What do things look like for the D-backs after the veteran inked

a deal?"The dealFirst of all Edinson Volquez Jersey , perspective. It is a one-year deal, for $3 million plus incentives, in a season where the D-backs are likely not to be competing, and which doesn’t block any outfield prospects in a meaningful way [Sorry, Socrates: nobody who is older than Bryce Harper gets to be considered a prospect]. And judging by some of the reactions, you’d think we’d inked him to a Harper-sized contract. But here are the Diamondbacks next season who will be earning more than Jones’s $3 million:Zack Greinke Yasmany TomasDavid PeraltaEduardo EscobarRobbie Ray Taijuan Walker Jake LambAlex Avila Steven Souza Jr. Jarrod Dyson Wilmer FloresNick Ahmed Greg HollandAt the start of the winter, MLB Trade Rumors pegged Jones to get EIGHT million dollars this year. He won’t make anything near that, even in the (presumably unlikely) event he hits all his incentives. Now, it has obviously been a strange kind of winter - one that still sees Craig Kimbrel unemployed, for example. But we’re still likely talking around the cost of a middle reliever. It’s loose change in payroll terms. The usageI do agree, that the worth of this depends on how he’s used. It certainly doesn’t appear he is being ticketed as an everyday center fielder. That would fit in with Mike Hazen’s philosophy of positional flexibility, where players are valued for their ability to handle more than one spot on the field. See also, for example, Wilmer Flores, or the changes of position this year for Jake Lamb and Ketel Marte. Adding Jones. In the case of Jones, Hazen explicitly said, “I think he’s going to play all three outfield spots for us.” In this particular case he offers a right-handed option to an outfield that only really had Steven Souza in that role. Thus, he can give David Peralta a rest against left-handed pitchers.What’s going to be interesting, and remains largely unknown, is to see what this means for the “Ketel Marte in CF” experiment. I think this is probably still going to be a thing, but in the event it goes “Tomas at 3B”-shaped, the team will have an alternative option. How credible that alternative option ends up being, is subject to discussion. “We’re aware of what the defensive metrics say Kendall Graveman Jersey ,” Hazen said, which is interesting. He went on, “We talked to Adam about it quite a bit, talked through how it would work positioning and things like that.” That suggests the team either do not believe the metrics paint an accurate picture (we have seen cases where shifts skew them), or the issue can be corrected.Losers Socrates Brito. Out of options, it seems to many that the writing may well be on the wall for Brito, in terms of his time with the Diamondbacks. That would especially the case if Jarrod Dyson is as healthy as the team has claimed - though Dyson’s ongoing absence from Cactus League play does throw that into question. Of course, those claims of him being back, any day now, could have been to avoid strengthening Jones’s hand in negotiations. If the team apparently “needed” another outfielder, his asking price could have gone up. We saw the team do something similar last season, trading for Eduardo Escobar, before the news came out that Lamb was injured. Doing the math, there will likely be five bench spots. Two backup catchers and Jones seem to have the inside track on three of those spots. Presuming a utility infielder will get one of the remaining two, it probably comes down to Dyson, Brito or Christian Walker for that last spot. Dyson is guaranteed money; the other two aren’t. But it would not surprise me at all if the season starts with Dyson on the disabled list. Indeed, the very signing of Jones, another experienced center fielder, does tend to suggest Dyson’s health may not be what it’s cracked up as. /adjusts tin-foil hat. Wilmer Flores. However, there is an alternative scenario, in which Flores occupies the role of utility man, with Marte returning to second. In which case there could be room for both Dyson and Brito as outfielders (though one and Walker feels more likely). Certainly, the news of Jones’s signing is probably going to cut into Flores’s outfield appearances at least somewhat. The team is going to want to get Ketel’s bat into the line-up as often as possible Jose Canseco Jersey , so when he isn’t in the outfield, the most likely spot is the one which was looking to be occupied by Flores. But even in the infield, we have a plethora of potential combinations, with just about everyone (bar, I suspect, Nick Ahmed) capable of playing multiple spots. It’s all rather dizzying, and the addition of Jones has only made things murkier, rather than