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MLB, ESPN Nearing Deal Involving MLB.TV And In-Market Rights For Five Clubs

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Major League Baseball and ESPN are seemingly going to continue their relationship but with a new shape. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reports that the league and the network have an agreement in place which would give ESPN the right to sell all out-of-market games digitally. These rights have previously been sold by the league to consumers as the MLB.TV package. Under the agreement, ESPN will also acquire the in-market rights for the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Padres, Rockies and Twins. ESPN would also have an exclusive weekly game similar to Sunday Night Baseball, but on a different night of the week. The deal is not yet finalized but could be signed in September. It’s unclear how much ESPN would pay the league for this package but Marchand says it will be “substantial”.

MLB and ESPN have an existing contract but it is about to expire. The deal previously ran through 2028 but both sides agreed to opt out after the 2025 season. Under that deal, ESPN still has the rights to Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Those rights are open for 2026 and beyond. A week ago, Marchand reported that those rights would likely be split up and sold to multiple companies, with Netflix being the favorite for the Derby while NBC/Peacock and Apple TV+ are each trying to get the other components. He echoes that framing in today’s reporting.

The new developments today are potentially seismic. MLB.TV has existed in essentially the same format since 2002. Baseball fans purchase the product through the league and get access to every MLB game, with some exceptions for local blackouts and other games guaranteed to be exclusives for certain broadcasters. If this deal goes through, it’s not exactly clear how it would impact existing MLB.TV consumers but Marchand writes they would likely have to get an ESPN subscription on top of an MLB.TV subscription. It’s unclear how this would impact those who purchase MLB.TV through cable or other linear subscription.

ESPN recently launched a streaming service, allowing anyone to pay $29.99 per month to access the network’s wares, whether or not they subscribe to cable or satellite. The network has recently been building out their portfolio, signing a number of deals with the NFL and WWE.

It now seems they hope to add a number of MLB components to their menu. It’s unclear exactly how MLB.TV customers would be impacted financially. Marchand reports that the basic MLB.TV sticker price should stay the same or could even drop. Paying the ESPN subscription fee as well would lead to customers paying more, though they would also gain access to other ESPN offerings outside of the baseball world. That new arrangement would naturally be a plus for some but a minus for others.

In addition to the MLB.TV plan, it seems ESPN will be gaining local rights for five clubs. Due to cable cutting, the regional sports network (RSN) model has been slowly eroding in recent years. The five aforementioned clubs have all seen their local broadcast deals collapse in recent years, which has led the league to step in and take over. Fans of those clubs have been able to purchase streaming rights, without blackouts, directly from the league. It seems likely these customers will be able to continue in a somewhat similar fashion, though Marchand suggests they would likely have to get an ESPN subscription and then pay an added fee for the specific team they want to access.

In addition to the MLB.TV rights and the local rigths of those five clubs, ESPN will also be getting the rights for some exclusive games to be broadcast nationally. It seems this will basically function the same way as Sunday Night Baseball, though on a different day of the week. It appears the details in this arena are still being worked out, as it’s unclear which day of the week is being targeted. Apple already has the rights to a game every Friday while Roku has an early game every Sunday. Marchand adds that MLB Network could also be part of the deal but that’s more up in the air.

Whatever deal is signed would be fairly temporary. Various different reporters have frequently suggested the league doesn’t want to sign anything that goes beyond 2028. They already have a number of deals expiring after that season. It seems commissioner Rob Manfred is hoping to market a large package, or packages, of rights to multiple broadcasters ahead of the 2029 season. All recent broadcast deals have been relatively short, with nothing going beyond 2028. Marchand reports that is expected to be the case with this ESPN deal as well.

These ongoing broadcast shuffles could hang over the upcoming labor strife. It is widely expected that there will be a lockout after the 2026 season. A prolonged stoppage could lead to games being cancelled in the 2027 season. Manfred and the owners would have to be cognizant of playing chicken with the players and how that could impact these broadcast negotiations. MLB is currently experiencing an uptick in popularity, with measures such as the pitch clock credited with increased attendance and TV ratings. That kind of momentum would help the league sell future broadcast rights but a lockout extending into the summer of 2027 could undermine that.

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Select Nabil Crismatt

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The Diamondbacks announced this morning that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Nabil Crismatt. In a corresponding move, right-hander Casey Kelly was optioned to Triple-A. Arizona had a 40-man roster already vacancy for Crismatt to fill, and their roster now stands at 40.

