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Diamondbacks Claim René Pinto

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The D-backs announced Friday that they’ve claimed catcher René Pinto off waivers from the Orioles. Baltimore designated him for assignment a week ago to create roster space for free agent signee Charlie Morton. Arizona already had two open spots on their 40-man roster, so there’s no corresponding move.

Pinto changes hands for the second time this offseason. Baltimore had claimed him off waivers from the Rays within days of the end of the World Series. Their subsequent signing of Gary Sánchez to an $8.5MM free agent deal indicated that Pinto’s tenure with the O’s could be brief. The 28-year-old is out of minor league options. Baltimore couldn’t send him to Triple-A without exposing him to waivers. The Orioles will go with Adley Rutschman and Sánchez as their duo behind the plate.

While Pinto has a better chance of holding his roster spot in Arizona, that’s by no means guaranteed. Gabriel Moreno is locked in as the starter. Jose Herrera has spent parts of three seasons as the backup. Herrera is also out of options. It’s unlikely that the Diamondbacks will carry three catchers into the regular season. The Snakes could let Pinto and Herrera compete for the #2 job during Spring Training.

Alternatively, Adrian Del Castillo could squeeze them both off the roster. He had a monster year in Triple-A (.312/.399/.603) and hit .313/.368/.525 in his first 25 big league games. Del Castillo isn’t considered an especially strong defender, however, so the Snakes could use him as a multi-positional bench bat rather than risk thinning their catching depth by waiving Herrera and Pinto.

Pinto is a right-handed hitter who has appeared in parts of three MLB seasons for Tampa Bay. He owns a .231/.263/.404 slash with 10 homers across 237 career plate appearances. Pinto showed some power in a small sample in 2023. That earned him the Opening Day catching assignment last season, but he struggled behind the dish. Opponents went 18-19 in stolen base attempts over just 135 innings. Pinto also committed a passed ball and was behind the plate for seven wild pitches.

Tampa Bay optioned him and kept him in Triple-A for the rest of the season. He hit just .191/.257/.373 over 53 games with their top affiliate and was never called back up. Pinto’s broader offensive track record in the minors is more impressive. He’s a .253/.303/.487 hitter across 907 Triple-A plate appearances spanning four seasons.

Diamondbacks Avoid Arbitration With Zac Gallen, Josh Naylor

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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.

D-backs, Pavin Smith Avoid Arbitration

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The Diamondbacks avoided arbitration with first baseman/outfielder Pavin Smith by agreeing to a one-year, $1.5MM deal, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’d been projected for a $1.6MM salary by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

Smith, 29 next month, was selected with the No. 7 pick by Arizona back in 2017. He’s not lived up to that lofty billing but did enjoy a breakout showing in the big leagues this past season, mashing at a .270/.348/.547 clip. That stout production came in a fairly small sample of 158 trips to the plate, but it was supported by career-best batted ball metrics; Smith averaged a hearty 90.2 mph off the bat and put 44% off his batted balls in play at 95 mph or more.

Smith also drew a free pass in an excellent 11.4% of his plate appearances and fanned in a lower-than-average 19.4% of his trips to the plate. As with his quality of contact, that plate discipline holds up with a look under the hood. Only seven percent of hitters in baseball (min. 150 plate appearances) chased pitches off the plate at a lower rate than Smith last season (20.1%). Only 14% of players in that same set made contact at a better rate than Smith’s 90.5% when swinging at pitches within the strike zone. Put more simply, Smith showed keen knowledge of the strike zone and very, very rarely missed when attacking a ball over the plate. That type of discipline and bat-to-ball prowess is hard to fluke your way into over even a sample as limited as his 2024 showing.

This marks Smith’s first offseason of arbitration eligibility and his first time earning noticeably north of the league minimum. He’s out of minor league options, so Smith is a veritable lock to make the Opening Day roster, barring injury.

Smith won’t be entrusted with regular time at first base even after the Snakes lost Christian Walker to free agency, as Arizona quickly pivoted and acquired Josh Naylor to man the position. However, he should log ample time at designated hitter now that Joc Pederson has also left the club for a two-year deal in Texas, and he’d presumably be the primary alternative at first base should Naylor incur an injury or simply require a breather. Smith can also rotate into either left or right field in the event of an injury or day off for Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and/or Jake McCarthy. Smith is a career .226/.289/.310 hitter against lefties and thus isn’t likely to see much action against southpaws, but he’s a .249/.333/.427 hitter against righties — including a huge .282/.356/.564 showing this past season. He’s controllable through the 2027 season.

