Taking You Inside the Diamondbacks with Mike Hazen
Earlier this evening we reported on the Diamondbacks roster moves. Due to the deadline to submit the player reserve lists being today at 6PM eastern, certain players needed to be added to the 40 man roster in order to protect them from being taken in the Rule 5 draft. Here is a recap of today's moves and Mike Hazen's comments
The D-backs added INF Blaze Alexander, OF Jorge Barrosa, OF Dominic Fletcher and RHP Justin Martinez to the 40-man roster.
The D-backs also acquired RHP Carlos Vargas from Cleveland for RHP Ross Carver.
The D-backs designated INF Sergio Alcántara, OF Stone Garrett, OF Jordan Luplow and LHP Caleb Smith for assignment.
The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.
What did you like about Carlos Vargas?
"It was an attempt for us to get a power arm. He's up over 100 MPH with his fastball and we have stressed the need to go out and find potential upgrades to our bullpen and this was a shot we're taking now to find one of those guys."
He's got a huge fastball with a slider ( 93 MPH). Everything is hard, . We're banking on the stuff here coming in and playing a role for us. Is it opening day? Maybe, maybe not. But he's got options and we'll see what we got.
Hazen went on to emphasize the need to gain more power and swing and miss in the pen and become less reliant on "strike throwers".
We lack power in our bullpen. Like hard stuff, swing and miss stuff. We put too many balls in play in late innings, relative to the other bullpens in the league.
He also talked about the fact that Vargas was coming off Tommy John Surgery this year and only threw 10 innings in Triple AAA and still needs to work on command.
Were he and the staff excited about Justin Martinez development of the splitter to go with his 99 MPH fastball?
He's one of the only guys in the system that even throws that pitch. I know the split was a much more prominent pitch in the league a long time ago. It's a weapon.
The results we got at the end of the season, we really pushed him for this reason, to see what he was going to be able to do against better competition. And exposing him, knowing that if he pitched well we were definitely going to have to add him [to the 40 man]......He dominated...there wasn't a decision.
Hazen went on to say moves like the Vargas trade and the Martinez addition were to create depth for later in the season. While they will have the chance to make the roster in spring training, they are still looking to address the bullpen with major league ready power relievers for right now.
DFA of Jordan Luplow and Caleb Smith
The weren't major financial decisions really. It was more about what we're going to commit to on the roster and where we are going to use those spots.
He acknowledged that with Smith the injury was a factor and it was very unfortunate for both him and the team.
What led to the decision to give up Ross Carver
That's who the Guardians asked for and we felt like it was a fair deal given what we trying to get back in return.
Hazen cited the depth of starting pitching prospects the organization has, ticking off the names and said that Carver was a fair ask to get a guy that throws 100 MPH.
We've talked about this in the past. I have erred on the side of protecting all the starters at the expense of relievers and this is a slight shift in that stance.
What do you like about Alexander, Fletcher, and Barrosa?
All three of them are very very good defensive players. They're all at different areas of their offensive progression. But all three are exceptional athletes.
Blaze being a shortstop, already forming up through AAA, we felt like he was an easy take [in the Rule 5 draft] for a team looking for a utility guy . He's made progress both offensively and defensively and had his best year.
Barrosa is probably our best defensive centerfielder [no including the major league team]. Being a switch hitter he's so young. We get asked about him all the time.
And Fletcher had a great year too in Triple-A, having the ability to play all three outfield outfield positions. I know we have aggregated even more left handed hitting outfielders on our roster. But we feel like that will solve itself at some point.
Given the moves you've made today will you pursue a right hand hitting outfielder ?
Yes ! That's been something we talked about doing from the beginning.
Hazen was not willing to discuss in detail why certain players were not protected or why Stone Garrett was DFA'd, other than citing the complications of roster rules.
Hazen noted that he can still outright players off the roster at a later date to make room for a Rule 5 selection on December 7th should he decide to make one. However he cannot add anyone not currently on the 40 man after today's deadline in order to protect them.
Asked if there was a philosophical change to bullpen construction Hazen gave a long answer but summarized with:
We've been trying to push resources into our bullpen for the last year, I just didn't do a very good job of it in aggregate. We did some good things but on the whole the group just didn't perform that great. What we tried to do is take the player's name off the performance, and make it more about what are the characteristics of some of the things we're looking for and trying to sell out to those in a little more disciplined fashion.
How is Jordan Lawlar doing?
He's doing good, we don't anticipate any restrictions going into spring training.
Is Cooper Hummel a potential backup to Carson Kelly?
That's still on the table, yes.
