame with an outstanding 6.3% walk rate. His 1.01 HR/9 rate is solid, but he would probably look better in Chase Field. Woodruff has a 6.5% barrel rate, so he’s done outstanding at preventing good contact.
Woodruff was arguably on pace for his best season yet but was limited to just 67 innings before missing a good chunk of 2023 due to shoulder issues. Those issues came to a head in mid-October as he underwent shoulder surgery. With uncertainty about his 2024 season, the Brewers opted to non-tender Woodruff, making him a free agent.
But Woodruff is expected to be back sometime during the summer. Signing Woodruff now would be like a mid-season insurance policy. He could arguably be their best summer addition. Adding Woodruff on a back-loaded two-year deal could be an extremely smart investment.