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Previewing Upcoming Qualifying Offer Decisions: Position Players

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While the baseball world’s immediate focus is on the upcoming showdown between two behemoths, the offseason looms just after the World Series. One of the first key decisions for teams is whether to issue a qualifying offer to any of their impending free agents. Clubs have until the fifth day after the conclusion of the World Series to make QO decisions.

The QO is a one-year offer calculated by averaging the 125 highest salaries in MLB. This year’s price is $21.05MM. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported in August that players who receive the QO have until November 19 to decide whether to lock in that one-year salary and return to their current team. If the player rejects and signs elsewhere, his former team would receive draft compensation. The signing club would forfeit a pick (or picks) and potentially international signing bonus space. The compensation and penalties vary depending on teams’ revenue sharing and luxury tax statuses. MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently examined what each team would receive if they lose a qualified free agent, and the penalties they’d pay to sign one.

No-Doubters

There’s zero suspense with this quintet. They’re going to receive qualifying offers, which they’ll easily decline. Soto is on his way to a record-setting deal. Adames and Bregman are locks for nine figures. Alonso has a solid chance to get there as well. It’s tougher to envision a $100MM contract for Santander, but he shouldn’t have any issue securing three or four years at an average annual value that’s around the QO price. As revenue sharing recipients, the Brewers and Orioles will get picks after the first round in the 2025 draft (assuming Adames and Santander sign for more than $50MM). The Mets, Yankees and Astros all paid the luxury tax and would only get a pick after the fourth round if they lose their qualified free agents.

Likely Recipients

We placed Hernández in the “likely” bucket last offseason when he was coming off a down year with the Mariners. Seattle opted not to make the QO and let him walk, citing a desire to cut back on the swing-and-miss profile that Hernández brings. That paved the way for the Dodgers to add him on a heavily deferred $23.5MM pillow contract. It was one of the best value signings of the winter. Hernández returned to peak form, bopping a career-best 33 homers with a .272/.339/.501 line through 652 plate appearances. That’s more than enough power to live with a few strikeouts and a fringy defensive profile in the corner outfield.

The cherry on top for L.A. is that Hernández remains eligible for the QO in his return to free agency. The Dodgers could accommodate a $21MM salary in the unlikely event that he accepts. As luxury tax payors, they’d only receive a pick after the fourth round in next year’s draft if he declines and walks. That minimal compensation is the biggest reason Hernández isn’t a lock, but he’s very likely to decline the QO in search of three or four years. The downside if he accepts is that he returns at a similar price point to the one Los Angeles offered coming off a rough season. Opting against the QO only makes sense if the Dodgers are fully committed to giving Andy Pages a look in left field next season.

Walker has seized upon a late-career opportunity with the Diamondbacks to develop into one of the sport’s best first basemen. He’s a Gold Glove caliber defender who topped 30 homers in both 2022 and ’23. He’d have gotten there again this season if not for an oblique injury that cost him the entire month of August. Walker had to “settle” for 26 homers with a .251/.335/.468 slash over 130 games.

The South Carolina product turns 34 just after Opening Day. He’s looking at four years at most and could wind up signing for two or three seasons. That could come at a comparable AAV to the qualifying offer price, though, and this is likely Walker’s only chance to really cash in on a multi-year contract. He’d likely decline a QO. If he didn’t, the D-Backs should be happy to have him back for another season at just over $21MM. The majority of MLBTR readers agree; more than 70% of respondents in a poll over the weekend opined that the Diamondbacks should make the offer.

Long Shots

It’s tough to see a qualifying offer for anyone in this group. Goldschmidt is the least likely. The Cardinals are entering a retooling year and he’s coming off the worst season of his career. The former MVP hit better in the second half than he did in the first. He should land a strong one-year deal but isn’t likely to get to $21MM.

Kim looked like a lock for the QO before suffering a late-season labrum injury in his throwing shoulder. He underwent surgery that’ll almost certainly sideline him into the early part of next year. There’s a decent chance he’d accept, which isn’t a great outcome for a Padres team that may enter the offseason already up against the budget. Payroll is a similar concern regarding Profar, who is coming off easily the best season of his career. He’s been wildly inconsistent throughout his decade-plus in the big leagues. San Diego baseball operations president A.J. Preller loves Profar, but $21MM+ is a lot for a team with a massive arbitration class and needs at shortstop and in the rotation. The Padres could try to bring him back for three or four years at a lesser annual hit.