MLBTR Podcast: Brent Rooker’s Extension, Gavin Lux, And Catching Up On The Holiday Transactions

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Diamondbacks Acquire Grae Kessinger

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The D-Backs have acquired infielder Grae Kessinger from the Astros for minor league pitcher Matthew Linskey, as first reported by Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Houston had designated Kessinger for assignment before the holiday break as the corresponding move for the Christian Walker pickup. Arizona had a trio of 40-man roster spots available, so no further move was necessary. Both teams have now announced the trade.

Kessinger was Houston’s second-round pick in 2019. The righty-hitting utilityman has made 49 big league appearances over the past two seasons. Kessinger has hit .131 with one homer while striking out 19 times over his first 70 trips to the plate. The Ole Miss product has taken 524 Triple-A plate appearances over the last two years. He’s a .271/.363/.407 hitter at that level. Kessinger has walked at a strong 12.4% clip against a manageable 21.5% strikeout rate in the Pacific Coast League.

While Kessinger isn’t going to bring much power upside, his plate discipline gives him a chance to be a valuable bench piece. He was a college shortstop and has logged nearly 2000 innings there professionally. He also has significant experience at each of second and third base with limited work at first base. Kessinger still has two options remaining, allowing the Snakes to keep him at Triple-A Reno for a while.

Linskey, 22, is a 6’7″ righty reliever. He turned in a 2.78 earned run average over 32 1/3 innings in the low minors last season. He posted a massive 38.3% strikeout rate but also walked 12% of batters faced. Linskey was a 16th-round draftee out of Rice in 2023.

Looking For A Match In A Jordan Montgomery Trade

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When the Diamondbacks shocked the baseball world by landing right-hander Corbin Burnes in free agency, the move gave them nearly unparalleled depth in the rotation: the righty is joined by Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jordan Montgomery, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson among the club’s starting options headed into 2025. That sort of depth will cause plenty of speculation regarding the possibility of a trade, and Arizona’s rotation has been no exception to that. While the club reportedly wasn’t close to dealing any of its pitchers last week, they’ve has garnered interest on their rotation throughout the winter.

Of that group, Montgomery has long seemed to be the most likely player to move. The lefty was a late-spring signing by the Diamondbacks last year, and the deal hasn’t gone well for anyone. Montgomery struggled badly in his first season in the desert, pitching to a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings of work. His 4.48 FIP was substantially better than that top-level run prevention figure, though even that was below average. Diamondbacks ownership went as far as to publicly criticize Montgomery shortly after the 2024 season came to a close, so it’s no surprise that the Snakes have long appeared motivated to move the southpaw ahead of his age-32 season. The addition of Burnes could at least theoretically open the door to Arizona feeling comfortable enough with its rotation depth to more seriously consider dealing one of its other arms, but it stands to reason that the club would still prefer to move Montgomery all else equal.

After such a disastrous 2024 campaign, it’s hard to imagine the Diamondbacks getting much of significance for the lefty’s services beyond some salary relief. Montgomery is slated to earn $22.5MM in 2025, a hefty sum that it seems unlikely that the club will be able to fully get off of its books. With that being said, the ever-increasing price of starting pitching makes the deal at least a little bit more palatable than it might seem at first glance. After all, the Red Sox guaranteed right-hander Walker Buehler $21.05MM for the 2025 season on the heels of a lackluster campaign where he posted a 5.38 ERA in 16 starts. The Tigers, meanwhile, guaranteed 37-year-old veteran Alex Cobb $15MM on the heels of a 2024 campaign where he made just three regular season starts.

