Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Mike Leake has opted against playing in the 2020 shortened season, according to general manager Mike Hazen. 

Steve Gilbert of MLB.com first reported the news.

Leake's agent, Danny Horwits, shared the following statement regarding the decision with ESPN's Jeff Passan:

Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it's possible other players could follow suit. In the NBA, Los Angeles Lakers starting guard Avery Bradley has chosen to sit out the league's restart starting in late July, citing health concerns for his family.

Leake, 32, went 3-3 in 10 starts for the Diamondbacks last season with a 4.35 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 27 strikeouts in 60 innings. 

The MLB, scheduled to return on July 23-24, has instituted a number of precautions for a return to play, including no fans in attendance (at least initially). Others include, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

• Lockers must be six feet apart.
• Players can't enter the stadium with a temperature above 100.4. 
• Temperature and symptoms checked twice a day.
• Saliva tests every other day.
• Antibody tests once a month.
• Players cannot show up more than five hours before a game and are required to leave within 90 minutes after. 
• Only pre-packaged food will be served.
• No showering in stadium locker rooms.
• To maintain social distancing, not all players will be permitted to sit in the dugout, with some placed in the stands.
• No spitting, tobacco, licking of fingers, or batboys and batgirls. 
• No group celebrations after home runs.

As for the Diamondbacks, Merrill Kelly and Alex Young will now be expected to battle for the fifth spot in the team's rotation. 

During a roundtable discussion titled "Being Black in Baseball and America," Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jon Duplantier recounted how he felt when an opponent made a racist remark toward him during his senior year of high school.

Duplantier said he was playing first base during a scrimmage when someone from the opposing dugout said, "I got a rope and a tree with your name on it."      

He explained he was the only Black player on his team, which left him feeling isolated. The 25-year-old right-hander said that state of mind has remained with him at times throughout his climb up to MLB.

"I feel like I'm on an island," Duplantier said. "I feel like a lot of guys feel like we're on an island, and so we suppress all these feelings and the experiences we have."

MLB hosted the roundtable, which was moderated by MLB Network's Harold Reynolds, on Tuesday. The event included Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Josh Bell, Miami Marlins pitcher Sterling Sharp and MLB educational consultant Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson.

In the wake of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, Americans have protested to demand meaningful reforms and change to address systemic racism and social inequality.

MLB issued a statement June 3 saying it "has zero tolerance for racism and racial injustice" and "is committed to engaging our communities to invoke change."

In May 16, The Undefeated's Ryan Cortes drew attention to the lack of diversity among MLB's ownership and front-office groups, which created a domino effect when teams hired new managers. Bell also explained in a March 2014 interview with Al Jazeera America's Ray Glier the costs to play baseball at a young age can be prohibitive:

"Think about the demographics of the black population as a whole and how poorly we are doing as a whole as a race. It is a lot easier to go outside and run some drills with the football rather than paying for hitting lessons or pitching lessons and going to this showcase or that showcase.

"Baseball is one of those sports that is really expensive, and the showcases are starting earlier and earlier. The competition is getting stiffer, so the need for some sort of training outside of the hitting tee in the backyard comes more and more at an earlier age."

Bell said during Tuesday's roundtable that he and Pirates teammate Chris Archer have started a group chat that includes 150 people of color. The purpose of the discussion is to find ways to benefit their respective communities.     

Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder Starling Marte announced his wife, Noelia, died as a result of a heart attack.

He revealed the news Monday with a tweet that included a picture of the couple and the following message in both Spanish and English: "I go through the pain of making public the unfortunate death of my wife Noelia, due to a heart attack. It is a moment of great sorrow."

Jon Heyman of MLB Network noted Noelia was in the hospital and awaiting surgery after she broke her ankle.

The Diamondbacks later issued a statement on Noelia's death:

Marte has been in the major leagues since the 2012 campaign and played his first eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates traded him to the Diamondbacks this offseason.

Three minority owners of the Arizona Diamondbacks—Alfredo Molina, Jim Weber and limited liability company Carlise Investments—are suing managing general partner Ken Kendrick, per Zach Buchanan of The Athletic.

According to that report, they are claiming Kendrick and the Diamondbacks ownership group "acted unlawfully when it told them either to increase their investment in the team to at least a one-percent stake of ownership or sell each of their 'ownership units' back to the team at a price of $60 per unit."

