--RHP Jon Garland is expected to be the No. 4 starter in the D-backs' rotation after signing a one-year, $6.25 million contract with a 2010 option that includes a $1 million buyout clause. Garland, 14-8 with a 4.90 ERA with the Los Angeles Angels last season, likely will slot in between LHP Doug Davis, the only lefty in the rotation, and RHP Max Scherzer. RHP Brandon Webb and RHP Dan Haren will be the first two. The D-backs committed at least $7.25 million to Garland -- he will receive $1 million if he declines a mutual $10 million option for 2010. The D-backs will owe him $2.5 million if they choose not to exercise the option.
---RHP Tom Gordon, 41, is close to a one-year agreement to bolster the D-backs' bullpen. Gordon would be used as a setup man behind RHP closer Chad Qualls, who won the role after converting all seven save opportunities he had in the 2008 stretch run. Gordon has had six multiple-save seasons, with a career-high 46 in Boston in 1998. --3B Chad Tracy has been working out strenuously in the offseason to rebuild the strength in his right knee. He was delayed out of spring training last season after September 2007, microfracture surgery and probably pushed himself to return to quickly. He expanded the workout room in his suburban Phoenix home to facilitate the process.
--3B Agustin Murillo, 26, played himself into consideration for the MVP award in the Mexican winter league, hitting .345 with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs at Obregon. He led the league with 87 hits, 30 doubles and 150 total bases and had an OPS of 1.031. He is expected to open 2009 at Class AAA Reno after spending most of the previous two minor league seasons in his native Mexico.
BY THE NUMBERS: 1.51 -- Jon Garland's ratio of hits and walks per innings pitched with the Los Angeles Angels in 2008, which tied for 77th among the 87 starters who qualified for the ERA title in either league.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We've built this team primarily around our starting pitching. We realize that championship teams have good starting pitching, and Jon will fit right in." -- D-backs general manager Josh Byrnes
