Kyle Finnegan could fill Diamondbacks closer role on a budget

The formerly non-tendered reliever could give the Diamondbacks some stability in the back of their bullpen if they can fix his issues.

The Diamondbacks will be looking to try to strengthen the backend of their bullpen. A.J. Puk, Kevin Ginkel, and Justin Martinez are a solid start but the team lacks a stopper in the 9th inning that allows the others to be used in better roles. They thought they had that guy with Paul Sewald, but he struggled over the second half of the season and left the team in a bind. The going rate for a closer is going to be expensive, but one player who has the combination of experience and affordability is former Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan.

Finnegan was non-tendered by the Nationals, who elected not to pay a projected $8.6 million salary for his final arbitration year. He has a career 3.56 ERA (116 ERA+) and 88 saves in 291 games. However, he also has some scary peripherals to go along with it, as he sports a 4.25 FIP and 3.90 xFIP. Even as a potential closer candidate, he’s not necessarily a shutdown reliever.

Another troubling fact is how his 2024 season went. In the first half, he was one of the most dominant relievers in the game, sporting a 2.45 ERA with a 26% strikeout rate and opponent OPS of .595. That earned him National League All-Star considerations. However, the results quickly flipped in the second half. Finnegan yielded a 5.79 ERA and opponents put up a .337/.404/.490 slash. He lost the closer role and was eventually let go by the Nationals.

Finnegan won’t break the bank for the D-backs as a potential closer candidate and will be motivated to take a one-year deal and try to cash in next winter. That gives the perfect opportunity for the team to buy time with the 23-year-old Martinez as they groom him for the closer role in the long-term. In order for this arrangement to work out, there will be some necessary adjustments to avoid a repeat of the second half of 2024.

Greg Zumach, a Cubs prospect writer for Ivy League Futures, posted a thread on Finnegan on X that will be worth reading. In that thread, he talked about the strengths and weaknesses of the former Nationals closer. A good organization should be able to make those adjustments and better utilize him in higher leverage situations.

Assuming the D-backs can make those corrections, it makes sense for them to sign Finnegan to an incentive-laden one-year deal. Such a deal would include a $7.5 million base salary with $1.5 million in incentives for both appearances and games finished. Should he thrive in the closer role, he has the potential to earn more than the salary figure the Nationals were unwilling to pay.

The issue with this will come down to fit, as I believe most contending clubs will be interested in his services in a one-year arrangement. Finnegan averaged 97.2 MPH on his four-seamer, which has a lot of boring action with 15.8 inches of induced vertical break and 10.3 inches of horizontal break. The splitter and the slider fared well in 2024, and he may need to rely more on his secondary stuff instead of trying to blow upper-90s heat by hitters.

Finnegan hits the market at the same time as former Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano, who was non-tendered by Toronto, who I listed as a potential free agent target. Romano has the stronger track record of the two former closers but has a scarier injury history and saw his 2024 season end to elbow surgery (not Tommy John). If the two pitchers are healthy at the same time, Romano gives more bang for your buck, but there’s less of a chance he can pitch 60+ games in 2025 than Finnegan.

Michael McDermott has been writing about the Arizona Diamondbacks, and their minor league system, for 9 seasons for AZ Snake Pit, Diamondbacks on SI, and Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X at x.com/michaelmcdmlb or at Bluesky.