The attorney for the minority owners, Roger Cohen, said his clients weren't legally required to increase their investment and believed Kendrick's leveraging "had to do with consolidating and increasing the ownership stake of the remaining owners."

"Why they would want to do that, why they would treat our clients that way, to be honest, I can't imagine," he added. "It doesn't make any sense. There is no logic to it."

The team responded in a statement, saying that with the backing of Major League Baseball, it has "chosen to streamline the ownership group and reduce the number of partners with very minimal equity stakes in the partnership."

The statement added:

"Each of those investors was given the opportunity to remain as part of the group by purchasing additional partnership units at a rate determined by a highly respected, independent appraiser.  The same rate was utilized to purchase back existing units from those who declined the offer to purchase new units. The overwhelming majority of investors chose one of these options."

The three suing minority owners have countered that their stakes in the team have been valued at an "artificially low" rate that doesn't include projections for "potential future revenue streams related to legalized gambling," per Buchanan. 

Also in contention is whether Major League Baseball pushed the Diamondbacks to reduce the number of minority owners with less than a one percent stake in the team or whether the team took the idea to MLB. An MLB spokesperson told Buchanan that the league preferred smaller minority owner pools and that the Diamondbacks had a larger pool than other teams. 

Molina is the chairman and CEO of Molina Fine Jewelers, while Weber is a former professional pitcher. 

The Legend of MadBum just grew.  

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner was presented a photo by The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly and Zach Buchanan that was posted by Rancho Rio Arena showing a young man identified as Jaxson Tucker standing alongside a grown man identified as Mason Saunders.

"Oh boy," Bumgarner responded, confirming that he is Saunders. "This is ruining my alias."

Under his alias, he won $26,500 in a team-roping rodeo competition. 

Baggarly and Buchanan added that Bumgarner confirmed the photo was taken on Dec. 3. Days afterward, the three-time World Series champion finished second in a separate event under his Saunders alias.

Bumgarner's alias is a new revelation, but the 30-year-old ace has been roping since he was 15 or 16 years old, per The Athletic.

"It's just part of who you are," he noted.

Bumgarner disclosed that he opted to compete under a different name to avoid enhanced publicity.

"So, he devised 'Mason Saunders,'" Baggarly and Buchanan wrote. "The surname is the maiden name of his wife, Ali. 'Mason' is a shortened version of Madison, 'something for my wife to call me when we were out in public to keep people from recognizing me. But you're going to ruin that for me.'"

Bumgarner signed a five-year, $85 million contract to join the Diamondbacks in mid-December. He had played his entire career with the San Francisco Giants since debuting in Sept. 2009. The 2007 first-round pick became one of the league's best pitchers in San Francisco, earning the 2014 NLCS and World Series MVP awards.

In the same way roping adds to Bumgarner's mystique, the southpaw also has two Silver Slugger awards for his prowess at the plate. But Bumgarner has always kept quiet despite his All-Star status. 

ESPN's Pedro Gomez elaborated on how Arizona might have appealed to Bumgarner's sensibilities (h/t Mercury News' Gary Peterson): 

"He's got horses that he owns that are in the Phoenix area, Scottsdale area. It's going to be something that's going to be an easy transition for him.

"You know he's got the country, North Carolina background. He's a simple man. He's not somebody that's into the bright lights of the big city. He's more into, 'Let me get on my farm and ride my horses.' He'll be able to do that year-round (in Arizona)."

Bumgarner called the perception that he only became a Diamondback to be close to his horses "bulls--t," per The Athletic, but he did admit that he enjoys having several rodeo arenas around Phoenix. 

The Diamondbacks likely don't care why they got Bumgarner but are instead just happy they did. Arizona has not made the postseason since 2017. 

The Arizona Diamondbacks and outfielder David Peralta reportedly agreed to a three-year contract extension Friday.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the deal will pay Peralta a guaranteed $22.00 million with $1.25 million in incentives.

Peralta, who has spent his entire six-year MLB career with the Diamondbacks, avoided arbitration. He had been set to become a free agent after the 2020 season.

The 32-year-old Peralta has been a consistent contributor for Arizona throughout his career, and he is just two years removed from his best season.

