First, I tip my hat to DBacksEurope for sparking my curiosity to find relievers the Diamondbacks should attempt to acquire. The spark was his AZ Snake Pit article on free agent closers that the Diamondbacks could acquire.
Methodology for Finding Relievers to Acquire.
With an imperative to eschew stars past their prime (which has rarely worked for the Diamondbacks), and eschew top-level stars (which are unaffordable for the Diamondbacks), my search approach was to focus in the high middle. My six criteria follow:
- Must be a power pitcher whose average fastball velocity is at least above average (I decided 94 MPH is good enough) with a strikeout/walk ratio of at least 3.