Both of those players have substantial previous success to lean on, but so does Montgomery. The lefty won the World Series with the Rangers in 2023, and in doing so capped off a three-season stretch where he pitched to a strong 3.48 ERA (120 ERA+) with a 3.62 FIP across 94 starts. So long as the Diamondbacks aren’t looking to get anything of particular significance back in return, it’s relatively easy to imagine them being able to offload at least $15MM or so of Montgomery’s salary. Which teams could be best positioned to take a one-year roll of the dice on the lefty’s services? A look at nine potential suitors, listed alphabetically within tiers:

Best Fits

  • Athletics: The A’s have been quite aggressive in looking to upgrade their club this winter, in part as they attempt to avoid a grievance with the MLBPA regarding their use of revenue sharing dollars. They’ve already added Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs to their rotation this winter, but club brass left the door open for a third starting pitching acquisition this winter if the opportunity presented itself. Enter Montgomery, the acquisition of whom could push the club’s luxury tax payroll up to $105MM range they’re reportedly targeting even if Arizona ate some of the money. If Montgomery manages to bounce back in 2025, he’d join Severino, Springs, JP Sears, and Mitch Spence in a surprisingly formidable rotation for the club’s first season in West Sacramento.
  • Braves: Atlanta has a clear need for rotation help after losing both Max Fried and Charlie Morton in free agency this winter, but the club has been uncharacteristically slow to get to work this winter. With that being said, Alex Anthopoulos’s front office has long shown a fondness for one-year additions coming off down seasons like Josh Donaldson and Marcell Ozuna. Arguably, that list also includes reigning NL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale as the lefty was entering the final guaranteed year of his deal with Boston when the Braves traded for him. A trade for Montgomery surely wouldn’t go quite as well as the one for Sale did, but it’s easy to imagine the lefty bouncing back in the Braves rotation alongside Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López, and Spencer Schwellenbach in 2025.
  • White Sox: Chicago may seem like an odd fit for Montgomery, given the fact that they’re coming off the worst season in MLB history with virtually no hope of making noise in the AL Central race during this coming season. The fact that they’re one of the only clearly rebuilding clubs in the game right now could make them a unique potential suitor for Montgomery’s services, however. Their rotation mix is filled to the brim with young arms who could prove to be interesting but offer little certainty, so adding a veteran arm like Montgomery could make sense for all sides. It’s possible the White Sox, with a payroll that RosterResource projects at just $78MM in 2025, could actually absorb the entirety of Montgomery’s salary in exchange for a prospect from Arizona. If Montgomery pitches well in the first half, Chicago could then flip the lefty at the deadline for additional young talent to keep their rebuild chugging along.

Next Tier Down

  • Astros: It’s possible to imagine the Astros being content with their current starting depth after adding Hayden Wesneski to the mix in the Kyle Tucker trade and likely welcoming right-hander Luis Garcia back into the fold in time for Opening Day after he missed the 2024 season due to injury. With that being said, the club did lose both Justin Verlander and Jose Urquidy from its rotation depth this winter and is known to be shopping right-hander Ryan Pressly on the trade market this winter while searching for left-handed hitting outfielders. Arizona has a surplus of left-handed hitting outfielders and is known to be on the hunt of late-inning relief help, so perhaps there’s a fit here involving some combination of Montgomery, Pressly, and young Diamondbacks outfielder like Alek Thomas.
  • Mariners: Seattle may seem like a somewhat unusual fit for Montgomery’s services given the club’s strong rotation, but there seems to be at least some possibility that the club will trade right-hander Luis Castillo this winter. Doing so would leave the club with little rotation depth, however. Theoretically, it’s easy enough to imagine the Mariners dealing Castillo to another club in exchange for infield help, and then using the saved money from the deal in order to pivot towards acquiring Montgomery to restock the rotation. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has certainly shown a willingness to get similarly creative in the past, and Mike Hazen’s front office in Arizona has been one of his most frequent trade partners over the years.
  • Mets: The Mets aren’t in a position where they need to add another starter, with a rotation mix that currently runs eight players deep. With that being said, Montgomery’s salary would hardly be excessively cumbersome for the big-spending Mets, and David Stearns has shown a fondness for reclamation projects in the rotation. Given the Mets’ success in rehabilitating the careers of Luis Severino and Sean Manaea last winter, it would hardly be a surprise if the club found similar success in doing so with Montgomery.