clearer. There’s no doubt Hazen and crew have a plan in place; they won’t just have found three million dollars down the back of Ken Kendrick’s sofa, and rushed out to spend it on the first free-agent they meet with a “Work wanted” sign. If past history is any indication, they’re going to keep that plan under their hats until its execution in the days and weeks after Opening Day. We’ll see then what it is, and can begin to assess whether or not it’s going to work. OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Mike Fiers felt the adrenaline pumping early in his first day on the job with his new team, and he put it to good use.Fiers pitched 5 1/3 strong innings and the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Wednesday night.Fiers gave up one run on four hits. He struck out eight and walked none.“I think it kind of stepped up another level today,” Fiers said. “Just trying to put together a good performance for this team. Definitely needed it after losing last night. We needed to come back with a win and we did that.”Fiers didn’t allow a baserunner until Yasmani Grandal led off the fifth with his 20th home run.Fiers was with the Houston Astros when he pitched a no-hitter against the Dodgers on Aug. 22, 2015.The A’s, desperate to add depth to an injury depleted rotation, acquired the 33-year-old right-hander from the Tigers on Monday for two players to be named or cash. He became the 13th starter the A’s sent to the mound this season.Fiers and battery mate Jonathan Lucroy were teammates on the Milwaukee Brewers from 2011 to 2015.“He did well,” Lucroy said. “He executed. Any time you can do that it gives your lineup a chance to settle in, even against a guy like Kershaw. We scratched two on him. If Fiers isn’t keeping us locked in there for as long as he did I don’t think we score those two runs.”The A’s broke a 2-2 in the eighth inning when Khris Davis hit a fielder’s choice grounder off Dodgers reliever J.T. Chargois (2-3), scoring Marcus Semien from third.Dodgers third baseman Manny Machado fielded Davis’ bouncer and fired home to catcher Grandal, but Grandal never had control of the ball when he swipe-tagged Semien. Grandal was charged with an error on the play.“It’s going to be one of those plays where it’s going to be a bang-bang play, and if you happen to have to have the ball in your hand he’s out, and if not he’s safe Jed Lowrie Jersey ,” Grandal said.Jeurys Familia (3-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Blake Treinen worked the ninth for his 29th save in 33 chances.Second baseman Lowrie made a running catch with Yasiel Puig at second for the final out to preserve the win.Oakland won for the seventh time in eight games and improved to 34-11 going back to June 16, the best record in the majors over that stretch.The A’s closed to within five games of idle Houston, which leads the AL West.The Dodgers fell a half game behind Arizona, which beat Philadelphia on Wednesday to move into first place in the NL West.Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw gave up two runs in six innings. He remains winless in four starts against Oakland despite posting a 1.38 ERA over that stretch.Kershaw is 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA since the All-Star break.“I didn’t have much of anything tonight,” Kershaw said. “It was a little bit of smoke and mirrors. That’s a good team over there and I was getting ahead of a few guys, but especially that fourth inning where they scored the runs, a lot of hits with two strikes right there, I didn’t really have those put-away pitches when I needed them to tonight.”TRAINER’S ROOMDodgers: LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (left groin strain) pitched in a rehab game for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday night. He threw 71 pitches and topped out at 91 mph, Roberts said. Ryu throw again in five or six days, possibly for Los Angeles, manager Dave Roberts said. “To Ryu’s credit, he pitched well, he feels well, and so to make our decision more difficult, that’s a good thing for the Dodgers,” Roberts said. . LHP Alex Wood (left adductor tendinitis) pitched three innings in a simulated game on Tuesday. “At that point we’ll figure out where to plug him in,” Roberts said.UP NEXTDodgers: Ross Stripling (8-3, 2.68 ERA) will come of the DL (right first toe inflammation) to pitch Thursday’s series opener against the Rockies in Colorado. He’s 1-1 with a 2.88 ERA in 10 appearances (three starts) against the Rockies.Athletics: LHP Brett Anderson (2-3, 4.64 ERA) will pitch Friday’s series opener against the Angels in Los Angeles on Friday. Anderson is 2-1 with a 2.96 ERA since coming off the DL (strained left shoulder) on July 8.