Crismatt, 30, was signed by the Mets out of Colombia and made his professional debut back in 2012. He made his big league debut as a Cardinal in 2020, when he pitched to a 3.24 ERA in 8 1/3 innings of work. Despite that solid first showing, he was outrighted off the club’s roster following the 2020 season. That led him to sign a minor league contract with the Padres, for whom he would have plenty of success over the next two seasons. The righty posted a 3.39 ERA with a 3.76 FIP over 148 2/3 innings of work from 2021-22 while striking out 21.6% of his opponents.

It was a solid showing, but since then he’s been limited to just 13 games in the majors between the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers. He struggled in those games, with a 6.30 ERA and 5.22 FIP in 20 innings of work. He’s mostly been relegated to the minors since 2023 and spent most of last year in the Rangers organization before signing with the Phillies on a minor league deal this past offseason. Philadelphia stretched Crismatt out to start at Triple-A, and he posted a decent 4.04 ERA in 100 1/3 innings of work for the club. He opted out of his minor league deal with the Phillies once, but re-signed after not finding a more lucrative deal elsewhere.

He was released earlier this month by the Phillies, however, and found himself scooped up by Arizona shortly thereafter. He made one scoreless, two-inning appearance with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno and is now slated to join the club’s roster, where he can help round out the pitching staff after the club dealt away a number of pieces at last month’s trade deadline. Crismatt figures to serve as a multi-inning reliever for the Diamondbacks going forward, and a strong showing down the stretch could help him find a big league role for the 2026 season if he can prove to have the same level of effectiveness he flashed with the Padres a few years ago.

Diamondbacks Teammates Reportedly Frustrated With Ketel Marte

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It appears there’s some behind-the-scenes drama in Arizona. Per a report from Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, some players on the Diamondbacks are frustrated with second baseman Ketel Marte for his tendency to miss games. Most often, that appears to be due to health, though a situation around the All-Star break where Marte was absent from the club was also seemingly a source of discontent.

Marte is clearly an asset to the Diamondbacks when on the field. He has been a very productive player for the Snakes for several years now. That has not stopped as he has pushed into his early 30s. In fact, he’s arguably been at his best lately. Last year, he hit 36 home runs, drew walks in 11.1% of his plate appearances and limited his strikeouts to an 18.2% clip. He slashed .292/.372/.560 for a 151 wRC+. He stole seven bases and got strong grades for his glovework. FanGraphs credited him with 6.3 wins above replacement, tying his personal best mark in that category. Only nine position players bested him there.

This year, his production has been similar. He has slashed .296/.398/.557 for a 162 wRC+ and has been credited with 4.2 fWAR, in 47 fewer games than last year. Both Tuesday and Wednesday in Arlington, he hit go-ahead home runs in the ninth inning which ultimately proved to be game-winners.

The issue is more about him deciding not to take the field. Marte does have a notable injury history. In 2021, he was limited to just 90 games by strains of both hamstrings. Since then, smaller absences have limited him to the range of 135-150 games per year. Per Piecoro, Marte asked for a day off in the final week of the 2024 season, which “irked” teammates. This year, he “raised eyebrows” when he asked to not play the final game before the break, but then participated in the All-Star game itself. Piecoro contrasts this type of behavior with that of Corbin Carroll, who has been playing through a broken bone in his hand because he feels he owes it to the team.

Manager Torey Lovullo addressed the situation, after Piecoro’s article came out, with MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM and The Burns & Gambo Show on Arizona Sports. Generally, Lovullo defended Marte on the topic of knowing his own body and when it needs a break. “Ketel Marte has a massive heart. He is extremely emotional. He loves to play. He wants to be in the middle of everything with his teammates every single day. The body doesn’t always function the right way. And sometimes we got to listen to what he says and do what’s best for him which, in turn, will give us the best results for his production.”

One incident in particular seems to go beyond health, however. Marte was placed on the restricted list on July 18th, the first day after the All-Star break, as the Snakes were set to play the Cardinals. It was reported around that time that Marte was away from the club due to a recent break-in at his Arizona home, though Piecoro now notes that Marte was in the Dominican Republic for most of the break. Per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports, Marte was supposed to travel with Carroll and Eugenio Suárez back from the All-Star game but decided to take a vacation in the D.R. “knowing he would miss a game or two,” in Gambadoro’s words. His teammates didn’t know about his planned absence and he didn’t find out about the burglary until he was in the D.R.

