Arizona Diamondbacks front office, -2.5 WAA
It’s been a quiet offseason and start to 2021 for Mike Hazen’s front office. The D-Backs have made 30 personnel moves involving players with 2022 value, only 11 of which have thus far worked out to Arizona’s advantage.
But only one of the moves has produced value amounting to 1.0 WAA, and none has involved what would be viewed as needle-moving talent.
Here are the five most impactful.
April 7: Following a late-season introduction, Geraldo Perdomo made the roster out of spring training and has stuck. But the rookie shortstop has yet to establish that he can hit major league pitching. Perdomo has a .202 batting average and .578 OPS in 259 plate appearances, his -1.0 WAA helped by solid defensive work.
Dec. 1: The signing of closer Melancon to a three-year, $17 million deal has already been analyzed in the section pertaining to his former team, the Padres. Suffice to say his -0.8 WAA is not an endorsement.
May 8: Alek Thomas began the season at Triple A Reno, but got the callup in May and has become an outfield regular. He’s been helpful, generating a .246 average and .715 OPS. In center field, Thomas is on his way to producing positive defensive numbers and contributing to his +0.8 WAA.
April 7: When Seth Beer hit a season-opening game-winning home run — on National Beer Day yet — it got big-time attention. It has turned out to be a Warhol 15-minutes-of-fame moment. Reassigned May 15 to Reno, Beer left with a .210 average, a .585 OPS and a -0.7 WAA. He hopes the ticket to Reno was not marked as one-way only.
March 21: Oliver Perez was 40 and 20 seasons into his seemingly interminable major league career when the Diamondbacks signed him for a second stint in the desert (he’d also been there in 2014-15). This one did not go well. Perez made seven appearances lasting just four innings, giving up seven earned runs. By the time of his release in late April, his WAA worked out to -0.7, pretty bad for just four innings of performance.