Longer Shots

  • Cubs: The White Sox aren’t the only Chicago team Montgomery could at least theoretically make sense for. The Cubs are known to be in the market for another starting pitcher, and their pursuit of lefty Jesús Luzardo earlier this winter indicate a willingness on the club’s part to roll the dice on a hurler coming off a down season like Montgomery. With that being said, the club reportedly turned down a trade involving Montgomery and Cody Bellinger earlier this winter. Given the fact that the Cubs ended up trading Bellinger for little more than salary relief last month, it stands to reason that Jed Hoyer’s front office either has little interest in Montgomery’s services or at the very least preferred to open up that payroll space for other pursuits.
  • Orioles: Baltimore would’ve seemed like one of the better on-paper fits for Montgomery’s services just a week ago, but they recently inked right-hander Charlie Morton to a one-year deal for 2025. That won’t necessarily take them out of the rotation market entirely, but it seems as though Baltimore would only add to its rotation in order to bring in a clear upgrade over its internal options. Given Montgomery’s down season, it’s hard to imagine the club feeling that way about him at this point. After all, fifth starter Dean Kremer posted a higher ERA+ than Montgomery in two of the last three seasons.
  • Rangers: Montgomery was a key piece in the Rangers’ 2023 World Series championship, and the club seemingly had plenty of interest in bringing the lefty back last winter. Much like Montgomery himself, the Rangers had a down year in 2024 and missed the postseason. With Max Scherzer and Andrew Heaney now free agents, there could potentially be room for a reunion in the Texas rotation. With that being said, the club appears determined to remain under the first luxury tax threshold and has a number of young starters who they could opt to lean on in 2025 instead, like Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.

Details On Corbin Burnes Contract

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The Diamondbacks finalized their shocking six-year free agent deal with Corbin Burnes on Monday. The former Cy Young winner signed a $210MM contract, though deferrals in the $60MM range were known to have knocked down the net present value to an extent.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports the deal’s specific breakdown. The contract officially contains $64MM in deferred money. Burnes will collect a $10MM signing bonus up front, which was first reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. $10MM of his $30MM salaries over the next two seasons will be deferred. If he does not trigger an opt-out clause after the ’26 season, he’d be due $35MM annually between 2027-30. $11MM of those salaries will be deferred. According to Heyman, the contract comes with a net present value of roughly $193.76MM.

Burnes will be able to opt out with four years and $140MM remaining. Whether he does so will determine when he receives the deferred money. According to the Associated Press, Burnes would be owed either $10MM or $11MM installments between 2031-36 if he does not trigger the out clause. If he does opt out, he’d receive a pair of $10MM payments after the 2027 and ’28 seasons. (There’d only be $20MM in deferrals if he opts out after two years.) Burnes has full no-trade rights for the first two years. That would drop to a 14-team no-trade list for the final four seasons if he doesn’t opt out, per the AP.

Arizona now has a projected rotation featuring Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez. Righty Ryne Nelson has pitched well enough to hold a rotation job as well, so the Snakes could consider a six-man starting staff to open the year. Even that wouldn’t leave room for Jordan Montgomery, whose $22.5MM salary the D-Backs would be happy to offload. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported shortly after the Burnes agreement that the Snakes were not on the verge of any rotation trades. That’ll remain a major storyline for the club over the next couple months.

Diamondbacks Sign Corbin Burnes

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The Diamondbacks have officially announced their signing of Corbin Burnes to a six-year free agent deal. Burnes, a client of the Boras Corporation, is reportedly guaranteed $210MM and can opt out after two seasons. He’ll collect a $10MM signing bonus up front and is due $30MM salaries in the first two years. He’d need to weigh whether to leave the remaining four years and $140MM on the table after 2026. The contract reportedly includes roughly $60MM in deferred money and varying no-trade protection over the course of the deal.

The news is a shocking turn of events, as Burnes had garnered plenty of interest in free agency but had not been connected to Arizona at any point in the offseason. While some rumored suitors for the right-hander’s services such as the Yankees and Red Sox turned to alternative options for the front of their rotations by signing Max Fried and trading for Garrett Crochet respectively, a number of known interested parties remained in the mix. That included not only the incumbent Orioles but also the big-market Giants and Blue Jays, both of whom USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports offered Burnes a higher guarantee.

However, Burnes lives in Scottsdale, and playing close to home seems to have inspired the right-hander’s decision. According to Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic, Burnes was the one who approached the Diamondbacks “expressing a desire to pitch in Arizona.” John Gambadoro of 98.7FM Arizona Sports radio (multiple links to X) reports that the deal came together quickly, as talks between Burnes’ camp and the Snakes only started within the last three or four days. Diamondbacks chairman Ken Kendrick viewed signing Burnes as “too good of an opportunity to pass up,” as a source told Piecoro, and thus Kendrick okayed the biggest contract in franchise history.

