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MLBTR Podcast: Vlad’s Massive Deal, Extensions for Merrill and Marte, And Quinn Priester Traded

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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 Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

Check out our past episodes!

  • Garrett Crochet’s Extension, Problems In Atlanta, And Other Early-Season Storylines – listen here
  • What We Learned From The Offseason – listen here
  • The Rays’ Stadium Deal Is Dead, Rangers’ Rotation Issues, And More! – listen here

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

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro, Imagn Images

Orioles Reportedly Offered Four-Year, $180MM Deal To Corbin Burnes

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The Orioles made a four-year proposal to retain Corbin Burnes during free agency, the former Cy Young winner told reporters (relayed by Jake Rill of MLB.com). Burnes himself did not specify the dollar figure. However, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports that Baltimore’s final offer was for $180MM over four seasons.

Burnes ended up with the Diamondbacks on a six-year, $210MM contract that allows him to opt out after the ’26 season. Geography was a major factor. Burnes is a California native who now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. He told reporters in January that he preferred to pitch close to home, especially because he and his wife welcomed twins last June. Burnes and agent Scott Boras initiated conversations with D-Backs owner Ken Kendrick in late December and quickly hammered out the deal.

Could the Orioles have dissuaded him from going to Arizona if they’d made a longer offer? Burnes didn’t directly answer that, though he implied that it may not have mattered. “The dollars (in Arizona) were more than what they were (in Baltimore),” the righty said (video provided by Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun). “I just don’t think we matched up on the years it was going to take to get to a dollar amount for me to stay there. Now, I can’t guarantee I would have gone there had those offers come around just because … with us living here, if (the Diamondbacks) were going to be serious and have a fair offer, then this is where we were going to be. It’s tough to play the ’what-if’ game.”

Nevertheless, Burnes said that Boras remained in negotiations with the Orioles until a few days before his agreement with the Snakes. He noted that the Arizona deal came together “within a matter of 72 hours,” so conversations with other clubs had stretched close to the end.

If the Orioles’ offer to Burnes did not include any deferred money, it would have featured a massive $45MM average annual value. That would have been the largest AAV for a pitcher (not counting Shohei Ohtani) and third overall behind the $51MM which Juan Soto received from the Mets and the approximate $46MM annual net present value on the Ohtani deal. Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and Zack Wheeler hold the top annual salaries for non-Ohtani pitchers. They all landed in the $42-44MM range on three-year contracts.

Burnes took a good amount less on an annual basis. His $35MM per-year salary is tied for 14th overall, but the contract included $64MM in deferred money that dropped the NPV below $194MM (equivalent to just over $32MM per year). It contained a $10MM signing bonus and $30MM salaries ($10MM deferred) for the two seasons before the opt-out decision. Burnes has given up eight runs, six of them earned, over 9 1/3 innings through his first two starts in an Arizona uniform.

Diamondbacks Place Ketel Marte On 10-Day IL, Promote Tim Tawa

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4:54pm: Manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (as well as team pregame and postgame radio host Steve Zinsmeister) today that Marte is expected to miss “weeks instead of days” due to his ailing hamstring. A more specific timetable for Marte’s return to action won’t be available until he meets with team doctors back in Arizona.

12:07pm: As expected, the Diamondbacks officially placed Ketel Marte on the 10-day injured list, a day after the second baseman suffered a left hamstring strain while running the bases in Friday’s 6-4 win over the Nationals.  Infielder Tim Tawa was called up from Triple-A Reno in the corresponding move.

Tawa will be making his Major League debut the first time he appears in a game.  Garrett Hampson figures to get most of the playing time at second base in Marte’s absence, and Tawa will essentially take Hampson’s spot as a utilityman.  Over his five minor league seasons, Tawa has played primarily as a second baseman and at all three outfield positions, while also logging some time at the other three infield spots.

An 11th-round pick for the Diamondbacks in the 2021 draft, Tawa took a step closer to the big leagues when Arizona added him to its 40-man roster last November in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.  Beyond his defensive versatility, Tawa has also posted some increasingly strong numbers at the plate during his minor league career, including a .317/.388/.665 slash line and 13 homers over 183 plate appearances at Triple-A Reno.

The usual caveats apply about the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League environment, yet it is easy to see why the D’Backs wanted to retain a multi-position player with these kinds of numbers.  While Tawa’s time on Arizona’s roster likely isn’t going to last beyond Marte’s IL stint, the 26-year-old infielder will get a prized opportunity to show what he can go at the MLB level.

Diamondbacks Notes: Marte, Pfaadt, Ballpark

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Ketel Marte’s new contract extension came as a bit of a surprise, given that the star second baseman’s previous contract already gave the Diamondbacks control through at least the 2027 season, and likely through 2028 given a club option.  However, Marte’s latest contract now keeps him in the desert through 2031 and puts an additional $64MM in his bank account, while also restructuring and spreading out the salary to give the D’Backs a bit of shorter-term payroll relief.

Most notably, $5MM of Marte’s $14MM salary for this season is deferred.  GM Mike Hazen implied that money could be quickly reinvested back into the team in terms of trade deadline acquisitions.

“This gives us more room, in terms of this year, to see what happens as we go through the season,” Hazen told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other reporters.  “We certainly made a big investment at the beginning of the year, and this will give us that added flexibility as we move through.”

There’s no doubt Arizona is in all-in mode for the 2025 season, with an estimated $194.7MM payroll that far surpasses the previous franchise high.  Considering how many notable players (i.e. Zac Gallen, Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Merrill Kelly, