Who are the 6 highest paid Diamondbacks & Who should be traded?
According to baseball-reference the 2022 Arizona Diamondbacks have a total team payroll of $82.2MM. Which ranks 24th out of the 30 MLB teams. To give you a little comparison for the 2022 season 6 teams have a total team payroll of over $200MM. If you take that number and make it $150MM the number of teams climb to 14. Then, if you make that number $100MM it includes 22 of the 30 teams. The 6 teams who are projected to spend less than the Diamondbacks for the 2022 season are Tampa Bay, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore and Oakland. Most of those teams are known for being cheap, that is not where the Diamondbacks want to live.
Who are the 6 highest players who make up the 2022 payroll, and because of their current contracts, should Arizona trade them away?
#6 Merrill Kelly- Kelly is one of the few players that is signed for more than 3 years on the Dbacks. He just signed a 4-year contract that will pay him $5.25MM in 22, $8.5MM in 2023 and 24 with a $7MM team option (where the Diamondbacks decide if they want to pay him the $7MM) or they buy out the contract for $1MM.
Who is Merrill Kelly? He is a league-average pitcher. Hard hit rate, line drive, ground ball, home run, and fly ball percentage are all within 1 percentage point of league average. Being league average is not bad, he keeps you in games, but he rarely dominates them as an elite starter would.
Mark Melancon- is the fifth highest paid player for the 2022 season. He signed a 2 year $14MM contract this past off-season. The money is divided into $6MM this season and $6MM next season with a $5MM mutual option (both the team and the player must agree on the $5MM contract) with a $2MM buyout.
Who is Mark Melancon? This year, he is a borderline disaster. He is 1-6 as far as a record. In 18 games he has 11 saves he has given up 14 earned runs with 11 strikeouts and an ERA of 6.87. This season is not in line with his previous 12 seasons, but, he has never been 37 years old until this season either as of 6/11.
We got 2 of the 6. Who are the other 4? Which of the 6 should they trade away?
The 4th highest paid Diamondback player for the 2022 season at $7.5MM is David Peralta. This is the final year of the 3-year contract he signed with the Diamondbacks in 2020.
Who is David Peralta? He is a serviceable outfielder. I am sure that some of our readers are yelling right now, because the Freight Train is a fan favorite, but the numbers say the statement is true. No stolen bases and has been caught twice, he strikes out more than twice as much as he walks, only 40 hits in 52 games with a .238 batting average. The average WAR for a Major League player is 2.7, Peralta has only reached that number once in his 9-year career, but this year it is 0.8.
If there is going to be a surprise on this list, this is probably it. Coming in as the 3rd highest-paid player for the 2022 season. Making $7.88MM is Nick Ahmed. Plus, he makes $10.38MM next season.
Who is Nick Ahmed? An often-injured shortstop who gives the team little production when he is on the dirt. Over the last 3 seasons, he has played in 57, 129, and 17 games. His batting average has been .266, .221, and .231 over those last 3 seasons. Again, in the same 3 seasons, he has given the Dbacks 13 home runs and 74 RBIs. He strikes out more and walks less than the average Major Leaguer and currently has a negative WAR for the season.
Only 2 left, then we decide which of the 6 we try to trade.
No surprise that Ketel Marte is the 2nd highest paid Diamondback. He is the only Diamondback with a guaranteed salary past the 2025 season. He is essentially the model contract for the Diamondbacks who operate like a small to the mid-market level club. He is signed for the current season at a below-market rate of $8.4MM, $11.6MM next season, $13.6MM in 2024, $16.6MM in both 25 and 26, and $14.6MM in 2027. 2028 has a $13MM team option or a $3MM buyout. But there is a wrinkle in his contract from 2023 to 2028. If Marte finishes in the top 7 in the MVP voting for the prior year, then the following year's salary increases. I love a base contract with incentives, especially an incentive that helps the club.
Who is Ketel Marte? He is the ultimate hometown discount player. He delivers above-average results on the field and has a below-average contract. In his 5 previous years with this being his 6th year in Arizona he has accumulated a total of 16.3 WAR. He has been an All-Star; he was 4th in the MVP voting in 2019 and in 2018 he led the majors in triples.
He has also done anything the team has asked in order to help the team. He has played second base, short stop and center field. At no position has he gone lower than a .991 season fielding percentage while in his 8 year playing career (two with Seattle) he has only earned $23.5MM. Every team manager, general manager and team mate would love to have a Ketel Marte on their team, and as a Diamondback fan, I am glad he is on this team.
This brings us to the highest-paid player for the 2022 season in Madison Bumgarner. There is a $14.6MM dollar difference in the salary paid to Marte and the $23MM salary paid to MadBum. He was signed to a 5-year contract back in 2020 that will pay him $23MM this season and next season and $14MM in 2024, with no buyouts, no incentives.
Who is Madison Bumgarner? He is a 32-year-old pitcher who is past his prime, who is still being paid like he is in his prime. He has not had a winning season since 2016 which was also the last time, he had double-digit victories in a season. So far this season, he has given the Diamondbacks 2 victories in 12 starts. This season he has almost as many hits as innings pitched 59.1 to 55. He barely has a 2 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio with 41 and 20. His ERA is 3.64 the league is batting .240 against him with a WAR of 0.7. Lastly, the average major league pitcher gives up a hard-hit rate of 38.7% and MadBum gives up a hard-hit rate of 46.0%.
Which of these players should they trade and why? Kelly is a keeper, a steady force in your rotation, below-market contract, great clubhouse guy. Melancon, you hang onto him and hope for the contract that you signed him to, he is able to revert to his career numbers. Peralta is a definite trade candidate. Tons of cheaper talent behind him, and the only way you are going to find out if that talent is better, is if you let them play. Ahmed, you are stuck with a terrible contract and a bum shoulder. Great guy, bad contract, worse situation. Marte is another keeper. He is the leader of this team, at least on offense. Can't say enough good things about his make-up and how fun he is to watch every night. MadBum is the interesting one. A big contract that you would like to get out from under, but you are not going to get much for him unless you agree to pay some of his contract or include one of your better prospects in a trade. Then you have the leadership qualities and veteran leadership to consider. I don't think he is worth the money; I try to trade him knowing it will be difficult.