Diamondbacks Release Brad Bergesen

The right-hander was plucked off the waiver wire after the Baltimore Orioles decided to let him go in July, having been unimpressed with his 4.68 career ERA to that point. I hadn't realized that, prior to this season, Brad Bergesen had actually been a starter more than a reliever: 59 of his 83 appearances for Baltimore from 2009-11 were in the rotation. He didn't make the major-league roster this year, and had put up a 4.03 ERA for the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate, with a near-even split of starts and relief work, at the time of his departure for Arizona.

He wasn't awful for the Diamondbacks, making 19 appearances and posting a 3.64 ERA. He became a long relief guy, with most outings lasting more than an inning, up to back-to-back games of 3.1 and three innings on August 20 + 24, relieving Joe Saunders and Patrick Corbin respectively. He got the win on the last day of August with possibly his best outing, striking out three over two hitless innings as we took the lead over LA in the 10th, on Jason Kubel's homer, and then closing out the game. But his last appearance was utterly forgettable, allowing four earned runs while getting one out against the Rockies, though Mike Zagurski takes some blame, inheriting three runners and letting them all score.

He'd have been eligible for his second year of arbitration next year, having been a Super 2 last time, and there's a deadline at the end of the week to offer contracts to players on the 40-man roster who are not already signed. It's another move that likely counts more as a ripple than a tremor.