O’Neill had a productive season for the Sox, hitting 31 homers with a .241/.336/.511 slash. He added three more IL stints to his lengthy career injury history, though, and the overwhelming majority of his production came against left-handed pitching. O’Neill’s righty bat provides a nice balance in a Boston lineup that skews heavily to the left side, but the QO price feels steep for this profile. There’s a strong chance he’d accept.

Torres would not have warranted a mention on this list a couple months ago. He had an excellent finish to the regular season (.306/.375/.417 after August 1) and has a .297/.400/.432 slash with more walks than strikeouts in October. That’s enough to at least get him back on the radar, but a QO still feels like a stretch. He’s a poor defensive second baseman whose overall season line — .257/.330/.378 in 665 plate appearances — was essentially league average.

At the trade deadline, the Yankees seemed set to turn the keystone to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and let Torres walk. They could keep Chisholm at the hot corner, but they’d need to overlook the flaws Torres showed for a good portion of the regular season. There’s a strong chance he’d accept a QO, which would put the Yanks on the hook for more than $44MM after accounting for the corresponding luxury tax hit. Tying that money up a week into an offseason where they’ll face a massive bidding war on Soto probably isn’t happening. That’s especially true since the compensation they’d receive if Torres declines (a pick after the fourth round) isn’t particularly valuable.

Ineligible

Players traded midseason or who have already received the qualifying offer in their career are ineligible for the QO. That’s largely a moot point with regard to the position player class, as no one from this group was likely to receive one anyways. Bellinger probably won’t opt out of the two years and $50MM left on his deal with the Cubs. Conforto and Pederson would’ve been fringe candidates at best even if they hadn’t received the offer earlier in their careers.

Poll: Christian Walker And The Qualifying Offer

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Ever since the club dealt superstar slugger Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals prior to the 2019 season, the Diamondbacks have been relying on Christian Walker to pick up the slack at first base. In his first three seasons as a regular, Walker was somewhat uneven as he posted roughly league average numbers with the bat overall (103 wRC+) thanks to decent but unimpressive strikeout (24.1%) and walk (9.6%) rates that combined with only average power. While Walker posted above average defensive marks during that time, that wasn’t enough to make him an impact player at a bat-first position like first base, leaving him to generate just 4.1 fWAR over his first three seasons after taking over for Goldschmidt.

Since then, however, the slugger has proved to be a late bloomer and taken off in a big way. A breakout 2022 season saw Walker nearly match that aforementioned three-year total in a single season with a 4.0 fWAR campaign where he slashed an excellent .242/.327/.477 (122 wRC+) while appearing in 160 of the club’s 162 games and clobbering 36 home runs. That was good for the sixth-highest home run total in the league that year, and Walker paired it with a 19.6% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate. Only Yordan Alvarez and Anthony Rizzo joined Walker in striking out less than 20% of the time, walking more than 10% of the time, and clubbing at least 30 homers that year. 2022 also saw Walker flourish defensively, as his +14 Outs Above Average and +17 Defensive Runs Saved easily earned him his first career Gold Glove award as he ran circles around the competition, with Matt Olson’s +4 OAA and +6 DRS standing as the next-best defensive resume that year.

Some skepticism is always necessary when a player on the wrong side of 30 enjoys a breakout season, but Walker has subsequently proven his fantastic age-31 campaign to have been largely sustainable. It’s been more of the same in each of the last two years, as Walker has posted identical 119 wRC+ figures in both 2023 and ’24 while slugging a combined 59 homers and generating 6.9 fWAR. Over the past three years, only Goldschmidt, Olson, Bryce Harper, and Freddie Freeman have generated more fWAR than Walker at first base, cementing him as one of the league’s premier first basemen.

Each of those four sluggers ahead of him have played on nine-figure deals in recent years, but even as Walker heads into free agency for the first time in his career it would be a shock if he were to join them in landing a contract anywhere close to that price point. The biggest reason for that is his age; Walker will turn 34 the day after Opening Day 2025, making him two years older than Freeman was when he signed on with the Dodgers and a year older than Goldschmidt was when he signed an extension in St. Louis. While it’s certainly not unheard of for hitters to remain effective into their mid-to-late thirties, it would be an incredibly risky bet for a club to offer Walker even a four- or five-year deal given the typical aging curve of MLB players.

