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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

MLBTR Podcast: Sifting Through The Trade Deadline Deals

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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 Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to go over the various deadline dealings, including…

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!

Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Select Casey Kelly, Transfer Kevin Ginkel To 60-Day IL

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The Diamondbacks announced today that right-hander Casey Kelly has been selected to the roster. Left-hander Kyle Nelson has been optioned to Triple-A Reno to open an active roster spot. In a corresponding 40-man move, righty Kevin Ginkel has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Kelly, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes back in March. He has been pitching for Triple-A Reno in a swing role since then, logging 85 innings over 14 starts and four relief appearances. He has a 5.82 earned run average with a 10.6% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 45.8% ground ball rate.

The Arizona bullpen got a workout last night. They played 11 innings against the Padres, eventually falling 10-5. Six different relievers made an appearance. They also traded Merrill Kelly ahead of the deadline last week, which led to Anthony DeSclafani moving from a long relief role into the rotation. DeSclafani only lasted two and a third innings last time out and is starting again tonight. Kelly could be tasked with absorbing some innings out of the bullpen behind DeSclafani, in order to spare the rest of the bullpen.

As for Ginkel, this move ends his season. He began the year on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation. He was activated off the IL at the end of April but landed back there on Monday due to a sprain of that shoulder. The 60-day count will push into early October.

He has some good seasons on his résumé but 2025 will go down as one of his worst. He posted a 7.36 ERA this year, perhaps with the shoulder troubles contributing to his struggles. He averaged 94.9 miles per hour on his fastball this year, more than a mile below last year’s 96 mph.

He is making $2.425MM this year and could be retained via arbitration for 2025. His poor results will prevent him from earning a notable raise but the Diamondbacks might consider a non-tender anyway, based on this year’s results. They will have to decide if they think there’s a path back to his pre-2025 results. From 2022 to 2024, he pitched 164 2/3 innings with a 2.95 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 47.1% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of Philip G. Pavely, Imagn Images

Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The NL West?

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The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Over the next week-plus, MLBTR will be running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. So far, the Phillies and Reds have each come out on top in their respective divisions. Today, we’ll be rounding out the National League with a review of the NL West. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers are, predictably, one of the best teams in the National League this year. They aren’t quite as overwhelming as some expected them to be, however, and that left them with some work to do ahead of the stretch run. Despite the holes in the club’s roster, however, L.A.’s deadline was a surprisingly quiet one where they did as much selling as they did buying. Dustin May was shipped to Boston for a pair of prospects headlined by 2024 first-rounder James Tibbs, and they downgraded from Hunter Feduccia to Ben Rortvedt for the club’s third catcher in order to bring in rookie reliever Paul Gervase and A-ball prospect Adam Serwinowski.

In terms of buy-side moves, they swapped depth outfielder James Outman to the Twins in order to bring Brock Stewart back home to the Dodgers’ pen. They followed that up by replacing Outman on the depth chart with a right-handed complement to Michael Conforto in the form of Alex Call. L.A.’s moves were strong ones on paper. They gave up very little meaningful talent in order to make a couple of legitimate improvements to their bullpen and bench mix, and it’s easy to see them emerging as the clear winners of the two sell-side trades they did make. Still, this summer could wind up feeling like a missed opportunity for the Dodgers given the lack of impact talent acquired—especially if they wind up getting chased down in the NL West by their rival 100 miles to the south.

San Diego Padres

No front office executive in the league operates quite like Padres GM A.J. Preller, and that frenetic aggressiveness was on full display on the day of this year’s trade deadline. San Diego completed five trades in the final seven hours before the deadline. The first one was the biggest, as they swapped a massive package headlined by consensus top-5 prospect Leo De Vries to the Athletics in exchange for superstar closer Mason Miller and lefty starter JP Sears.

They didn’t stop there, however. Outfielder Brandon Lockridge was surrendered to land Nestor Cortes from the Brewers (alongside prospect Jorge Quintana), and Preller immediately replaced Lockridge in the outfield by picking up both Ramon Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn from the Orioles. The acquisitions of Sears and Cortes created enough starting pitching depth that the Friars could move Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert to add Freddy Fermin behind the plate, and for good measure San Diego rounded out its deadline by upgrading the infield with a controllable young talent in Will Wagner.