Gambadoro writes that the contract contains “a significant amount of” deferred money, and a full no-trade clause covering just the 2025-26 seasons. If Burnes doesn’t opt out, Nightengale notes that Burnes’ no-trade protection is then limited to 14 teams over the final four seasons of the deal. Piecoro, meanwhile, goes into further detail regarding the deferred money. Per Piecoro, Burnes’s contract includes “a little north” of $60MM in deferred money, or between $10MM and $11MM per year deferred. Should Burnes decide to opt out following the 2026 campaign, the more than $20MM in deferred money accrued during the first two years of the deal would then need to be paid out within the following year.

Earlier this offseason, Blake Snell landed a $182MM guarantee from the Dodgers ahead of his age-32 season, and a look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker reveals that Zack Greinke, Max Scherzer, and Jacob deGrom have all signed free agent contracts that guaranteed nine figures ahead of their age-32 campaigns or older. Burnes’ deal falls short of his previously-reported goal of matching the $245MM guarantee the Nationals offered to right-hander Stephen Strasburg during the 2019-20 offseason.

By total guarantee, Burnes’ contract lands close to the seven-year, $200MM prediction that MLBTR made at the start of the offseason as part of our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list, where Burnes ranked second in the class behind only Juan Soto. A closer look at the deal reveals that Burnes followed in the footsteps of virtually every other pitcher this winter, however, and landed a deal that exceeds expectations. The $35MM average annual value of the deal dwarfs the $28.57MM AAV predicted by MLBTR and even matches Strasburg, while the opt-out opportunity provides its own value in the form of flexibility.

For the Diamondbacks, it’s a massive financial outlay that beats out Greinke’s aforementioned six-year, $206.5MM deal for the largest guarantee in franchise history. Setting a club record for total guarantee in free agency would be noteworthy for any club, but it’s especially surprising coming from an Arizona team that previously indicated that they planned to run a payroll for 2025 that more or less matched their 2024 figure. As noted by RosterResource, Arizona spent just $173MM on payroll in 2024 and after signing Burnes are projected for a $194MM payroll in 2025. That hike of more than $20MM brings payroll to a completely unprecedented level for the franchise after setting a record for payroll just last year. It’s hardly a secret that the club is trying to move on from left-hander Jordan Montgomery on the trade market this winter, but even if the club manages to shed the majority of his salary they’ll have still put themselves into uncharted territory financially by signing Burnes.

That’s not to say the risk is a poor one to take, of course. Burnes established himself as among the league’s very best starters with Milwaukee during the shortened 2020 campaign, where he broke out to finish sixth in NL Cy Young award voting. He followed that performance up by going out and winning the award the following year, and the four-time All-Star has been on the shortlist for the game’s top rotation arms ever since. Over the past five seasons, Burnes ranks fifth among qualified MLB starters in innings pitched, second in fWAR, fourth in ERA, sixth in FIP, and third in strikeouts. Of course, much of that is due to a dominant 2021 season that saw Burnes lead the sport in ERA (2.43), FIP (1.69), and strikeout rate (35.6%).

Some red flags have emerged in the right-hander’s profile since then, as he’s started to go deeper into games at the expense of rate-basis dominance. His fastball velocity isn’t quite at the level it was during his Cy Young-winning campaign, and his strikeout rate has declined in each of the past five seasons until it ultimately fell to a roughly league average 23.1% this year. On the other hand, that relatively pedestrian figure started to tick back up towards the end of the season, when he struck out 27.7% of opponents faced in September. While he’s not quite matched the dominance of his otherworldly 2021 campaign in the years since, his 3.08 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 590 innings over the last three seasons ultimately still cast him as a starter who is clearly capable of fronting a playoff-caliber rotation.

He’ll be tasked with doing exactly that in Arizona this year, as the Diamondbacks appear to be all-in after narrowly missing the playoffs in 2024 despite winning more games than the 84-win 2023 club that managed to secure the NL pennant. Burnes will pair nicely with longtime club ace Zac Gallen at the front of the rotation, with veterans Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodríguez bringing up the middle. Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson represent intriguing options at the back of the club’s rotation, as will Montgomery if he’s not traded before the start of the season. Overall, the club’s rotation mix is among the most robust in the league at the moment on paper and should help to support an offense that lost both Joc Pederson and Christian Walker to free agency this winter. The front office swung a trade to land first baseman Josh Naylor in hopes of helping to plug that hole, but the club nonetheless seems likely to lean heavily on its internal youngsters like Corbin Carroll, Geraldo Perdomo, and top prospect Jordan Lawlar at the plate in 2025.