Walker’s age isn’t the only factor at play here, either. While his platform season with Arizona in 2024 was largely a successful one, an oblique strain cost the veteran just over a month late in the year. Walker’s availability has been a major asset in recent years; the veteran appeared in more than 90% of the Dbacks’ games from 2019 to 2023, including just seven games missed between the 2022 and ’23 seasons combined. Given that, it’s surely concerning to prospective suitors that Walker now has a significant oblique injury in his recent history—particularly given the fact that he also suffered from oblique problems in 2021 that resulted in multiple trips to the IL.

As the veteran enters free agency not only on the cusp of his mid-thirties but on the heels of a fresh reminder of his injury history, it’s fair to wonder what sort of contract will be available to him on the open market. Other veteran first basemen like Rizzo and Jose Abreu have managed to get deals in the two-to-three year range for $15-20MM annually, and it’s not hard to imagine Walker getting a similar deal. If Walker figures to land a deal in a similar range, that would likely place him squarely on the bubble for a Qualifying Offer, which this offseason will be a one-year deal worth $21.05MM.

That’s likely a slight overpay in terms of AAV for Walker’s services, but it could nonetheless be an attractive gamble for the Diamondbacks to take given Walker’s importance to the club’s lineup in recent years and the short-term nature of the commitment. RosterResource at Fangraphs projects Arizona for just under $97MM in commitments for the 2025 season, though that figure shoots up to around $138MM after factoring in options for Jordan Montgomery, Eugenio Suarez, and Merrill Kelly.

That would still leave the club with around $35MM of budget space if they were to match their 2024 spending totals, although a $21.05MM commitment to Walker would eat up the majority of that space, leaving them without much room to replace other outgoing free agents such as Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk. Of course, that assumes that Walker would accept the offer if it’s extended to him. If he were to decline it and sign elsewhere, the Diamondbacks would receive a compensatory pick following either the first or second round of the 2025 draft in exchange for losing Walker, allowing them to ensure they won’t lose a key cog in their lineup for nothing.

Should the Diamondbacks extend Walker the Qualifying Offer this winter and risk paying him more in 2025 than he would earn otherwise, or should they allow him to enter free agency unencumbered and risk losing him for nothing? Have your say in the poll below.

Eight Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com or MLB.com logs.

Catchers

Infielders

Pitchers

Offseason Outlook: Arizona Diamondbacks

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The Diamondbacks fell just short of the playoffs, as arguably the league's best-hitting team was let down by subpar pitching.  Fixing the pitching will be a priority, but Arizona will also have to fill what could be several prominent holes in the lineup.

Guaranteed Contracts

  • Corbin Carroll, OF: $102MM through 2030 (includes $5MM buyout of $28MM club option for 2031)
  • Eduardo Rodriguez, SP: $66MM through 2027 (includes $6MM buyout of $17MM vesting option for 2028)
  • Ketel Marte, 2B: $49MM through 2027 (includes $3MM buyout of $13MM club option for 2028)
  • Lourdes Gurriel Jr., OF: $32MM through 2026 (includes $5MM buyout of $14MM club option for 2027; Gurriel can opt out of contract after 2025 season)

Option Decisions

2025 financial commitments: $55MM ($123.5MM if all players with options remain on the team)
Total future commitments: $249MM ($317.5MM if all players with options remain with the team)

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Free Agents

The 2023 Diamondbacks won 84 games to sneak into the last NL wild card spot, then went on a magical postseason run that took them to a World Series appearance.  This breakout performance emboldened the D'Backs to spend to new heights, as the club's Opening Day payroll of just under $163.4MM was by far the largest in franchise history.  Topping their 2023 payroll by over $47.1MM bought the Snakes five more regular-season wins, but this time it wasn't enough to even reach October --- a 2-5 record in their last seven games left the D'Backs tied with the Braves and Mets on 89 wins, but Arizona fell behind both teams on tiebreakers.

It was a crushing ending for a team that saw several of its investments from last season pay off handsomely, except almost all of the success came on the offensive side.  The re-signed Lourdes Gurriel Jr., newcomer free agents Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk, and trade acquisition Eugenio Suarez joined with the rest of the mighty lineup to lead all of baseball with 886 runs scored.

Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks also had the fifth-most runs allowed (788) of any team in the league.  Arizona ranked 25th in bullpen ERA (4.41) and 27th in rotation ERA (4.79), as the team's approach to building both pitching units backfired.

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Mark Melancon Joins San Diego State Coaching Staff

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San Diego State announced that longtime reliever Mark Melancon has joined the school’s baseball program as the pitching development coordinator.  Melancon hasn’t pitched since the 2022 season, so this new job implies that the 39-year-old has ended his playing career after 14 Major League seasons.

“It’s exciting to be part of a staff that has great experience and a clear vision on what needs to happen to be successful at the highest level.  I’m eager to help these players compete for a national championship and hopefully move on to the next level,” Melancon said.

Assuming that Melancon is indeed hanging up his glove, he’ll finish his career with 262 saves and an excellent 2.94 ERA, over 726 2/3 innings in the majors.  As opposed to most bullpen aces, Melancon didn’t bring heavy velocity or big strikeout numbers, instead relying on superb control and a knack for keeping the ball on the ground.  Melancon had a 55.3% groundball rate over his career, the seventh-highest grounder rate of any pitcher in baseball (minimum 700 innings) within the 2009-22 timeframe.

Selected by the Yankees in the ninth round of the 2006 draft, Melancon ended up pitching for nine different clubs at the MLB level after he made his debut in the Show in 2009.  The travels started early, as Melancon changed uniforms via three trades in as many years — from the Yankees to the Astros at the 2010 trade deadline, from Houston to Boston in December 2011, and then from Boston to Pittsburgh in December 2012.  Though Melancon had seemingly broken out with a nice 2011 season, the rebuilding Astros still dealt him, and he then struggled through a rough season with the Red Sox.

The move to Pittsburgh brought both some stability for Melancon, and set the stage for the best stretch of his career.  Melancon became a dominant set-up man and then closer over his three-plus seasons with the Pirates, delivering a sterling 1.80 ERA and 130 saves over 260 1/3 innings in a Bucs uniform.  The right-hander was named to three All-Star teams during this stretch, and finished eighth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2015 after posting a league-best 51 saves.

Free agency loomed for Melancon after the 2016 season, however, and the Pirates weren’t going to pay top dollar for a star closer.  The result was yet another trade, as Melancon was dealt to the Nationals at the 2016 trade deadline, and he continued to pitch well for Washington throughout the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.

The big free agent payday then came that winter when Melancon inked a four-year, $62MM deal with the Giants, which briefly stood as the biggest contract ever given to a relief pitcher.  While Melancon had a respectable 3.67 ERA over 115 1/3 innings with San Francisco, it wasn’t the kind of elite performance that was expected from the hefty contract, and injuries also hampered Melancon’s effectiveness.

As the Giants entered a partial rebuild and looked to cut payroll, Melancon was moved to the Braves at the 2019 trade deadline, and had an uptick in results (2.78 ERA in 22 2/3 IP) during the shortened 2020 season.  A one-year, $3MM deal with the Padres followed that offseason, and Melancon enjoyed one final All-Star campaign by posting a 2.23 ERA and 39 saves for San Diego.  This led to a two-year, $14MM contract with the Diamondbacks in December 2021, but Melancon struggled in 2022 and then missed all of 2023 due to a shoulder strain.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Melancon on a terrific playing career, and we wish him the best as he moves into the collegiate coaching ranks.

Brent Strom Won’t Return As Diamondbacks Pitching Coach

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2:57pm: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Strom, Fetters and Carlson have been fired by the Diamondbacks. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 adds that there are no other changes expected for the coaching staff and suggests the new pitching coach could be hired from outside the organization.

2:53pm: Changes are coming to the D-backs coaching staff in 2025. Pitching coach Brent Strom, bullpen coach Mike Fetters and assistant pitching coach Dan Carlson will not return in their current roles, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports. It’s not clear whether any of the three will be reassigned and hold a new position within the organization or if they’re moving on entirely.

The 75-year-old Strom’s run as Arizona’s pitching coach will draw to a close after three seasons. The longtime Astros coach hinted at retirement following the 2021 season and announced shortly thereafter that he would not return for a ninth season in Houston. At the time he stepped away from the Astros he noted “I haven’t had a summer in a long time” and quipped “I may just go lie on a beach in Mexico.”

