Yasmany Tomas clears waivers, Stefan Crichton acquired from Orioles

The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired RHP Stefan Crichton from the Baltimore Orioles for cash considerations and optioned him to Triple-A Reno. In a separate transaction, the D-backs outrighted OF Yasmany Tomás to Reno. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.

Yasmany Tomas remains a Diamondback, after no-one was willing to pick up his contract, which has about $46 million left on it. However, the move does allow the team to take Tomas off the 40-man roster, and they wasted no time in making use of the space, picking up reliever Crichton from Baltimore for a sum reported to be $100,000. Tomas remains under Arizona control, but if the team ever needs to bring Tomas back up to the major-leagues, they’ll additionally need to find room for him on the 40-man roster, as well as having an open slot on the 25-man squad. Here’s what the press release had to say about the newest Diamondback:

Crichton, 26, got his first Major League experience last season with the Orioles, making 8 relief appearances, including his debut on April 16 @ Blue Jays. In 29 relief outings for Triple-A Norfolk, he went 7-2 with 2 saves, a 3.02 ERA (16 ER in 47.2 IP) and .247 opponent average with 11 walks and 50 strikeouts. He held lefties to a .247 average with 32 strikeouts and limited righties to a .248 average with 18 strikeouts. He held opponents to a .200 average with 18 strikeouts with runners in scoring position and with runners on base limited the opposition to a .240 average with 25 strikeouts. He also made 3 rehab appearances at Rookie GCL Orioles.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder appeared in 48 games (4 starts) at Double-A Bowie in 2016. He went 2-6 with 1 save, a 3.73 ERA (30 ER in 72.1 IP) and .262 opponent average with 26 walks and 61 strikeouts. He spent the majority of 2015 at Single-A Delmarva and in 28 games (1 start) went 4-4 with a 3.27 ERA (24 ER in 66.0 IP) and a .251 opponent average with 12 walks and 50 strikeouts. In 141 career Minor League outings (11 starts) since 2013, he is 18-19 with 10 saves, a 3.46 ERA (104 ER in 270.1 IP) and .255 opponent average with 65 walks and 242 strikeouts. He was the Orioles’ 23rd-round pick in the 2013 draft out of Texas Christian University (TCU).

Not mentioned is that the major-league relief appearances didn’t go very well, Crichton posting an 8.03 ERA over 12.1 innings, with an 8:4 K:BB ratio. Writing at the time of his MLB debut last April, John Sickels of Minor League Ball called Crichton “a stereotype middle reliever,” describing the now 26-year-old thus: “He has solid fastball velocity at 93-95 MPH, occasionally hitting 96-97, and he’s done a good job throwing strikes with it. He mixes in a slider in the 81-84 range. Both pitches are heavy and generate large numbers of ground balls, but he doesn’t have much of a change-up, precluding use as a starter.”