The Diamondbacks designated Paul Sewald for assignment on August 10 and cleared the way for Zack Littell to join the active roster. Arizona also optioned Kade Strowd and reinstated Michael Soroka from the injured list in the same set of moves.
The timing explains why Littell is drawing attention now: Arizona had already been linked to signing him the day before, and by 4:20 p.m. CDT the move was official. John Gambadoro first reported the Sewald decision at 1:31 p.m., then the roster shuffle followed later in the day, turning a reported addition into a finished transaction.
Sewald’s fall makes the change more than a routine swap. He had spent most of the season as Arizona’s closer and had piled up 18 saves by June 19, with a 3.18 ERA, 32 punchouts and only 10 earned runs allowed in 28 1/3 innings. He had been a useful late-inning piece for much of the year, which is why the collapse that followed stood out.
Then the bottom dropped out. Sewald gave up seven homers in his final 10 2/3 innings, allowed 17 runs in that stretch, and carried a 14.34 ERA dating back to June 23. By the time Arizona sent him into DFA limbo, his season ERA had climbed to 6.23, a sharp reversal for a pitcher who had already collected $350K in incentives on top of a $1.5MM base on the one-year deal that brought him back to the Snakes.
Because the trade deadline had passed, the Diamondbacks had no real alternative beyond waivers. Sewald is very likely to clear release waivers and become a free agent, which would leave him free to latch on elsewhere, while Arizona uses the open spot to bring in Littell and keep Soroka on the roster. For Sewald, that means a season that began with him handling the ninth inning may now end with a waiver exit and another club able to treat him as bullpen depth.
