On Monday afternoon, the Arizona Diamondbacks announced the signing of right-handed starting pitcher Armando Galarraga to a one-year contract for $2.3 million.
You may remember Galarraga from last year, as he was only one out away from a perfect game. But, in what may go down as one of the worst blown-calls in major league history, umpire Jim Joyce missed an obvious call that kept him a few feet away from a perfect game (literally).
Galarraga has a career 23-26 record in 87 games thrown. Galarraga has the ability to strikeout batters and has 301 strikeouts in 475.1 innings. What he needs to limit if he wants to progress further in his career, is his ERA (an up and down 4.58 coming into this season).
Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers said, "Based on this guy's history and what he's done, he's got a fairly good shot of being in our rotation.” In my opinion, anyone that shows up to the ballpark has a chance in the Diamondbacks' rotation.
In the trade with the Tigers, the Diamondbacks got rid of two minor league pitchers, Kevin Eichorn and Ryan Robowski. Eichhorn recorded a 5-6 record in 15 minor league starts last season, while Robowski was 2-4 in 35 relief appearances in the minors last year.
Let’s hope Galarraga, as well as the rest of the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff, performs well this season.
Last season the Diamondbacks were 28th-worst in the MLB with a 4.81 ERA, only converted 33 of their 59 save opportunities, and allowed a league-worst 210 home runs.
I think that Galarraga will be a good addition to the rotation, and I hope he earns a spot.
The other starters he will most likely be competing against will be Ian Kennedy, Barry Enright, Joe Saunders, Aaron Heilman, Dan Hudson and Zach Duke.
The Diamondbacks will begin spring training in their new stadium in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 26th against the Colorado Rockies.
They will start the regular season with road trips to Colorado and Chicago before coming home for Opening Day on April 8th to take on the Cincinnati Reds.
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