The Diamondbacks avoided arbitration with right-hander Zac Gallen and first baseman Josh Naylor, according to reports from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com and Robert Murray of FanSided. Gallen will earn $13.5MM, while Naylor will command $10.9MM. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Gallen at $14.1MM and Naylor at $10.9MM. It’s the final year of club control for both players.
Gallen, 29, pitched 148 innings of 3.65 ERA ball last season, representing his lowest innings total and highest ERA of the past three seasons. The right-hander missed roughly a month with a hamstring strain, limiting his time on the mound and perhaps also impacting his performance.
At his best, Gallen is an All-Star and Cy Young-caliber arm. He finished in the top five of NL Cy Young balloting in both 2022 and 2023, earning his lone career All-Star nod in the latter of those two seasons. Across those two years, Gallen pitched to a 3.04 ERA in 394 innings. Since making his big league debut with the Marlins in 2019 — Miami flipped him to Arizona that summer for Jazz Chisholm Jr. — Gallen touts a 3.29 ERA, 26.6% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate in 815 1/3 innings.
Gallen has long been the ace of Arizona’s staff, but he’ll at least nominally be bumped into the No. 2 spot of a potential powerhouse rotation in the wake of the D-backs’ shock signing of Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210MM deal. Burnes, Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt and rebound hopeful/trade candidate Jordan Montgomery give the Diamondbacks a wealth of rotation talent to lean on in the coming season.
Naylor, 27, came to Arizona last month in a trade that sent righty Slade Cecconi and a competitive balance draft pick back to the Guardians. Cleveland immediately pivoted and signed Carlos Santana to a one-year, $12MM deal that mirrored the projection for Naylor. Cleveland will end up with the pricier of the two options at first base in the end, though they also added a controllable 25-year-old swingman and a pick in the high 60s of the 2025 draft.
The 2025 season will be Arizona’s lone year of control over Naylor, who’s coming off a career-best 31 home runs. He turned in a .243/.320/.456 batting line in 2024, clocking in about 18% better than league-average, by measure of wRC+. His bat faded a bit in the season’s second half, but only relative to the huge first-half numbers Naylor posted (particularly in April and in June). He was an above-average hitter in five of the season’s six months, per wRC+, with the lone exception being May, when he was just 3% under par.
Put more succinctly, Naylor is a consistent slugger who’ll bolster the middle of the D-backs’ lineup in place of Christian Walker, who signed a three-year, $60MM deal in Houston as a free agent (netting the Snakes a compensatory draft pick after the first round in the process). Naylor walked at a career-best 9.2% clip in 2024 and fanned at a 16.6% pace that’s considerably lower than league average.
Both Gallen and Naylor are candidates to receive a qualifying offer from the D-backs at season’s end, positioning Arizona to net compensation in the 2026 draft for their potential departure. Gallen, in particular, is a veritable lock so long as he’s healthy. Naylor would be a very strong QO candidate as well if he replicates or approximates the .267/.330/.465 form he’s turned in over the past three seasons, as he’d reach the market at just 28 years of age.
How is Arraez making more in his final year of arb than Gallen?
What a messed up system. Arraez isn’t even good
He’s a multi-year batting champ. Obviously he’s good at something. Don’t play dumb.
Imagine caring about batting average
Imagine thinking batting average doesn’t matter.
Imagine not. Every team in the league uses all stats to value a player. Batting average is one of them. Even advanced metrics uses the math of batting averages in their formulas.
This
GMoney28
Oh ok- so I guess the Mariners who finished with the second worst batting average but the fourth best walk rate in all of baseball actually had a good offense and don’t need to make any changes to their team this offseason! Good to know (sarcasm)
Batting average has largely decided the LCS champion over the past several decades, so it kind of matters a little bit. If teams had a 7 point worse average than their opponent during the regular season, they lost the LCS every time.
Obviously other things (including other stats) matter a lot regarding GETTING to the LCS, but this fact about batting average is not a coincidence. Obp overall doesn’t explain that relationship- maybe sac flys and walks are more randomly occurring than actual hits, which are slightly more predictable than other ways of getting on base? That remains to be investigated.
Either way- never dismiss something that has been around nearly forever like batting average- it’s been important over all this time for a reason. I know it’s fun to attempt conceptual patricide when it comes to new ways of thinking, but when you throw out old things in favor of following some new idea, it usually doesn’t work out too well overall.
If the Mets somehow botch the Alonso signing, they should sign a 1-year stopgap (if no internal option is better) & sign Naylor long-term. He’d be a great, and likely relatively cost effective, addition to the middle of the order.
Would you rather have Naylor on a modest deal or Vlad on a mega deal? Genuinely curious.
They likely really wanted Cecconi. They have a serviceable 1B option in Santana and a project arm with good stuff…they do well with those kinds of guys.
Naylor provides more value with the bat, but Santana can still hit and will save more runs at 1B. The Guards also picked up a comp balance pick and Cecconi. Results weren’t good last season for the DBacks, but I think they see some potential in him.
Will the Dbacks trade a starter?
They will trade Montgomery, but not until ST, unless an injury occurs and another team picks up virtually all of his contract.
They would only trade Merrill Kelly if they get a great deal on a genuine Closer. Otherwise they will not trade Kelly.
They will Not trade any of the other 5 starters.
scottaz, I agree with you on Montgomery and the rest of the rotation.
What do you think they’ll do for a closer and who?
What about for a right-handed hitter outfielder?