The final batch of players outside the 40-man roster
First off, another minor-league free-agent signing on the pitching front to address, though it’s not clear if this one got an invite to spring training or not.
Casey Kelly
He cropped up in Snake Bytes on Monday, where he was called the best foreign player in the history of the KBO League LG Twins. He spent parts of six seasons in Korea, posting a 73-46 record with a 3.25 ERA there, but parted with the Twins in mid-July last year. The 35-year-old subsequently signed a minor-league deal with the Reds and pitched a couple of games for them in long relief. He was originally a Red Sox draft pick, playing in the 2009 Futures game and being a top 100 prospect for several years. Kelly was dealt to the Padres in the Adrian Gonzalez trade, and made his MLB debut back in 2012, on his father’s birthday. But TJ surgery in 2013 doused his flame, and Casey has not been the same pitcher since.
Now, onto the last group of position players.
Cristian Pache (21)
Pache was a bit of a nomad last year, seeing major-league action for the Phillies, Orioles and Marlins. He totaled 85 games, but an OPS+ of 52 kept his overall production below replacement level. He is generally regarded as a defensive specialist, and at one point back in 2020, was being compared to Andruw Jones in that area. Those have kinda stopped, since a career OPS+ of 46 across 251 games has rendered any defensive talents almost moot. He did play in the 2023 NLCS for the Phillies against the D-backs: though only barely, drawing a walk in the seventh. He does offer a right-handed option in the outfield, but it feels like the offense will be too weak to make an impression.
Kristian Robinson (62)
It feels like we’ve been writing about Robinson forever, but he is still only 24. His road to the majors included a three-year absence for the former top 100 prospect, but last year finished strong for Robinson, hitting .319 with an .854 OPS across nineteen games in the Arizona Fall League. That was an improvement over the .687 he posted at Double-A, and his 150 K’s was fourth-most on the organization for 2024. He went unprotected in the Rule 5 draft this winter, and that proved warranted, as he remained with the D-backs. His AFL strikeout rate was below 28%, considerably better than the 36% in AA, and is a trend which will need to be sustained this year if he’s to continue on his journey.
Ildemaro Vargas (15)
Old friend alert! Vargas is on his third spell playing for Arizona, having spent part of five seasons with the D-backs from 2017-21. He’s best known for his role in the longest game in franchise history by innings (look at the time-stamp on that recap!), hitting a PH homer in the ninth to tie it, then a walk-off single in the 19th. He then spent three years with the Nationals, appearing in 234 games over three seasons. It feels like he could almost be considered a reliever too, having pitched five times for Washington, posting a 3.60 ERA. That’s the kind of flexibility which might get him a roster spot, especially with the loss of Blaze Alexander from the pool of utility infielders.
A.J. Vukovich (95)
Vukovich got a token call-up to Reno for four games last September, but spent most of it in Amarillo, where he had a line of .270/.342/.458 for an .800 OPS. The 23-year-old outfielder was a fourth-round pick in the 2020 draft, out of East Troy High School in Wisconsin. He played third base at that point, but began moving to the outfield in 2022. He’s potentially a better right-handed hitting option than Pache, though his K-rate (30% last year – he was one of the few D-backs prospects with more strikeouts than Robinson) is concerning, with three times as many whiffs as walks. Age is on his side though, for now. I imagine he will be likely to start the year off with Triple-A Reno, and see if he can get the K’s under better control.