Diamondbacks outright Yasmany Tomas to Triple-A Reno

The Diamondbacks made it official on Monday, formally announcing outfielder Yasmany Tomas had been outrighted to Triple-A Reno and removed from Arizona’s 40-man active roster.

Tomas was subjected to waiver claims, but not a single team was ready to pick up his pricey contract, which has three years remaining at about $46 million.

Also on Monday, the Diamondbacks announced they made a trade with the Orioles, sending cash considerations to Baltimore in exchange for right-handed relief pitcher Stefan Crichton. He will report to Reno.

As for Tomas, his removal from the 40-man roster, which was first reported by azcentral sports on Saturday, doesn’t mean his days are done with the Diamondbacks.

“It’s not a failure,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “Yasmany Tomas, we know what happened. He was taken off the major league roster. It doesn’t mean that we have or have not seen the last of Yasmany Tomas here. He is now treated like any other minor league player, where if you perform and do your job you’re going to have a chance to be considered for a call up.

“It’s not a dead-end street for Yasmany.”

The issue with Tomas, 27, is simple. He carries a powerful bat, but he is a defensive liability. It was made perfectly clear to him that to return to the major leagues, he’d have to work tirelessly on becoming a more capable defender as a corner outfielder. Otherwise, he won’t be coming back anytime soon. Or ever.

“When we told him he was going down, he wasn’t doing jumping jacks out of my office but he took it like a professional,” Lovullo said. “He didn’t like it, but he understood where we were coming from so we issued those challenges to him and told him he’s going to go down and continue to work on them and he said ‘OK.’ He said, ‘This is what I need to do. I trust you guys and I’m going to do everything that I possibly can to get back to the big leagues.’ ”

That the Diamondbacks were willing to sacrifice his bat – Tomas has hit 60 doubles and 48 home runs with 163 RBIs in 305 games for Arizona – speaks volumes to the standard Lovullo and General Manager Mike Hazen have placed on playing exceptional defense.

“Pitching and defense will win you championships,” Lovullo said. “We feel like if we can complement all the offense with those two things we’re going to be in good shape. It’s what baseball’s trending to today. You don’t see these big boppers that can’t play defense anymore. They just don’t happen. Those are the DHs in the American League.”

Sources: D-Backs place Tomas on waivers

By Nick Piecoro

The Diamondbacks have placed slugger Yasmany Tomas on outright waivers, according to sources, a move that could amount to little more than his removal from the 40-man roster.

Tomas, who was optioned to Triple-A Reno last weekend, would seem highly unlikely to be claimed given that he still has three years and roughly $46 million remaining on his contract.

Assuming he goes unclaimed, the Diamondbacks would then outright Tomas to Reno. As a player with at least three years of service time, Tomas could refuse the assignment and become a free agent, but that seems highly unlikely since it would mean he would walk away from what’s left on his contract.

Tomas, who signed a six-year, $68 million deal in December 2014, has had a disappointing three years in the organization. He has swung the bat well at times, including in 2016, when he hit 31 homers and posted an .820 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging).

But his defense has made him all but unplayable – at least in the eyes of the club’s current front-office regime. The team tasked Tomas with improving his defense when he was optioned to the minors on Sunday. Even an injury to outfielder Steven Souza Jr. wasn’t enough for the Diamondbacks to keep Tomas on the roster.

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Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.