While some organizations are parting ways with a handful of minor leaguers, the Arizona Diamondbacks are kicking almost everybody to the curb.
The trickle down effect from the baseball shutdown has hit the minor leagues drastically. Most major league teams have announced minor league players are being released in droves, though the Arizona Diamondbacks are ridding their cupboards like no other.
The Diamondbacks have let go 64 minor leaguers in recent days. Tough days in baseball. They hadn’t let go any minor leaguers in spring as they usually do. The Dbacks also have committed to pay the $400 weekly stipend to holdover minor leaguers thru at least June. @EmilyCWaldon
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 29, 2020
With 64 players being given their walking papers the Diamondbacks cut ties with more than double the players any other team has thus far (outside the New York Mets).
Each year prior to the June amateur MLB Draft, organizations do shake loose some players as they are about to restock the system with fresh faces picked up on draft day. In the past two years though, no team has eliminated so many faces in one fell swoop as the D-Backs did this past week.
This year’s draft has only five rounds, with free agents then being signed for a maximum of $20,000. With so much potential money off the table for players leaving school, one would imagine undrafted high school players choosing a junior college as a way to reenter the draft next year and college players returning for another year to try and improve their draft stock.
Seems like this move by the Diamondbacks is solely to save money and not restock the system with players from this year’s crop.
Have learned of more D-Backs' releases. With these, the D-Backs have released 62 players in the past couple of weeks. That is far beyond normal. No MLB team had released 45+ players in the March-May timeframe in 2018 or 2019. https://t.co/irUWEcnNbb pic.twitter.com/IkZZ8G7nw5
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) May 29, 2020
A lot of the players relieved from their contracts were middle to late round draft picks from previous years or guys toiling in the system not advancing like they were expected. Lucas Herbert was red tagged and he was a former second round draft pick in 2015 who hit .300 in limited play at the Triple-A level last year.
There were also a couple of guys who made it to the big leagues before and were hoping to return. Dillon Overton saw limited action with three Major League teams and was trying to make his way back for the first time since 2017. He’ll have to latch on with a different organization for that to happen.
This is a sign of the times and we are going to see more minor league players hit the chopping block before we see waves of them resigned. The Arizona Diamondbacks set the aggressive tone in the transaction department, however.