It’s unclear what’s in store for the Diamondbacks going forward this winter given their unprecedented current payroll commitments. The club has long been known to be pining after help at the back of its bullpen this winter, with a trade for Ryan Helsley or signing Kirby Yates among the potential options the club has reportedly considered. Another hitter would also make sense for the club after losing both Walker and Pederson to free agency, preferably a right-handed bat to complement a heavily left-handed lineup. With that being said, it’s entirely possible that the club won’t have room to make additional moves of significance without first shedding salary in the form of Montgomery or another potential trade candidate.

Because Burnes turned down the Orioles’ qualifying offer, Baltimore will receive a compensatory pick after the first round of the 2025 draft. Gaining what currently stands as the 30th overall selection isn’t a bad consolation prize for the Orioles, but since they had designs on retaining Burnes themselves, the O’s are still on the lookout to add more frontline pitching to their rotation.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the D-Backs were signing Burnes to a six-year, $210MM deal with an opt-out after year two. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the signing bonus and the salaries for the first two seasons.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Diamondbacks Not Close To Any Pitching Trades

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The Diamondbacks’ surprise signing of Corbin Burnes added a new frontline arm to a rotation that was already operating at a surplus on paper.  Burnes joins Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jordan Montgomery, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson, giving the Snakes an enviably deep group of starting pitchers.  The D’backs had already been drawing trade interest in this group even before Burnes was added, but Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports that the Burnes signing wasn’t made with any other pitching swaps immediately on the horizon.

According to Piecoro, no “other deals [are] lined up or even close” involving Arizona’s pitchers, as the Diamondbacks will continue to take a measured view of the market.  A source tells Piecoro that the D’Backs will likely “spend the coming days fielding calls from teams still in the hunt for starters, including those that were in on Burnes.”  The D’Backs aren’t in any particular rush to complete a trade any time soon, as having more than a full rotation in place before New Year’s Eve gives the club plenty of time to figure out the best possible offer.

It also isn’t entirely out of the question that the Diamondbacks stand pat on their starters, especially if an injury emerges to a starter during their offseason training, or during Spring Training.  Kelly, Rodriguez, and Montgomery all missed significant time with injuries last season, so there is obvious value in having extra pitchers on hand should any more health issues create openings in the rotation.  Operating with a six-man rotation is also a possibility, in order to keep everyone healthy and fresh for what the D’Backs hope can be an extended run through the playoffs.

Given how the Burnes deal reportedly came together just within the last week when Burnes himself approached the D’Backs, it isn’t surprising that the signing wasn’t part of an immediate plan to re-model the pitching staff.  Such two-step transactions are usually hard to pull off, though the Diamondbacks were part of such a set of moves from the Guardians just last week — Arizona acquired Josh Naylor from the Guards, and Cleveland then signed Carlos Santana that same day to immediately fill Naylor’s spot as the everyday first baseman.

The fact that Burnes signed with a team that was seemingly already set for starting pitching gives GM Mike Hazen even more leverage in shopping his hurlers.  Such known Burnes suitors like the Orioles, Blue Jays, or Giants are still in need of pitching, to say nothing of the many other starter-needy clubs on the market that weren’t willing or able to meet Burnes’ asking price.

Nothing seems to have changed in terms of which starters are most prominently on Arizona’s trade block.  Gallen and Kelly are both free agents next winter but don’t seem likely to be dealt, as a team source told Piecoro that the team’s focus in on “trying to put the best team on the field in 2025.”  Nelson is controlled through the 2027 season and Pfaadt through the 2029 season, so the Diamondbacks would probably only move either if a longer-term asset (likely a position player) could be obtained in return.  The D’Backs might not mind moving the $66MM remaining on Rodriguez’s contract, but the club would certainly have to sell low and eat some of that money in the wake of E-Rod’s injury-plagued down year.