It’s possible Marte’s head was elsewhere, even before the break-in. There was a much-publicized incident in late June, just a few weeks before the All-Star break, wherein he was visibly brought to tears during a game against the White Sox in Chicago. Marte later told members of the media, including the Associated Press, that a fan was heckling him about his late mother. Marte’s mother passed away in a car accident in 2017. “A fan was up on the dugout shouting things about my mother,” Marte said. “He was like, ‘Last night I sent a message to your mother.’” Marte said he had been in Chicago to play the Cubs when his mother died, which gave the situation extra resonance. The fan was given an indefinite ban from all major league parks.

Lovullo was also asked about the All-Star break incident on The Burns & Gambo Show, linked above. “I was unaware of the break-in,” Lovullo said. “I was unaware of the timing of the break-in. I was unaware of what the intentions were, what plane he was on. I just became aware of him not being ready to play a baseball game on the day, on the morning, afternoon of our first baseball game.”

At that time, the Diamondbacks were still fighting to stay in contention. By the middle of July, it still wasn’t clear whether they would go into the deadline as buyers or sellers. Marte reported to the team and was reinstated from the restricted list on July 20th, missing two games. The Snakes won those two games, incidentally, but it’s understandable that his teammates would get upset about him missing key games with the season on the line. From there, the club slumped a bit and ended up selling. They traded away Josh Naylor, Merrill Kelly, Suárez, Shelby Miller and Randal Grichuk ahead of the deadline.

It’s certainly an awkward spot for the skipper. It would be fair to criticize him for not being more insistent with Marte about getting into the lineup more often, especially if it’s rankling other teammates. Oddly, Lovullo said “I don’t know what’s happening inside of our clubhouse” when discussing the situation to MLB Network Radio. On the other hand, Piecoro relays that some feel he could push Marte too hard and risk Marte “sulking or shutting down,” in Piecoro’s words.

The question now is what comes next. Piecoro and Gambadoro both float the idea of a trade but also downplay the possibility. That’s a natural speculation when rumors of discord come out of a clubhouse. The baseball world just saw plenty of ink spilled about disagreements between Rafael Devers and the Red Sox. Though he was once seemingly entrenched as a franchise player on a long-term deal, he was flipped to the Giants in the wake of those stories.

On the other hand, scuffles like this quickly blow over sometimes. Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil of the Mets got into a fight during a game in 2021 but they put that behind them and have been teammates for many years since then.

Marte is signed through the 2031 season. He is owed $102.5MM after this year. That includes an $11.5MM player option for 2031. Given his talents, plenty of clubs would be interested in acquiring him at that price point. However, it’s also possible teams may wonder if they would be acquiring a somewhat injury-prone player who is moving towards his mid-30s and who may not have 100% commitment to the game. Marte’s deal does not have no-trade protection but he will have 10-and-5 rights a few days into the 2026 campaign.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Release Kendall Graveman

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The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Kendall Graveman, according to his transactions log on MLB.com. He was designated for assignment on Monday.

Graveman, now 34, began his MLB career with a cup of coffee in Toronto in 2014 before the Blue Jays shipped him off to Oakland in the Josh Donaldson trade. He then spent the next four seasons putting up serviceable numbers as a back-end starter, until Tommy John surgery in 2018 led the A’s to non-tender him.

After a lost 2019 season and another injury-marred campaign in 2020, Graveman turned heads in his first full season as a reliever in 2021. Across 56 innings for the Mariners and Astros (Seattle dealt him to Houston before the deadline), he put up a 1.77 ERA and 3.30 SIERA, striking out 27.5% of batters and inducing groundballs at a highly impressive 54.9% rate. Of course, groundballs had always been his speciality, and it was the strikeouts that really showed he had tapped into something new.

Graveman signed a three-year, $24MM guarantee with the White Sox the subsequent offseason, and he avoided the injured list entirely over the first two years of the deal. In fact, his 133 appearances and 131 1/3 innings for Chicago and later Houston (he was traded again ahead of the 2023 deadline) both ranked 10th among AL relievers in that span. He pitched to a 3.15 ERA and 4.01 SIERA.