It was a massive flurry of moves that should substantially improve the Padres in the near-term, but the cost was heavy. Prospects of De Vries’ caliber rarely get moved for a reason. Even aside from the risk that they’ve traded the league’s next superstar, they also surrendered some important depth in Kolek and Bergert, not to mention a huge chunk of their 2024 draft class. Preller’s win-now aggression allowed his club to improve its odds of winning the World Series this year more than any other team. But was the cost too great?

San Francisco Giants

Despite a strong start to the season and the aggressive decision to swing a deal with the Red Sox for Rafael Devers back in June, the Giants have mostly fallen out of the postseason race and now have a 58-57 record. That led the club to pivot towards selling at the deadline, and they brought back an impressive haul of talent in doing so. A trade of pending free agent Tyler Rogers to the Mets brought back a trio of well-regarded talents nearing or already in the big leagues: Triple-A outfielder Drew Gilbert, rookie starter Blade Tidwell, and young MLB reliever Jose Butto. They also landed A-ball starter Yunior Marte for rental outfielder Mike Yastrzemski despite his down 2025 campaign.

Impressive as those deals were, the package they received for Camilo Doval was somewhat light. That deal was led by catching/infield prospect Jesus Rodriguez and Double-A starter Trystan Vrieling. The return for Rogers and Yastrzemski was phenomenal, as the Giants acquired their #12, #13, and #25 prospects (per MLB Pipeline) along with Butto for aging veterans on expiring contracts. Parting with Doval for two-plus seasons in exchange for a package headlined by the club’s #16 prospect, according to Pipeline, puts a bit of a damper on the club’s deadline, but it was still a strong infusion of talent to the upper levels of San Francisco’s minor league system and should result in better days for the Giants in the future.

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks teetered on the edge of buying and selling for most of July but kicked off trade season by dealing Josh Naylor to the Mariners and never looked back. The club executed four trades that brought back players in return and a fifth that saw them deal Shelby Miller to the Brewers in exchange for Milwaukee taking on a portion of Jordan Montgomery’s contract. Big league ready talent and pitching prospects were the focus for Arizona this summer, and they mostly accomplished that goal of bolstering those parts of the organization. Eugenio Suarez brought back a potential first baseman of the future in Tyler Locklear as well as rookie reliever Juan Burgos. Randal Grichuk and Naylor also both brought back rookie relief arms in Andrew Hoffmann and Brandyn Garcia, giving the club a number of big league ready relief arms who can help fill out the bullpen next year.

Between the trades of Suarez, Naylor, and Merrill Kelly, the Diamondbacks also picked up five pitching prospects who have yet to make their big league debut. Kohl Drake (#7 in Arizona’s system at MLB Pipeline) leads that group, which also includes Mitch Bratt (#10), David Hagaman (#14), Ashton Izzi (#15), and Hunter Cranton (#23). Locklear (#6) and Garcia (#20) also rank within the top 30, meaning that nearly a quarter of the club’s top 30 prospects were acquired at this deadline. As solid as those moves were, some view the return for Suarez as too light, and there’s reason to question why the team held onto Zac Gallen rather than bringing back additional prospects and salary relief by letting him go. Even without Gallen moving, however, the Diamondbacks breathed new life into their farm system and saved a considerable amount of money that can be repurposed for the 2026 campaign come the offseason.

Colorado Rockies

Perhaps the most notable thing about Colorado’s deadline this year is that they did anything at all, given their years of relative inaction and refusal to part with veteran talents. The club made just three trades this summer, but the deals they did make were notable ones. Ryan McMahon and Jake Bird were traded to the Yankees for lefty Griffin Herring (#5 in the Rockies’ system at MLB Pipeline), second baseman Roc Riggio (#11), righty Josh Grosz (#19), and lefty Ben Shields (#27).

Their third deal was a smaller one, as the club dealt struggling reliever Tyler Kinley to the Braves in exchange for Double-A reliever Austin Smith. It wasn’t the flashiest deadline for Colorado, but the return in exchange for McMahon was strong and the activity should help prop up one of the weakest farm systems in the majors as the Rockies toil through the worst season in franchise history.

