The Diamondbacks and lefties Eduardo Rodríguez have agreed to a four-year deal with an average annual value in the $20 million range, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported this evening that Arizona is a finalist for Rodriguez’s services. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the deal guarantees Rodriguez four years and $80 million, with incentives and a vesting option that could increase the total term to a maximum of five years and $99 million.
For the reigning NL champions, Rodriguez provides a third front-of-the-rotation caliber arm to partner with the 2023 NL Cy Young Award finalist Zac Gallen and experienced right-hander Merrill Kelly. Despite outstanding performances from the club’s top two teams, who combined to post a 3.39 ERA in 64 starts, the club’s overall rotation ranked just 21st in the majors last season with a 4.67 ERA. This is due to the lack of quality options behind Gallen and Kelly. Arizona relied on people like Brandon Pfadt, Ryne NelsonAnd Zach Davies in the rotation for much of the year, each posting ERAs over 5.00.
The addition of Rodriguez should significantly aid the club’s run prevention efforts. The 30-year-old southpaw enjoyed a career year as a member of the Tigers in 2023, finishing the season with a 3.30 ERA and 3.66 FIP over 152 2/3 innings while striking out 23% of batters against a walk rate of just 7.7%. These strong season totals might have been even stronger had Rodriguez managed to stay healthy throughout the season, as the left-hander posted a 2.13 ERA and a 25.5% strikeout rate in his first 11 starts of the season. reached.
Unfortunately, Rodriguez suffered a ruptured disc tendon at the end of May, which resulted in him being sidelined for the entire month of June. When he returned at the beginning of July, Rodriguez struggled to build on his excellent performance in the first half. The southpaw delivered decent results with a 4.24 ERA and 4.08 FIP over his final 85 frames, although his strikeout rate dropped to just 21.2% while his walk rate rose to 8.9%. Luckily, Rodriguez bounced back and posted a solid 3.60 ERA in September. Assuming the left-hander enters the 2024 season fully healthy, he would be a strong addition to most rotations in the majors.
Rodriguez’s strong platform campaign earned him the No. 11 spot on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, where we have him slated for a four-year, $82 million contract. He’ll end up right in that range, although Rodriguez managed to secure additional incentives that could further increase the value of the contract. While Rodriguez was the seventh-highest rated pitcher on our list, he actually edged out the veteran right-hander and fifth-highest rated pitcher Sonny Gray‘s total guarantee with the Cardinals by $5 million. However, Gray’s contract includes a significantly higher AAV.
The Diamondbacks have shown a willingness to operate at this level of the rotation market in the past. That’s aside from the six-year, $206.5 million mega deal the club signed Zack Greinke Prior to the 2016 season, the largest free agent contract the Diamondbacks had offered a pitcher was a five-year, $85 million deal to a left-handed hitter Madison Bumgarner. This contract proved to be a disaster for Arizona, as Bumgarner posted a 5.23 ERA and 5.17 FIP in 69 starts for the Diamondbacks during the term of the contract before being released at the start of the 2023 season, despite being out for the season Still on the books in 2024.
The deal pushes Arizona’s payroll into uncharted territory, with RosterResource projecting the club’s 2024 payroll at $114 million before adding Rodriguez. Taking the club’s new additions into account, the Diamondbacks face $134 million in salary commitments for the 2024 season, just shy of the club’s record $131 million from 2018 (according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts). The Diamondbacks have not publicly disclosed their financial limits this offseason, so it’s unclear how much wiggle room, if any, the club has for future additions. If the club has more personnel capacity, an additional rotation arm to support the club’s back rotation as well as a right-hander to replace the DH could make sense. The association was recently affiliated for this purpose Lucas Giolito, Seth Lugo, Justin TurnerAnd JD MartinezHowever, it is unclear whether the club’s interest in the aforementioned starters will remain after Rodriguez’s signing.