Unfortunately, the injury bug came back to haunt him in 2024, and Graveman missed the entire season after undergoing shoulder surgery. He inked a one-year, $1.35MM deal with the D-backs this past winter, though the value of the pact could more than double with performance bonuses. Yet, once again, Graveman opened the season on the injured list, this time with a back strain. He made his return in May, but over 19 games and 17 2/3 (interrupted in the middle with a hip impingement), the righty gave up 14 runs on 23 hits and 12 walks, striking out only nine. His velocity was down significantly on his four-seam, sinker, and slider, but truth be told, no one needed a radar gun to tell his stuff just wasn’t the same.

Thus, the D-backs eventually cut ties with Graveman, although they’re still on the hook for the remainder of his guaranteed salary. Now a free agent, he can look for another team to try to help him rediscover what briefly made him such a successful bullpen arm.

Diamondbacks Release Jeff Brigham

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The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Jeff Brigham, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks on Monday, so this doesn’t impact the club’s 40-man roster count.

Brigham, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster at the end of May but only made four appearances for the big league club before being optioned back down to Triple-A Reno. After rejoining the Aces, he bounced on and off the minor league injured list. He was on the shelf from June 17th to July 25th, then landed back on the IL July 29th.

At the time of his DFA this week, he was still on the IL. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. Since the trade deadline has passed, that left release waivers as the only option for the Diamondbacks.

It’s unclear what Brigham’s current health status is. He now has a 4.85 earned run average in 120 2/3 career big league innings. He has struck out 23.8% of batters faced while giving out walks to 10.7% of opponents.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Sign Matt Mervis To Minor League Deal

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Matt Mervis has found a new home after he was released by the Marlins earlier this month. The first baseman signed a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks today, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. He will report to the Triple-A Reno Aces. A lefty power bat, Mervis will slot in as a nice replacement for Seth Brown, who opted out of his minor league deal with the D-backs over the weekend.

The Cubs signed Mervis as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He got off to a slow start in 2021 but started mashing his way through the minors in 2022. He continued swinging a hot bat at Triple-A in 2023, earning his first MLB call-up that May. Unfortunately, he just couldn’t figure out big league pitching, a theme that continued in 2024 and again this year after the Cubs flipped him to the Marlins for Vidal Bruján. All told, in 261 plate appearances from 2023-25, he has hit .165 with a .560 OPS and a 53 wRC+. His 10 home runs are nothing to sniff at, but he has struggled to do damage when he hasn’t hit the ball out of the park, and he’s struck out more than one-third of the time.

There’s no denying how disappointing those MLB numbers are. Yet, perhaps the right organization can teach Mervis how to limit his strikeouts and tap into the prodigious power he has flashed in the minor leagues. In just over 1,800 minor league plate appearances, he’s hit 95 doubles and 95 home runs, good for a .517 slugging percentage and .250 isolated power. The Cubs and Marlins couldn’t help him reach his ceiling, but now the Diamondbacks will give it a shot.

Diamondbacks Claim Gus Varland; Designate Kendall Graveman, Jeff Brigham For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have claimed right-hander Gus Varland from the White Sox and optioned him to Triple-A Reno. He was previously listed as released by the Sox but it appears he had not yet cleared released waivers. The Diamondbacks also recalled right-hander Juan Morillo. In corresponding moves, righties Kendall Graveman and Jeff Brigham have been designated for assignment.

Varland, 28, still has a limited track record but finished 2024 on a strong note. The Sox claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers in the second half of last year. After that claim, he tossed 20 1/3 innings for the Sox with a 3.54 earned run average, 28.2% strikeout rate and 4.7% walk rate.

That positioned him to have a nice role on the 2025 team but things didn’t go according to plan. He had a bad spring and got optioned to the minors to start the year. After just two outings, he landed on the minor league injured list due to a lat strain. That injury has essentially kept him on the shelf since then. He started a rehab assignment in June but that was shut down after just six appearances.

Varland was designated for assignment last week when the Sox selected infielder Jacob Amaya to the roster. At that point, the trade deadline had already passed. Injured players can’t be put on outright waivers. That left release waivers as the only option for the Sox.

The Snakes are playing out the string on a lost season. Their bullpen has been hit hard by injuries this year. A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez both required UCL surgeries. Kevin Ginkel is out for the year with a shoulder sprain. Ryan Thompson and Christian Montes De Oca are also on the IL. The Snakes traded Shelby Miller ahead of the deadline.

The club is hoping to compete again in 2026, which means they have work to do on rebuilding the bullpen. Grabbing Varland now could perhaps be a part of that process, if he can get healthy and back in good form by next year.