That leaves Montgomery as still the chief candidate to be dealt before Opening Day.  Montgomery’s trade value is also at a low ebb after his rough first year in Arizona, and his $22.5MM salary for the 2025 season.  Owner Ken Kendrick’s public criticism of Montgomery following the season only increased the probability that the left-hander would be pitching elsewhere next year, yet again, the Burnes signing gives the D’Backs some flexibility in this regard.  The Diamondbacks technically don’t have to trade Montgomery if an acceptable offer for another starter comes their way, and offers for Montgomery might improve if other teams become increasingly desperate to add pitching.

Orioles, Blue Jays Discussed Franchise-Record Contracts With Corbin Burnes

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Perhaps the most surprising deal of the offseason came together late last night when the Diamondbacks and right-hander Corbin Burnes reportedly reached an agreement on a six-year deal that guarantees Burnes $210MM. It’s a deal that Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports came together rapidly after Burnes’s camp expressed the right-hander’s desire to pitch in the desert. Prior to Burnes pivoting to Arizona, the three teams most frequently connected to the right-hander were the incumbent Orioles, their division rival Blue Jays, and the Diamondbacks’ own division rival Giants.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale previously reported that the Jays and Giants both offered Burnes more than he ultimately received from the Diamondbacks, but subsequent reports have shed more light on the offers Burnes received prior to signing, particularly from Baltimore and Toronto. The Orioles, according to Danielle Allentuck of The Baltimore Banner, made a “competitive offer” for Burnes that did not ultimately reach the level of the deal he signed in Arizona. The exact specifics of the club’s offer to Burnes aren’t entirely clear, but it’s worth noting that Nightengale later reported that the Orioles and Blue Jays both discussed franchise-record contracts with Burnes while adding that one AL East club offered Burnes a seven-year, $250MM contract that did not come with an opt-out opportunity. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman, meanwhile, described the Blue Jays, Orioles, and one other team from the East divisions as the three biggest bidders for Burnes. That report tracks with Nightengale’s reporting but conflicts with that of Allentuck as Heyman appears to suggest that the Orioles outbid the Diamondbacks for Burnes’s services.

It’s unclear which AL East club made the $250MM offer Nightengale mentioned, and it’s worth noting that both the Yankees and Red Sox were regarded as serious contenders for Burnes’s services before pivoting away from the right-hander to land Max Fried and Garrett Crochet respectively. Both the Orioles and Blue Jays needn’t have gone anywhere near that $250MM level to offer Burnes the largest contract in franchise history; Toronto’s current record for guaranteed money is the six-year, $150MM contract they gave to outfielder George Springer, while the Orioles’ current record is held by former first baseman Chris Davis and his seven-year, $161MM deal. Those relatively low benchmarks make offering Burnes a franchise-record guarantee a somewhat obvious step for either club to take if at all serious about pursuing the right-hander, as he was wildly expected to land a deal in the $200MM range even from the outset of the offseason before the winter’s hot market for starting pitching came into focus.

Regardless of how competitive the offers Burnes received from Baltimore and Toronto ultimately were, both clubs will now have to turn their attention to other options as they look to fortify their rotations. The Blue Jays’ top priority is surely attempting to hammer out an extension with star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that will keep him in town following the 2025 season, when he’s currently scheduled to hit free agency. Aside from that, however, the club has expressed a desire to both bolster their starting rotation while also bringing in a solid hitter who can help protect Guerrero in the lineup. On the rotation front, the club has reportedly shown interest in right-hander Nick Pivetta, but another possibility for the club could be focusing on adding a bat like Anthony Santander or Jurickson Profar and then focusing on a lower-level rotation signing like Michael Lorenzen or Spencer Turnbull.

As for the Orioles, the club already landed Tyler O’Neill and Gary Sanchez for its lineup earlier this winter and figures to be focused squarely on replacing Burnes at the front of its rotation going forward. A reunion with Jack Flaherty, who struggled with the club down the stretch in 2023 but looked much better with the Tigers and Dodgers this past season, has been floated as a possible back-up plan in the past. It’s also not difficult to imagine the club opting to explore the trade market, as they did when they first landed Burnes last winter. Padres right-hander Dylan Cease is available as a potential rental ace who mirrors last year’s acquisition of Burnes to a T, but it’s possible the Orioles would prefer to land a more controllable piece such as Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo, who they’ve reportedly joined a number of teams in inquiring after this winter.

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