The Arizona Diamondbacks have signed free-agent outfielder Kole Calhoun to a two-year deal worth $16 million guaranteed and a $2 million buyout for a third season, according to MLB Network's Jon Morosi and New York Post's Joel Sherman. Calhoun will earn $6 million for the 2020 season and $8 million for the 2021 season, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports.
Calhoun, 32, finished the 2019 season with a .232/.325/.467 in 152 games for the Los Angeles Angels. CBS Sports ranked Calhoun No. 35 on our Top 50 Free Agent list. Here's what we wrote about the left-hitting outfielder:
Calhoun is coming off a 33-homer effort, but past performance is only a piece of the evaluative process. He struck out more for a third consecutive season, due in part to a career-worst contact rate -- he whiffed on more than 32 percent of his swings. He did walk and bop more as well, meaning he's shifting toward the so-called old-player skills. Defensively, Calhoun is more average than not -- a description that applies to his entire game at this stage in his career. There's some attrition risk here due to the swing-and-miss, but he's probably good for at least one more two-win season as the heavy side of a platoon.
After spending his entire Major League career with the Angels -- the club that drafted him in the eighth round in the 2010 MLB Draft -- Calhoun declined to exercise his 2020 contract option.