As for Graveman, the Diamondbacks took a low-cost flier on him this offseason. He was a risky play, as he missed 2024 while recovering from shoulder surgery. However, the $1.35MM guarantee on his deal was barely above the $760K league minimum and he was quite in the years before his surgery.

The gamble hasn’t paid off. Graveman has had a couple of stints on the IL, one due to a right lumbar strain and another due to a right hip impingement. Around those ailments, he has posted a 7.13 ERA in 17 2/3 innings. His 11% strikeout rate and 14.6% walk rates are both awful figures.

Since the trade deadline has passed, he’s destined for the waiver wire. Given his performance, no club will want to claim him, as doing so would involve taking on what’s left of his salary. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, so the Snakes might just release him. At that point, he could sign with another club for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Diamondbacks pay.

Brigham, 33, signed a minor league deal with Arizona in the offseason. His contract was selected to the roster in May. He has mostly been on optional assignment, with just four big league appearances. In Triple-A this year, he has thrown 20 2/3 innings with a 5.23 ERA, 37.2% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate.

He’ll be out of options next year and will be eligible for arbitration. The Diamondbacks presumably weren’t planning to tender him a contract, so he’s been bumped off the roster today. Like Graveman, he’s destined for the waiver wire, though a claim seems somewhat more possible here. He is presumably playing on a salary close to the major league minimum and has at least been striking batters out on the farm. His ERA is high thanks to the long ball, though pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League might be a factor there.

For his big league career, he has thrown 120 2/3 innings with a 4.85 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has 116 1/3 minor league innings with a 4.87 ERA, 32.9% strikeout rate and 13.3% walk rate. He is still optionable for the remainder of this season.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto, Imagn Images

Seth Brown Opts Out Of D-backs Deal

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The Diamondbacks have released outfielder and first baseman Seth Brown, according to the transaction log on his MLB.com player page. Brown, who had signed a minor league contract with the team in July after being released by the Athletics, triggered an opt-out in that contract and was granted his release, per MLBTR’s Steve Adams.

Brown, 33, played the first decade of his professional career in the A’s organization. They drafted him in 2015 and promoted him for his MLB debut four years later. He spent time with the big league club in each of the next seven seasons. The lefty batter established himself as a solid platoon slugger in 2021, hitting 19 home runs with a .498 slugging percentage in 281 PA against right-handed pitching. After trading away several key pieces over the subsequent offseason (including All-Star first baseman Matt Olson), the Athletics had more playing time for Brown in 2022. Splitting his time between first base and the outfield, he played almost every day, which meant facing left-handers more often. Southpaws continued to neutralize his bat, but he hit well enough against righties that it hardly mattered. He finished his first full season with 25 home runs and a 115 wRC+ in 150 games.

Unfortunately for Brown, his power numbers dipped in 2023 and ’24. It’s not that he was an awful hitter – he still hit 14 home runs each year – but as a player whose only asset is power against right-handed pitching, he needed to crush righties to continue earning regular playing time. He wasn’t able to do that, ultimately posting a .676 OPS, a 91 wRC+, and -0.7 FanGraphs WAR in 236 games over those two years.

Brown made the Athletics’ Opening Day roster again in 2025, but he started the year off hitting even worse than he had in the two years prior. With better options to play first base, DH, and the outfield, as well as several young and exciting lefty bats, the A’s no longer had a job for the struggling Brown. They designated him for assignment in May. He accepted an outright assignment and stuck around in the organization, tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A. The A’s then selected his contract again just two weeks later. However, he injured his elbow another week after that, and the team never brought him back from the IL. He passed through waivers unclaimed once again at the end of June, and this time, with just enough service time to retain all of the salary remaining on his $2.7MM contract, he elected free agency.

The Diamondbacks gave Brown a minor league deal in early July. After hitting reasonably well for the Triple-A Reno Aces, he triggered an upward mobility clause in his contract on August 1, forcing the D-backs to notify the other 29 teams that he was available for any that wanted to add him to their 40-man roster. Evidently, no other club expressed interest, as Brown continued to play for Reno through yesterday’s game against the Tacoma Rainiers.

It’s now been several years since Brown was a productive big league bat. However, perhaps his success from 2021-22 – and his 1.113 OPS and 159 wRC+ in 35 Triple-A games this year – will entice another organization looking for lefty depth to give him a shot on a minor league deal.

Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall Expects Lower Payroll In 2026

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The Diamondbacks went into 2025 with an Opening Day payroll of just under $187MM, representing yet another new high for a club that had already bumped its payroll from roughly $116.1MM in 2023 to $163.3MM in 2024.  Arizona’s attempt to try and capitalize on its surprise NL pennant in 2023 hasn’t worked out, however, as the D’Backs fell short of the playoffs in 2024 and are fighting just to try and salvage a winning record this year.

These struggles led to some selling at the deadline, with such impending free agents as Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Merrill Kelly, Randal Grichuk, Shelby Miller, and Jordan Montgomery all sent elsewhere.  The money saved by getting those players off the books for the final two months of 2025 will impact the 2026 payroll, as team president/CEO Derrick Hall said the D’Backs will “reinvest into the product for next year.  We’re going to have to because we’re still going to have so many guys on the IL.  We’re going to have to do some work on the roster.”

In terms of overall spending, however, Hall told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters that next year’s payroll is expected to be reduced to some degree.  “Do I think we need to have the payroll number where it was this year?  Probably not.  But I think we can have just as good a team as we constructed by reinvesting the money that we have (saved) and then some,” Hall said.

Hall’s statement isn’t surprising since 2025 was viewed as something of an all-in season for the Diamondbacks, with ownership okaying the payroll boost since the entire roster core was in place.  With several notable players slated for free agency this coming winter, a spending cut was pretty much inevitable just because of all the high salaries coming off the team’s books.  In the aftermath of the trade deadline, the Diamondbacks have just under $107MM in guaranteed salaries set for 2026 (hat tip to RosterResource), though that number doesn’t factor in arbitration raises.

It doesn’t help matters that Corbin Burnes (Arizona’s highest-paid player) will miss most or all of the 2026 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.  Between Burnes’ absence and Zac Gallen slated for free agency, the D’Backs will have holes to fill in the rotation, plus they’ll be looking to fix a bullpen that has been a weak link for the better part of two years.  The Diamondbacks’ offense has again been strong in 2025, but the absence of Suarez and Naylor means that next year’s lineup needs a lot more power.

Hall said he expects the D’Backs to still be able to make moves in free agency, and the CEO unsurprisingly didn’t give any specifics about how much GM Mike Hazen may or may not have to spend this offseason.  It is possible the team doesn’t yet know the answer to this question, as Hall noted that attendance over the remainder of the season will impact next year’s payroll.

Hypothetically speaking, even if the Diamondbacks were to reduce payroll to 2024 levels, that still leaves Hazen with quite a bit of spending capacity to address the roster’s many needs.  Trading a player like Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (who drew interest prior to the deadline) who is only under guaranteed contract through 2026 is another avenue the front office could pursue to free up more money, if necessary.

With so much invested in long-term contracts, there is no sense that the Diamondbacks are planning a larger selloff or considering a rebuild in any respect.  As disappointing as the last two seasons have been for the Snakes and their fans, there is still enough core talent in place that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the D’Backs return to contention by next year, though Hazen will again need to be creative.

Diamondbacks Sign Nabil Crismatt To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Nabil Crismatt to a minor league deal, per an announcement from the Triple-A Reno Aces. Crismatt was previously with the Phillies on a minor league deal but was released a few days ago, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.

Crismatt, 30, has pitched 177 major league innings in his career with a 3.71 earned run average. His 21.5% strikeout rate is a bit south of average but his 7.2% walk rate and 50.3% ground ball rate are both solid figures. That includes a brief stint with the Diamondbacks in 2023, when he tossed two scoreless innings in his lone appearance as a Snake.

This year, he’s been stuck in the minors with the Phillies. He’s been working as a starter in Triple-A, making 19 starts with a 4.04 ERA, 16.2% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate.

The Diamondbacks have been hemorrhaging pitching this year. They have lost Corbin Burnes, A.J. Puk, Justin Martínez, Tommy Henry and Blake Walston to Tommy John surgeries. Additionally, Cristian Mena, Christian Montes De Oca, Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel are on the injured list due to other reasons. Those injuries played a notable role in knocking the Diamondbacks out of contention, which led them to trading Merrill Kelly and Shelby Miller ahead of the deadline.

Given all of those fallen soldiers, the club may have some innings available down the stretch. Crismatt has worked both as a starter and a reliever in his career. He’ll give the Diamondbacks a depth arm for now but could perhaps be useful for the big league club as they play out the string on the season.

Photo courtesy of Orlando Ramirez, Imagn Images

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