FanPost

Let's talk about A.J. Pollock

I'm so confused. From my couch in Edmonton, Alberta I cannot tell if the best thing for the Diamondbacks would be for A.J. Pollock to accept his qualifying offer or walk away. Note to readers, I'm a fan of Pollock. It's a firm belief that the disappointment that was 2016 when the team went all in with Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller that the stumbling block was not just the pitching but the health ( or lack thereof) of Pollock and David Peralta.

Entering last season we were already hearing the team couldn't "afford" to keep Greinke. These whispers are louder this offseason. Let's swing this back to Pollock though. If he walks away from the qualifying offer and the $10M raise it offers, per Sportrac he earned $7.75M last season, that is money the can use toward their arbitration eligible outfielders. Peralta, Steven Souza Jr.,

Per MLBtraderumors (Oct 9), here are their projected Arbitration raises for the Dbacks:

  • David Peralta – $7.7MM ($4.4M raise)
  • Robbie Ray– $6.1MM ($2.2M raise)
  • Shelby Miller – $4.9MM
  • Brad Boxberger – $4.9MM
  • Taijuan Walker – $4.825MM
  • Jake Lamb– $4.7MM (0.45M raise)
  • Steven Souza Jr. – $4.0MM ($0.5M raise)
  • Chris Owings – $3.6MM
  • Nick Ahmed – $3.1MM ($1.9M raise)
  • Archie Bradley – $2.0MM ($1.5 raise)
  • Andrew Chafin – $1.8MM
  • T.J. McFarland (– $1.4MM
  • Matt Andriese – $1.1MM
  • John Ryan Murphy – $1.1MM
If their numbers are close, then losing Pollock's $7.75M off the books would theoretically cover the cost of Peralta, Souza Jr, Ahmed and Lamb. That's not a bad start to a team remembering Paul Goldschmidt is still in the house (that's an article for another day). What seems like a foregone conclusion is the loss of Patrick Corbin. That is $7.5M that can be used to cover the expected arbitration raises to Robbie Ray and Archie Bradley.

So I ask, would it be so bad if Pollock didn't sign his QO? Is it just human nature and the "I want it all" mentality that still wants Pollock to sign the QO and stay with the Dbacks? As I already said, I'm so confused.