In 2018, Peralta hit .293 and set career highs with 30 home runs and 87 RBI en route to winning his first Silver Slugger award. While that power production seems like an outlier, he has four seasons with double-digit homers and at least 57 RBI in his career.

Peralta's numbers dropped off in 2019, in part because of multiple injuries that limited him to 99 games, but he still managed to hit .275 with 12 home runs and 57 RBI, and he won his first Gold Glove.

In 670 career games, Peralta owns a .290/.346/.478 slash line with 85 home runs, 330 RBI and 329 runs scored.

After Arizona dealt first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to the St. Louis Cardinals in December 2018, Peralta spent most of last season batting third or fourth in the order. That figures to be the case once again in 2020 with Ketel Marte and Eduardo Escobar serving as his primary protection.

Since finishing second in the NL West and reaching the playoffs in 2017, the D-backs have fallen short of the postseason in each of the past two campaigns. They went 82-80 in 2018 and improved slightly to 85-77 last season.

The addition of longtime San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner should give Arizona a boost, but the biggest key to the Diamondbacks contending for a playoff spot may be the health of Peralta, Marte and Escobar, who make up the heart of what could be a top-notch lineup.

The Arizona Diamondbacks signed veteran starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner to a five-year, $85 million contract Sunday, according to MLB Network's Jon Heyman.

Bumgarner spent the first 11 seasons of his MLB career with the San Francisco Giants after they selected him with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2007 draft out of high school.

By signing the 30-year-old lefty, the Diamondbacks added a much-needed ace to their starting rotation after trading Zack Greinke to the Houston Astros at the deadline last season.

Along with the newly signed Bumgarner, Robbie Ray, Merrill Kelly, Alex Young, Luke Weaver and Mike Leake are all candidates for the rotation.

Weaver and Young are the youngest and highest-upside members of the rotation, as they posted 2.94 and 3.56 ERAs, respectively, last season.

Meanwhile, Ray led the Diamondbacks with 235 strikeouts in 2019, and Kelly led the team with 183.1 innings pitched. Leake could be the odd man out after going 3-3 with a 4.35 ERA in 10 starts for Arizona last season following a trade from the Seattle Mariners, as he posted a 6.26 FIP.

Last season, Bumgarner went 9-9 with a 3.90 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 203 strikeouts over 207.2 innings, which would have made him the Diamondbacks' clear ace. Arizona ranked 13th in Major League Baseball with a 4.23 starters' ERA.

Bumgarner was among the most consistent and durable aces in MLB from 2011 through 2016 but was plagued by injuries in the two subsequent seasons.

He suffered a shoulder injury in a dirt bike accident, which limited him to just 17 starts in 2017, and then made just 21 starts last season because of a fractured throwing hand.

During his six-season run of dominance from 2011 through 2016, Bumgarner never had an ERA higher than 3.37, and he finished with an ERA under 3.00 on four occasions.

He also finished sixth or better in the National League Cy Young Award voting three times. For his career, Bumgarner is 119-92 with a 3.13 ERA and 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

Although he has been an excellent regular-season pitcher, he tends to elevate his production during the playoffs.

Bumgarner is a three-time World Series champion, and he was named both the National League Championship Series MVP and World Series MVP in 2014.

In 16 career playoff appearances, including 14 starts, he is 8-3 with a 2.11 ERA, three complete-game shutouts and one save.

The major concerns regarding Bumgarner relate to his recent injury history and the fact that he went from striking out nine or more batters per nine innings between 2014 and 2016 to strikeout rates of just 8.2 and 7.6 per nine innings in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Bumgarner bounced back in both respects last season, which is why he was such a popular target in free agency.

If he can stay healthy and maintain the swing-and-miss stuff that has made him so successful over the years, the Diamondbacks have a chance to be a true threat in the National League in 2020 on the heels of two straight years out of the playoffs.

Madison Bumgarner will don a new uniform next season after officially signing a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday.

ESPN's Jeff Passan first reported the two sides had reached an agreement, while Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported the contract is worth $85 million.

This brings an end to Bumgarner's tenure with the San Francisco Giants that goes back to 2007 when he was drafted No. 10 overall. According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, the Giants offered Bumgarner a four-year contract that was "just above" $70 million.

The southpaw developed into one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball after being called up to the big leagues at the age of 20 in September 2009.

