Overview
- The Diamondbacks announced a one-year contract for Max Kepler while he remains on MLB’s restricted list serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for epitrenbolone.
- MLB guidance and reporting say games Kepler played for the Philadelphia Phillies count toward his 80-game penalty because he was a free agent at the season’s start, which lowers the number of games he still must sit.
- With the Phillies having already played most of the season, coverage estimates Kepler needs roughly 15 more credited games and could return to Arizona’s active roster in late June, though he will be ineligible for the postseason.
- General manager Mike Hazen framed the signing as a move to add left-handed power behind Corbin Carroll, and Kepler gives Arizona a veteran right-field/DH option who can hit for power in the short term.
- Kepler is 33 and comes off a one-year, $10 million season with Philadelphia when he hit 18 homers and slashed .216/.300/.391 after 10 previous seasons with Minnesota, so the club is betting on known power rather than a long-term investment.