Less than two weeks later, he was hired by the Diamondbacks. It was a move that surprised many, given his prior comments, but Strom resides in the Tucson area and felt the fresh challenge of working with a new organization near his home was too tempting to pass up.

Time will tell whether he plans to continue coaching, but he’s now spent four decades as either a major league coach (Astros, Royals, D-backs) or a minor league pitching coordinator/pitching instructor (Dodgers, Expos, Padres, Cardinals). It would certainly be understandable if he finally plans to step away from the game and enjoy retired life, though he’s among the most respected pitching minds in the game and would surely have interest from other clubs in a variety of roles — if the D-backs aren’t bringing him back in another capacity, of course.

Fetters has been with the D-backs organization for more than a decade, spending time as a scout before joining the coaching staff in 2012. He’s been Arizona’s bullpen coach for the past six seasons. Now 59 years old, he was a first-round pick by the Angels back in 1986 and went on to enjoy a 16-year career as a big league reliever, totaling more than 700 innings and piling up exactly 100 saves. The Diamondbacks are the only organization for which he has ever coached.

Carlson, 54, pitched in parts of four big league seasons and has been the team’s assistant pitching coach for three years. Prior to that role, he was a minor league pitching coach with the D-backs and also served as the organization’s minor league pitching coordinator.

Kendrick, Hazen Discuss Jordan Montgomery Signing

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The Diamondbacks came up just shy of the postseason. Arizona missed out on the final Wild Card spot via tiebreaker after the Mets and Braves split Monday’s doubleheader to each punch their ticket. In the immediate aftermath of that disappointment, the club’s owner provided a scathing criticism of one of the team’s biggest offseason moves.

Owner Ken Kendrick appeared on The Burns & Gambo Show on Monday afternoon. Asked about the team’s late free agent pickup of Jordan Montgomery, the owner both took responsibility for the signing while not holding back with an indictment of the southpaw’s performance.

“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed,” Kendrick said (starting around the 12:45 mark). “Because I brought it to (the front office’s) attention. I pushed for it. They agreed to it. It wasn’t in our game plan. … And looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”

It’s the kind of public criticism that an owner rarely levels at a player who remains on the roster. Montgomery’s $25MM deal contained a vesting player option for the upcoming season. That was initially valued at $20MM and the veteran pushed that to $22.5MM by reaching 18 starts. He’s certainly not going to walk away from that sum after this season, so he’ll at least go into the offseason on the Arizona roster.

Montgomery’s 2024 campaign was very underwhelming. He allowed a 6.23 earned run average through 117 innings while striking out a career-low 15.6% of batters faced. Montgomery had an ERA above 5.00 in every month from May onward. He lost his spot in the rotation late in the year when Ryne Nelson outperformed him for the fifth starter job. Montgomery stepped back into the rotation with Nelson on the injured list in the season’s final couple weeks. He allowed three runs without completing five innings in either of his final two starts — games which Arizona dropped in Colorado and Milwaukee respectively.

Kendrick certainly isn’t alone in being frustrated with Montgomery’s performance. It’s nevertheless surprising to see an owner publicly call a free agent signing “a horrible decision” while that player is still on the team.

General manager Mike Hazen conducted his annual end-of-season press conference on Tuesday. As one would expect, the GM took a more diplomatic tone when asked about Kendrick’s statement. Hazen began by stating that as the leader of baseball operations, he is “ultimately responsible to say no … or yes to a lot of things” (relayed on X by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports). The GM called the Montgomery signing “a group process” before stating that he expects better results in 2025. “Whatever myriad of factors went into this year … it didn’t work out. It didn’t work out, but I also think next year is going to look a lot different,” Hazen concluded.

The GM’s comments are far more typical in these kinds of situations. Even if the Montgomery signing was driven by ownership, Hazen isn’t likely to take a public jab at Kendrick. One can debate how sincerely Hazen expects Montgomery to rebound, though it’s hard to imagine he won’t improve to some extent. Before this season, the 6’6″ lefty had been one of the more consistent pitchers in MLB. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA with 30+ starts in each year from 2021-23. Montgomery’s late signing deprived him of a normal Spring Training.

