Josh Rojas Loses Arbitration Hearing to Diamondbacks
Josh Rojas and the Diamondbacks were not able to come to agreement before his arbitration hearing. Rojas filed for $2.9M and the team filed for $2.575M, with the arbiter siding with the team over the player's figure.
The arbiter is required to pick one number or the other, and cannot choose a midway point between the two figures. This is Rojas' first time going through the arbitration process. Because he qualified as a "super 2" Rojas will have three more seasons of arbitration before reaching free agency. He is now entering his age 29 season and will not become a free agent until has age 32 season. Due to the escalating nature of arbitration awards, the lower baseline for 2023 will not only cost Rojas the $325K difference, but over the course of the next three years the difference could end up well over $1 million.
Rojas had his best season in the majors last year batting .269/.349/.391, .739 OPS, which translated to a 111 OPS+ or approximately 11% better than a league average hitter. He also stole 23 bases while getting caught just three times and was a disrupter on the base paths all season.
Playing primarily third base last year, his overall defensive rating of -1 RAA was just slightly below average. It all added up to a solid 3.2 WAR. Nonetheless his defensive miscues tended to come in bunches and inopportune times. That caused manager Torey Lovullo to bench Rojas for four games in September over defensive lapses.
During the off season the Diamondbacks signed Evan Longoria to be a platoon mate and mentor to Rojas. The right handed Longoria is likely to garner a large chunk of the playing time at third base against left handed starters. But Rojas is still projected to get plenty of playing time, starting against most right handers, who make up 70% of the league's starters. Rojas is also expected to backup Ketel Marte at second base from time to time.
The Diamondbacks opening day payroll projects to be about $114 million and the full season projection is about $124.5 million