With the exception of the Dodgers, the NL West was busier than usual this summer. San Diego did enough buying for the entire division, while the Giants, Diamondbacks, and Rockies each made some savvy sell-side moves. L.A. stands out from the crowd for their quiet approach to the deadline as they did some light buying to address areas of need and also managed to sneak in some light selling to take advantage of areas of depth. Which team did the best of this quintet? Have your say in the poll below:

Diamondbacks Select Kyle Nelson, Connor Kaiser

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The Diamondbacks announced Friday that they’ve selected the contracts of lefty Kyle Nelson and shortstop Connor Kaiser from Triple-A Reno. Arizona also reinstated veteran reliever Jalen Beeks from the injured list. First baseman Tyler Locklear, acquired in the Eugenio Suárez trade, was added to the major league roster. Lefty Brandyn Garcia (acquired in the Josh Naylor deal) and infielder Tristin English were optioned to Reno.

Nelson, 29, was a key member of Arizona’s bullpen in 2022, tossing 37 innings with a 2.19 ERA in his first year after coming over from Cleveland. His numbers dipped in 2023-24, however, and Nelson was removed from the 40-man roster in early July by way of a DFA. He passed through waivers unclaimed. In 22 2/3 innings for Reno this year, he’s been roughed up for a 6.35 ERA thanks to a whopping seven home runs allowed. Most of those struggles came earlier in the year, however. He’s rattled off 6 1/3 shutout innings over his past eight appearances.

Kaiser, 28, provides a glove-first infielder off the bench. He’ll work in a utility capacity as Blaze Alexander, who had been the depth infielder, will get everyday third base run with Suárez out the door. A Vanderbilt product, Kaiser is hitless in four career major league plate appearances. Those came over three games with the Rockies two seasons ago. He’s batting .236/.346/.423 in a hitter-friendly Triple-A setting this year.

Seth Brown Triggers Upward Mobility Clause In D-backs Deal

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First baseman/outfielder Seth Brown triggered an upward mobility clause in his minor league contract with the D-backs yesterday, MLBTR has learned. That clause requires the Diamondbacks to notify all 29 other teams that Brown is available for anyone who wants to add him to their 40-man roster. Teams have 48 hours to decide, so a decision on Brown will come by tomorrow afternoon.

If another club is interested in adding Brown to the roster, Arizona would then be given its own 48-hour period to decide whether to let him go or add him to its own 40-man roster. If no other team is willing to put Brown on the 40-man, he’ll continue on with the D-backs’ Triple-A affiliate.

Brown, a longtime member of the A’s, hit just .185/.303/.262 with the Athletics in 76 plate appearances this year. It was the worst production of his big league career, though it obviously came in a small sample. Even so, it marked a third straight year of declining performance at the dish. From 2019-22, Brown tallied 950 plate appearances with the A’s and slashed .229/.298/.454. He had platoon issues and a lofty strikeout rate but was generally a productive, power-over-hit option against right-handers.

Brown’s production dipped in 2023 (.222/.286/.405) and again the following season. Overall, he’s posted a tepid .223/.286/.381 slash in his last 854 big league plate appearances. The A’s released Brown in late June, and he latched on with the D-backs a few days later.

He’s only taken 87 plate appearances in Triple-A Reno so far, but Brown has delivered strong results. Coupled with his production for the Athletics’ Triple-A club earlier this season, he’s hitting .362/.431/.724 with 11 homers in just 130 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Brown is a limited player but has a solid .234/.301/.441 batting line (108 wRC+) in 1567 plate appearances versus righties — including a pair of 20-homer seasons in 2021-22.

Brown is several years removed from that type of production, but with the deadline in the rearview mirror, there are limited opportunities for teams to add depth. Brown narrowly crossed the threshold to reach five years of service earlier this summer, meaning he’d have to consent to be optioned with a new club. A team looking to add a left-handed bat to its bench could still have interest. If he does get added to a big league roster and shows well through the season’s final two months, he can be controlled through 2026 via arbitration. If he’s not added to a 40-man roster, he’ll be able to become a minor league free agent at season’s end.

Rangers Acquire Merrill Kelly

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The Rangers announced the acquisition of starting pitcher Merrill Kelly from the Diamondbacks for pitching prospects Mitch Bratt, Kohl Drake and David Hagaman. Texas designated first baseman Blaine Crim for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Kelly is the most significant of three deadline pickups for the Rangers. They also deepened their bullpen by adding Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe. The Rangers leaned even harder into their identity as a pitching and defense team after evidently being dissatisfied with the asking prices on top hitters.

