The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to sign right-hander Bronson Arroyo to a two-year, $23.5 million deal that includes a club option for 2016, as Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com first reported. According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com, Arroyo will earn $9.5 million in each of the next two seasons before the D-Backs will decide whether to exercise his $11 million option or pay him a $4.5 million buyout.
As Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported earlier in the week, the D-Backs were joined by the Dodgers and Orioles as the finalists to land Arroyo, who also drew strong interest from the Twins, Angels, Mets and Pirates this offseason. He was originally seeking a three-year deal, but instead got an option year from Arizona in addition to the two guaranteed seasons.
Arroyo, who turns 37 this month, will join Trevor Cahill, Patrick Corbin, Wade Miley and Brandon McCarthy in a solid D-Backs rotation that has already reported to spring training in Arizona. Arizona was intent on adding a starting pitcher this offseason, and showed strong interest in Masahiro Tanaka before looking elsewhere over the last couple of weeks. If they did not land Arroyo, they were expected to go after either Ervin Santana or Ubaldo Jimenez.
Arroyo has been one of the most durable pitchers in the major leagues over the last decade, notching 199 innings or more in each of the last nine seasons. In 32 starts with the Reds last year, he posted a 14-12 record and 3.79 ERA in 202 innings of work.
In fourteen major league seasons with the Pirates (2000-2002), Red Sox (2003-2005) and Reds (2006-2013), Arroyo has a lifetime 138-127 record and 4.19 ERA in 391 appearances (355 starts).