Small Contracts the Diamondbacks can do with Big Upsides

As far as relievers go let's start with someone you may have never heard of, Chris Ellis. He has been drafted 3 times by both LA teams and once in the Rule Five Draft. Traded twice, released, and is now a free agent. Thus, he will be sign-able for under $1MM, is not arbitration eligible until 2025 and is not a free agent until 2028. As far as his stats, in 30.1 innings he has given up 7 earned runs has a 5-0 record with a 2.08 ERA walking 15 while only striking out 23. The definition of low risk high reward.

Luke Farrell is our next consideration. He is the definition of average. His 5 year record is 5-5 his career ERA is 4.93, in 87.2 career innings he has given up 81 hits, 48 earned runs with 93 strikeouts and 47 walks. His ground ball percentage is 32.3% and his fly ball percentage is 34.3% for his career. He is similar to Chris Ellis above; he can be signed for under $1MM, is arbitration eligible in 2023 and won't be a free agent until 2026.

Now we are going to look at a former 1st round pick in Mike Foltynewicz. 2018 was an All-Star year for him in Atlanta and 2021 was a no star year for him in Texas. In 2018 he won 13 games, had a 2.85 ERA with 2 complete games and struck out 202 batters. In 2021 he won 2 games and lost 12 with a 5.44 ERA but in 139 innings he still struck out 97 while walking 36. He has started 142 of his career 166 games. Therefore, he may be an ideal candidate to put in the bullpen to sign him to a "prove it" 1 year $1MM contract based on the fact that he signed a 1 year $2MM contract last year with Texas and went 2-12.

Half down.........click below to see the other half and a Mike Hazen quote about the state of the Diamondback bullpen.