By Jordan Long
The Arizona Diamondbacks have been relatively quiet this offseason. Their only major move was trading 1st baseman Paul Goldschmidt to the St. Louis Cardinals. That has since changed. They signed free agent infielder Wilmer Flores hoping to boost their offense and defense. Arizona agreed to a 1-year deal with him worth $4.25 million. The contract also includes a team option for 2020, valued at $6 million.
Flores will be entering his 6th MLB season and Arizona is his second team. He spent 5 years with the New York Mets. Last year for the Mets, Flores smacked 11 home runs and added 51 RBI’s. Those are below average numbers, but what helped the Mets was his patience at the plate. He didn’t swing at pitches outside the zone, forcing pitchers to work the count. Those ended in walks with a total of 29 free passes. Flores was able to move his teammates around the base paths with a .267 batting average.
Looking at those numbers it was perplexing why Arizona would want to sign Flores. The reason they needed him was his glove. Flores can play every infield position. Last year he was mostly the 1st baseman for the Mets. They trusted him to catch the baseball when a fielder threw it to him for outs. He committed an impressively low 3 errors. He can also play 2nd and 3rd base. 2nd base was his strong suit. Even though he played there only 13 games, he didn’t have an error. Flores was placed at 3rd base for 10 games and had 3 errors.
This move adds depth to the roster. Flores may not be an everyday player for Arizona but should see plenty of playing time. 3rd base is covered by Jake Lamb who appeared in 52 games before having rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder. Arizona doesn’t know how healthy Lamb will be. If he is 100%, Lamb will be the starting 3rd baseman. If not, Flores will be at 3rd base. Flores should be an improvement in the infield no matter where Arizona places him. lv
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