Diaz to Pittsburgh
In a deal that resembles the Ryan Church move from last season, the Pirates added outfielder Matt Diaz on a two year contract Tuesday night. With Lastings Milledge non-tendered, the Pirates had room on their roster, if not in their starting lineup, for another outfielder. Diaz will see his playing time in the corner outfield, whether it comes as a starter, or, more likely, in a platoon situation.
Although contract details are unknown as of this writing, it’s difficult to imagine that Diaz brought in much of a haul for his services. Over the past five seasons, Diaz’s performance has fluctuated wildly. Since 2006, Diaz has posted wRC+ marks of 115, 128, 51, 139, and 100, and, similarly, WARs of 2.2, 3.0, -0.8, 2.6, and 0.6. Part of this is merely the nature of his part-time role with the Braves; another part is likely due to his wild platoon splits. In 798 plate appearances vs. left handed pitchers and 849 against right handed pitchers, the right handed Diaz holds career wRC+ marks of 139 against lefties and only 90 against righties. Even accounting for the necessary regression, Diaz still has a markedly larger than average platoon split.
Diaz hasn’t measured well in the outfield over the past two seasons, and the Fans Scouting Report agrees with UZR and DRS, grading him as a -4 corner OF from 2009-2010. As such, his defense doesn’t allow managers to ignore his deficiencies against right handed hitters, drastically limiting his usefulness. At 33, Diaz’s glove has nowhere to go but down. This limited defensive ability likely makes Diaz a slightly below average player overall.
Due to the large platoon splits, Diaz isn’t exactly the same player as Church. But the endgame here seems similar: the Pirates will likely look to build Diaz’s value in the outfield as the rest of their team develops, hoping to flip him for a useful piece in their rebuilding plan. Even though Church was among the worst NL hitters before the trade deadline last year, the Pirates still managed to pry Chris Snyder from the Diamondbacks in exchange for Church and two players who have already managed to work their way off the Arizona roster in D.J. Carrasco and Bobby Crosby.
There’s no reason to believe that Diaz will fail as miserably as Church did in Pittsburgh. Given the amount of interest shown for Diaz by teams ranging from the Diamondbacks and Royals to the Red Sox and Yankees, the Pirates shouldn’t have any problem finding a suitor come July. As long as the contract is representative of Diaz’s role as a platoon outfielder – and nothing Neal Huntington has done in recent times suggests it won’t be – Diaz should fit the purposes of the front office perfectly.
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Even if it’s a two year contract?
Good for Diaz. I loved him as a Brave and wish him only the best.
The ascendent pronunciation of his ‘i’ got him an extra year than your typical Diaz, praytell.
Another one of my favorites changes teams this off-season. Dye-az hit pretty well in 2009, and one might speculate his weaker 2010 had something to do with his injury issues — although it was mostly OBA problems, as he was still swinging a good XBH stick. If the Bucs give him 300 PA, mostly against lefties, I’d bet he’ll post a OPS+ significantly above 100. It remains to be seen how much his glove drags him down in terms of WAR.
Oh, and I bet he out-hits Garrett Jones, and wouldn’t be surprised if he steals some of his playing time, even against righties.
I’d be worried about putting Diaz in Right Field, he can’t even handle left.. I agree a platoon partner with Garret Jones is probably warranted after Jones’ 2010 disappointment, but if you have a platoon in RF who plays Left?
Tabata should be set in left. PNC’s left field is huge, so they put their better corner OF there.
A note to Pirate fans: don’t be fooled by his swing; the man can hit.
As a Braves fan, I loved watching Diaz and his arched-back, awkward, lunging swing. He will look completely and totally clueless on one swing then square one up and crush the ball on the next. I understand that he was getting expensive but hate to see him go. Hopefully he and his balls to the wall playing style will do well in Pittsburgh.
“Diaz hasn’t measured well in the outfield over the past two seasons. . . ” Hardly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Oob-qvZ6Q
Reportedly a 2yr/$4.25M deal… not bad at all. Gives Hurdle a platoon option for G. Jones against LH SP and a righty PH from the bench. Plus the aforementioned opportunity to sell him at the deadline to a contender looking for a RH matchup bat.
2/4.25 sounds quite good to me for someone who’s been significantly above average several times in the past like Diaz. I had no idea that he was so old, though – 33? I had him pegged as 29 or something, which is surely a major reason why this looks like such a bargain to me. I’m surprised that it was Pittsburgh that signed him, though, given that seemingly every team in baseball expressed interest in him, and he seemed sure to end up as a useful part-timer on a contender.
Fan Scouting Report probably isn’t going to treat Diaz fairly because I think he’s a better defender than he looks like. He looks awkward but he avoids really making mistakes. He takes good routes, and he moves faster than he looks like he’s moving because of his awkward stride. DRS and UZR are much more mixed about his defensive prowess. DRS actually liked him last year after really disliking him the year before. UZR had him right at average.
I’d say he’s below average defensively, but just barely. Put him next to a solid defensive centerfielder, which the Braves haven’t been able to do for the past three seasons, and he probably holds up pretty well.