LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The D-backs picked up another arm for their bullpen in the Major League portion of Thursday's Rule 5 Draft as they selected right-hander Albert Suarez from the Giants.
Suarez has appeared in 40 games (12 starts) for the Giants over the past two seasons going 3-8 with a 4.51 ERA.
The D-backs got an up close look at Suarez last season as four of his 18 relief appearances came against Arizona. The 28-year-old certainly impressed in those outings tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings and notching the lone save of his big league career.
"Looking at the construction of our bullpen, watching how the market was developing, we felt like it was a good opportunity," D-backs GM Mike Hazen said. "It's not a development situation for us. We feel like we can plug him right in and he can realistically compete. Sometimes in these situations we bring guys in from Double-A and Triple-A, but he's pitched in the big leagues and we like his stuff. He's got a good curveball. We think he could slot right into the competition that we're going to have next year."
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Suarez was non-tendered by the Giants earlier this month and was re-signed by the Giants to a Minor League deal. At the time the D-backs attempted to sign him as well, but he opted to go back to San Francisco.
The D-backs, as expected, lost a pair of players in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft as well.
Outfielder Victor Reyes went first overall to the Tigers.
"Best of luck to him," Hazen said. "He's a great kid. From a protection standpoint we felt like it wasn't the right time to put him on the roster and we'll see. He'll have an opportunity over there I would imagine and good for him."
Right-hander Brad Keller was selected by the Reds.
"It was a tough decision for us not to protecting him," Hazen said. "We'll see. He's got a good arm. He made some improvements at the end of the season, stuff ticked up a little bit at the end of the year. We made that choice not to protect him and we'll see how he does in Spring Training."
Teams must keep Rule 5 selections in the big leagues for the entire season or offer them back to their original team for half of the $100,000 selection fee.