New Round of Signings
Build that depth Mike!
Last week I did a full write up on all the minor league signings and small trades Mike Hazen and the Diamondbacks have done this Winter (Can view that here). With holidays over, the Diamondbacks have signed 3 MLB players to MiLB deals, let’s start with my favorite of the trio, Kevin Newman.
Kevin Newman, INF
Get excited UofA fans the Diamondbacks have another Wildcat in Kevin Newman. The 2015 1st round pick is entering his 7th MLB season, and his path to the 2024 Diamondbacks roster in a utility bench role. Primarily a shortstop, Newman played all 4 infield spots for the Reds in 2023, and boy do I love the fact that he can play 1B, killing the “we need a backup 1B so that’s why Pavin Smith is on the team” narrative.
Kevin Newman fits this Diamondbacks bench perfectly. Geraldo Perdomo made massive strides in 2023, was an All-Star, but the one area of his game that did not improve was hitting vs LHP and a RH batter. As shown in my tweet from today:
Geraldo Perdomo has struggled vs LHP and it’s the only part of his game that didn’t improve in 2023. Nick Ahmed being quite possibly the worst player in baseball last year clouds a lot of people’s Perdomo 2023 memories. If Newman can repeat that .280/.336/.395 slash line vs LHP, that’s a legit upgrade at shortstop to go along with Perdomo’s .246/.362/.374 slash line vs RHP. Additionally, when Newman starts vs LHP, Perdomo almost every night will be brought in mid game vs RHP and as a defensive upgrade. I really like what the Diamondbacks are trying to do here.
But what about Jordan Lawlar?
The main response to my Kevin Newman tweets today was “what about Jordan Lawlar”? I want to stress the point that Jordan Lawlar really needs to start the season in AAA. Not every prospect has a smooth debut like Corbin Carroll. Lawlar is just 20 years old still, only played in 207 minor league games, and went 4-32 in his limited MLB action. Lawlar needs more than 16 games at AAA (99% of prospects do). I love the strides made Jordan Lawlar made from 2022 to 2023, which include:
-K rate dropping from 25% to 20.6%
-Errors dropping from 29 to to 12
(Lawlar had 459 PA’s in 2022 and 490 in 2023)
Jordan Lawlar is going to be a good MLB SS/3B, he’s hit 36 HR and stolen 75 bases combined at age 19 and 20 in the minors. But, I think he’ll be more ready to make an impact mid year vs Opening Day. Thus, Kevin Newman on a minor league deal to take small side platoon SS starts + be your emergency 1B works.
Logan Allen, LHP
Logan Allen stinks. There’s a good Logan Allen, but this is not him. Bad Logan Allen also pitched for Cleveland, was also a top pitching prospect, but has struggled badly in his MLB work.
Logan Allen failed to appear in the MLB last season after posting 5.77 ERA/1.73 WHIP in 103 IP between Seattle and Colorado’s AAA clubs. Reno Aces playing in the hitter friendly PCL, there’s a need for innings and Logan Allen is that. Logan Allen will need to jump several pitching prospects to see MLB action in 2024.
Tucker Barnhart, C
There’s no such thing as a bad minor league contract, but Tucker Barnhart has been terrible the last couple years. As I wrote about early in December, Tucker Barnhart has had a rough 2 year stretch.
According to Statcast he graded out below average defensively in blocking, pop time, and called strikes.
In 123 PA’s in 2023 Barnhart had 48 OPS +
In 308 PA’s in 2022 Barnhart had a 61 OPS+ (league average is 100)
Barnhart has just 2 HR over the last 2 seasons, OPS of .554 and .541
Tucker Barnhart turns 33 this season.
A new good positive on Tucker Barnhart though is that he does have success with Eduardo Rodriguez when they played together on the Tigers in 2022:
Tucker Barnhart to the Diamondbacks has felt inevitable. With Martin Maldonaldo and Austin Hedges getting $4-5M a year each, I was worried Barnhart would get $3-5M, but on a MiLB deal this move works. The Diamondbacks really do not feel comfortable with Jose Herrera as we learned last year with Carson Kelly’s long leash and acquiring Seby Zavala and letting him play all of September despite not being postseason eligible. Additionally, prospects like Adrian Del Castillo and JJ D'Orazio aren’t quite ready to for the show and need to make jumps in 2024.
I think Tucker Barnhart is a lock to make the Opening Day roster, Newman should win a utility/platoon SS spot, and hopefully we won’t see Logan Allen in 2024. With the holiday break over, we should see the hot stove finally heat up and the Diamondbacks add one more legit bat. Still, these are note worthy signings that could make impacts in 2024.
-@GoldyHappens
I still hope they get a decent catcher, preferably right handed. Let Gabi catch 90 games, then DH another 50.
In a 150mil payroll optimized world, Dbacks sign a LHH DH to start against RHP, then have a decent RHH catcher to let Gabi DH against LHP.
It's not perfect, But the Twins are shopping Christian Vasquez. Could probably get the Twins to eat half his 2/20 salary in exchange for Kyle Nelson or Blake Walston. That likely leaves enough budget to still add one of Pederson/Brantley/Belt, which really allows the team max optimization vs LHP and RHP.