By Mark Carlisle Independent Newsmedia Nick Green The Diamondbacks added a potential arm to the pitching staff last week when they selected Yankees’ right-hander Nick Green during the winter meeting draft of unprotected players. After taking Green with the 12th pick of Thursday's Rule 5 draft — a draft of players minor leaguers who have reached a certain level of experience but are not on their team’s 40-man roster — the D-backs must pay New York $100,000. To retain Green, the D-backs have to keep him on their 25-man major league roster throughout 2019. If they remove Green from the 25-man roster, they must offer him back to the Yankees for $50,000 or work out a trade that would send Green from New York to Arizona and allow the D-backs to option him to the minors. Green, who will be 24 by the start of the 2019 season, had an ERA of 3.28 and struck out 7.3 batters per nine innings in Single-A in 2018. He was called up to Double-A to end the year, where he had three starts with a 3.63 ERA. Though he’s been a starter in the minors, the D-backs would likely transition Green into a bullpen arm if he stays with the big-league club. Green was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the seventh round in 2014.

Other moves

The D-backs did not have any players poached in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft but two of Arizona's right-handed pitchers were taken in the minor league phase: Jason Creasy was selected by the Atlanta Braves and Cristofer Ogando was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays. The D-backs selected one player in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft — San Francisco Giants' outfielder Jeffrey Baez. Baez, 25, has played in the Chicago Cubs' system since he was 17 before being signed by the Giants last month. The Venezuela native had a .346 on-base percentage and slugged .414 in Double-A last season. He stole 16 bases on 24 attempts. Creasy, 26, was an eighth-round pick by the Pirates in 2011 but has struggled in the minors, with a cumulative 4.09 ERA across Rookie, Single-A and Double-A. Ogando, 25, first played pro ball in the Marlins' system at age 19 before taking four years off from baseball. The Dominican Republic native returned in 2018 with the D-backs, where he had a combined 1.87 ERA and struck out 12 batters per nine innings in 33 2/3 innings of relief appearances across three levels. Most of his innings came in the Dominican Summer League.