Diamondbacks Acquire Armando Galarraga

The deal is official, according to multiple outlets. The Detroit Tigers today traded right handed pitcher Armando Galarraga to the Arizona Diamondbacks for right hander Kevin Eichhorn and lefty Ryan Robowski.

Eichhorn is just 20 years old and was Arizona’s third round pick in 2008. He’s made just two starts above rookie ball and his results haven’t been great unless you look at his strikeout to walk ratio. Eichhorn has fanned better than a better per inning in his brief career and only allowed 2.4 walks per nine innings thus far. He was rated Arizona’s 25th best prospect and is the son of former Blue Jay reliever Mark Eichhorn.

Robowski was a 16th round pick in 2009 and has been exclusively as a reliever as a pro. He made 35 appearances last year in Advanced-A Visalia where he posted a 5.17 ERA. He gave up too many hits, but his strikeout rate climbed significantly from his first professional season to last year and his walks have been acceptable as well.

Obviously, both pitchers are a ways away from helping the big league club, but it looks like Eichhorn has a shot (given his age, his pedigree, and his numbers) to help down the road. Mark Anderson of TigsTown tweeted a scouting report.

"Eichhorn is a fringy right-hander w/ good makeup, mound presence, and he projects for good command. FB mostly 87-89, touches 91"

A soon-to-be 23 year old left hander who has never pitched above A-ball might not be much of a prospect, but he’s left handed and throws strikes well enough that he could eventually carve out a career as a LOOGY. From Anderson again, on Robowski:

"Robowski is a sinker-slider type lefty reliever, with solid stuff. Fringy-avg to avg FB, slider flashes average, more a LOOGY type"

The Tigers were in a tough position with this trade and it sounds like the return was pretty good given the circumstances. Arizona assumes all of Galarraga’s contract as well, so kudos to Dave Dombrowski for turning a potentially bad situation into a positive for the franchise.

Galarraga will compete for a job in the D-backs rotation along with Aaron Heilman, Barry Enright, and Zach Duke. The shift to the national league should certainly help Galarraga, but it won’t matter what league he’s in if he doesn’t pitch aggressively. A lesson I hope he’s learned from his days in Detroit.

Fare thee well, Armando. We’ll always June 2, and at least you get to keep the Corvette.

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