Right-hander Kendall Graveman and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in agreement on a one-year contract, sources told ESPN's Jesse Rogers on Friday.
The deal has a base salary of $1.35 million, and he can make up to $3.3 million with performance bonuses, per source.
The Diamondbacks are adding Graveman with the hope that he can recapture his prior frontline reliever status after missing the 2024 season following shoulder surgery. The deal is pending a physical.
Graveman, 34, has the 15th-best ERA among relievers since 2021, when he converted to the bullpen full time with the Seattle Mariners. He pitched there and Houston before signing a three-year, $24 million deal with the Chicago White Sox. He was traded back to Houston and pitched well before undergoing labrum surgery in January 2024.
He is likely to grab a late-inning spot as long as his performance is as electric as it was pre-injury. He complemented a heavy, hard sinker with a solid slider and changeup, flipping in a curveball occasionally and relying more on a four-seam fastball. After posting a 1.77 ERA in 56 innings in 2021, Graveman put up ERAs of 3.18 and 3.12. He has struck out 193 in 187â…“ innings and saved 24 games since 2021.
Graveman will join a bullpen that returns left-hander A.J. Puk and right-hander Justin Martinez working high-leverage spots, along with right-handers Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson and left-hander Joe Mantiply. Whether the rest of the bullpen is filled with pitchers who don't make the rotation or hard throwers like right-hander Drey Jameson will be for spring training to decide.