In August, Montgomery opined that former agent Scott Boras “kind of butchered” his free agency. That’s presumably a reference both to the one-year guarantee that fell well shy of expectations and his late landing in the desert. Montgomery changed his representation within weeks of signing with Arizona.

Kendrick’s comments figure to further speculation that the D-Backs could try to trade Montgomery this offseason. That’d probably have a goal for the front office in either case. They’re not going to find anyone willing to take on his entire salary, but the Snakes could try to explore an undesirable contract swap of some kind. Arizona goes into the offseason with a projected rotation of Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Nelson. That’s a talented group on paper, but only Gallen and Nelson performed up to expectations late in the year. Pfaadt posted an ERA near 6.00 after the All-Star Break, while Rodriguez and Kelly battled shoulder injuries and didn’t pitch at their typical level during the playoff push.

34 Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com log.

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Designated Hitter

Pitchers

Diamondbacks Activate Ryne Nelson, Recall Alek Thomas

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The D-Backs made a handful of moves on tonight’s off day. Arizona activated Ryne Nelson from the 15-day injured list and recalled outfielder Alek Thomas from Triple-A Reno. The Snakes optioned Yilber Diaz and Blake Walston to open spots on the active roster.

Nelson’s return is the biggest development. The right-hander has had a strong second half, working to a 3.39 ERA while striking out more than 27% of opponents since the All-Star Break. Nelson outpitched Jordan Montgomery to solidify his rotation spot. He held that job until the middle of September, when a bout of shoulder inflammation sent him to the injured list.

That temporarily drew Montgomery back into the starting five. Arizona could use both Nelson and Montgomery out of the bullpen this weekend. The D-Backs will start Merrill Kelly tomorrow to kick off their weekend series with the Padres. They haven’t announced starters for their final two games. Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt would be on schedule. They’re the third and fourth starters on paper, although Nelson had been handily outperforming both in the weeks leading to his IL placement. Zac Gallen tossed 97 pitches over six innings against the Giants yesterday. He’s potentially an option for Sunday on three days rest if the D-Backs are playing a must-win game.

Thomas returns to the outfield mix as a speed and defense option off the bench. The D-Backs optioned him to Triple-A in the middle of August. He suffered an injury within a week and was out of action until September 17. Thomas has only appeared in 37 MLB contests this year. He’s hitting .191/.248/.362 across 102 plate appearances. Jake McCarthy has surpassed him as the primary center fielder.

At 88-71, the Diamondbacks currently hold the final Wild Card spot. They’re percentage points behind the #5 seed Mets. Arizona is technically one game up on the 86-71 Braves, but the teams have an equal number of losses with Atlanta holding the tiebreaker. If the Braves were to win out, they’d leapfrog the D-Backs.

Atlanta’s final two games — scheduled for next Monday after this week’s hurricane-related postponements — are against the Mets. That means the Diamondbacks control their destiny. If Arizona wins out, they’d hang onto the sixth seed over the Mets even if the Braves passed them by also finishing 91-71.

There’s a lot at play. The Atlanta-New York postponement means there’s a good chance the D-Backs won’t know their fate until Monday, even though Arizona’s regular season ends on Sunday. The Mets are headed to Milwaukee this weekend, while the Braves host a Royals team that only needs one win (or a Twins loss) to punch its ticket to October.

Eugenio Suarez’s Dramatic Resurgence

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Three months ago, it was in doubt whether Eugenio Suárez would finish the season with the Diamondbacks. Arizona's offseason acquisition of the veteran third baseman from the Mariners seemed like a bust. Suárez started the season horribly. He hit .241/.310/.357 through the end of April and fell into an even worse slump over the next two months. From the start of May through the end of June, Suárez posted a .165/.259/.280 line while striking out more than 30% of the time.

By the middle of June, the D-Backs were contemplating a change. On June 9, USA Today's Bob Nightengale wrote that the D-Backs were willing to consider what would've been a salary dump trade. Nightengale indicated that Suárez's hold on the third base job was tenuous and manager Torey Lovullo said a few days later that the Snakes would give more third base reps to rookie Blaze Alexander. That never really transpired, as Alexander scuffled in the limited playing time he did receive.

At the same time, Suárez began to find his footing. He reached base at a .391 clip between the time of Lovullo's comments and the end of the month. Once the calendar flipped to July, he transformed into an elite power threat.

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