During his 10 full seasons in San Francisco, Bumgarner was named to the All-Star team four times, finished in the top 10 of NL Cy Young voting four times and won three World Series titles.

The 2014 postseason will forever be Bumgarner's crowning achievement. The southpaw carried San Francisco to a title with a 1.03 ERA in 52.2 innings over seven appearances, including five shutout innings on two days' rest in Game 7 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals.

And now, he moves south to Arizona to play for an NL West rival.

Even as Bumgarner's skill set has declined in recent years, the 30-year-old is still capable of being a high-level pitcher for any rotation. He tied his career high with 34 starts in 2019 and had a 3.90 ERA in 207.2 innings.

A starter who can give you 200 innings is a luxury that every MLB team wants to have. The Diamondbacks are betting on Bumgarner's recent performance carrying over, and there's no evidence to suggest it won't happen. Bumgarner will lead a rotation that will likely include Robbie Ray, Mike Leake, Merrill Kelly and Luke Weaver.

Injuries limited Bumgarner to 38 combined starts in 2017 and 2018, but he still had a 3.29 ERA during that span. Adding a pitcher with this kind of pedigree makes the Diamondbacks a potential playoff contender in 2020.

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced Wednesday they have acquired pitcher Mike Leake in a trade with the Seattle Mariners.

Arizona will send infield prospect Jose Caballero in return for the deal.

Leake has a $16 million salary for 2019 and is owed $15 million in 2020, plus at least a $5 million buyout for 2021, but Arizona will reportedly only pay $6 million toward his remaining salary, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

The St. Louis Cardinals are also paying part of the deal after trading him away in 2017, per Baseball Reference.

On the field, Leake could be a valuable addition for the Diamondbacks after they traded away Zack Greinke to the Houston Astros Wednesday, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Although he won't be able to immediately replace the All-Star, Leake has been a reliable starter this season with a 9-8 record and 4.40 ERA in 22 starts. His 10.1 hits allowed per nine innings is not great, but he doesn't hurt himself and leads the league with only 1.2 walks per nine.

His control also allows him to go deep into games, getting at least to the seventh inning in seven of his last 11 starts. He has two complete games in this span, including a one-hit shutout against the Los Angeles Angels on July 19.

With Arizona still in the playoff race at 54-55 through Wednesday, this could be a useful addition to earn a wild-card spot.

Leake should also be comfortable in Phoenix after playing his college ball at Arizona State.

The Mariners received Caballero in the deal, who wasn't part of the team's top 30 prospects on MLB.com. The 22-year-old is hitting .268 with a .388 on-base percentage, adding 28 stolen bases in 43 games at Single-A.

With games played at second base, shortstop and third base this year, the young player could become a versatile option for Seattle down the line.

The Houston Astros and New York Yankees are reportedly showing interest in Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Robbie Ray ahead of Wednesday's 2019 MLB trade deadline.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported the update.

Ray is one of the league's predominant strikeout artists. He's punched out 912 hitters in 745.1 innings across five seasons with the D-Backs and one year with the Detroit Tigers. His other numbers leave room for improvement with a career 4.02 ERA and 1.34 WHIP.

The 27-year-old Tennessee native put everything together in 2017 when he finished seventh in National League Cy Young voting thanks to a 2.89 ERA and 218 strikeouts in 162 frames.

His upside of performing like a legit No. 1 starter makes him one of the most intriguing trade options ahead of the deadline, especially since he's under team control for another year.

"I think you just understand that it's a business," Ray told reporters in mid-July. "It's something that can happen. You go about your business every five days and whatever happens, happens. I've been traded twice. So I understand it is a possibility. But I know as long as I go out and perform and do my job everything else will just fall into place."

The Yankees' success this season (67-39) is made more impressive by the fact the roster has never been at full strength because of numerous injuries. Starting pitchers Luis Severino, CC Sabathia, Jordan Montgomery and Jonathan Loaisiga are all sidelined, and that just scratches the surface of the club's health issues.

Ray could provide some much-needed rotation depth, especially with top starters Masahiro Tanaka and James Paxton in a bit of funk lately.

The Astros' need for a starter isn't quite as pressing, but the left-hander could provide insurance in case Brad Peacock, who's on the injured list with a shoulder injury, doesn't return to full strength.

Cop New Merch from the Exclusive Mariano x B/R World Tour Collab