Arizona Diamondbacks MLB 2015 News: Big Moves in the Off Season
The Arizona Diamondbacks were 64-98 in 2014 after finishing with a 81-81 record the two season prior. They hired Tony La Russa to be their Chief Baseball Officer and have now entered a rebuilding project. Manager Kirk Gibson and his staff were replaced, and now LaRussa and new General Manager Dave Stewart have gone about rebuilding their roster. They feel like they are close to contending, and have been very active this off season.
Chip Hale is the new manager, and he came over from the Oakland Athletics. This is his first MLB managerial job. He faces an interesting challenge in Arizona. The Diamondbacks were a last-place club but his front office expects the team to finish with a winning record and possible even contend for the division sooner rather than later.
The Diamondbacks have a plan and the went about their off season work shedding themselves of contracts that felt were not making the team better on the field. They took those saving and reinvested them in talent. Most notable the team signed Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas to a six year $68.5 million deal. However, the is an opt out clause in the deal after year four. Many expected the 24-year-old to fetch a $100 million deal so the Diamondbacks might have gotten him for a bargain.
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The Diamondbacks also signed a Cuban pitcher right handed Yoan Lopez to a deal with a $8.25 million signing bonus. That outlay put the D'Backs over the allotted pool space given each MLB team to sign international players and they now not be allowed to sign an international player for more than $300,000 for the next two signing periods. That is a big risk but all indications are Lopez has MLB skills. Due to MLB rules he had to sign a minor league deal and after being with the team during Spring Training will begin his development in America in the low minors.