The 36-year-old Kelly was arguably the best rental starter who changed hands. He has turned in a 3.22 earned run average through 128 2/3 innings. That comes with a solid 23.5% strikeout percentage and a league average 7.4% walk rate. Kelly doesn’t have massive swing-and-miss stuff, but he’s a plus command artist with a long track record of mid-rotation performance. This will his third sub-4.00 ERA season within the past four years. Last year’s 4.03 earned runs per nine is his worst mark since 2021.

That’s rock solid production that’ll make Kelly a high-end #3 starter in Texas. He’d slot behind Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi as the expected playoff rotation if the Rangers qualify. They have plenty of work to do in that regard — they’re currently tied with Seattle for the final AL Wild Card position — but opponents would have a very tough time scoring against them in October. Patrick Corbin and Jack Leiter figure to round out the starting five for the time being. That could push Kumar Rocker back to Triple-A.

Kelly is playing on a $7MM salary. It’s the final year of what turned out to be a very team-friendly extension that he signed with the Snakes early in the ’22 season. Texas is taking on roughly $2.22MM for the stretch run. They also added around $950K on Coulombe’s deal and picked up roughly $634K on Maton. The Rangers have wanted to stay underneath the $241MM base luxury tax threshold. RosterResource unofficially estimates them around $236M. The actual number is likely to be above that by season’s end as players trigger incentives, but it seems the Rangers at least stayed on the border of the threshold while making a trio of acquisitions on the pitching staff.

Arizona had already dealt Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor as they sold off most of their impending free agents. The biggest question on deadline day was whether they’d trade both Kelly and Zac Gallen. Ultimately, they only found what they considered a satisfactory offer on Kelly. Gallen will finish the season in the desert and quite likely receive and reject a qualifying offer. The D-Backs valued the compensatory draft pick they’d receive in that scenario more than whatever teams were willing to trade for Gallen, who has underperformed this season.

Kelly’s superior year allowed the Snakes to get a trio of minor league arms. They focused their trade returns on upper level young pitching. Drake, a 6’5″ left-hander, is the highest regarded of their new prospects. He placed fifth in the Texas system at MLB Pipeline and ninth at Baseball America. BA feels the former 11th-round pick projects as a multi-inning reliever, while Pipeline projects him as a back-end starter.

Drake has struggled over four Triple-A starts but turned in a 2.44 ERA through 12 appearances in Double-A. He sits around 93 MPH and has a four-pitch mix with advanced command. He’s 24 years old and will need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He should debut at some point next year at the latest.

Bratt, 22, is a 6’1″ lefty who was selected out of high school in the 2021 draft. The Canadian southpaw has spent the whole season at Double-A Frisco. He has pitched to a 3.18 ERA with a plus 28.5% strikeout percentage and minuscule 4.3% walk rate in 18 appearances. Bratt placed ninth in the system at Pipeline and 14th at Baseball America. He’s a good athlete with above-average to plus command but fringe stuff that could make him a fifth starter. He’ll also need to go on the 40-man roster this offseason.

The 22-year-old Hagaman is a little further off. He was a fourth-round pick out of West Virginia last summer. He underwent Tommy John surgery last year and has been limited to eight professional appearances. Both BA and Pipeline ranked him in the middle third of the Rangers’ top 30 prospects. The 6’4″ righty has an impressive three-pitch arsenal but struggled with command in college. He could be a long-term reliever but will get a chance to develop as a starter.

Arizona’s player development staff now has a lot of young pitching talent with which to work. Most of those players could be on the MLB radar by next season. In the meantime, veteran righty Anthony DeSclafani will stretch out from long relief to take Kelly’s rotation spot (relayed by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports). He has a 3.86 ERA in 23 1/3 frames and should be a serviceable innings source so the D-Backs don’t need to press their younger arms into early action.

As for Crim, he’ll be placed on waivers in the next few days. The 28-year-old first baseman got a brief look earlier in the season when the Rangers optioned Jake Burger to Triple-A. He went 1-11 with a walk. Crim has a career .283/.374/.487 batting line in more than 1600 plate appearances at the top minor league level.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.5 first reported the Rangers were nearing a Kelly deal. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed there was an agreement in place. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Arizona was acquiring three prospects, including Drake and Hagaman. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic was first on Bratt’s inclusion. Image courtesy of Charles Leclaire, Imagn Images.

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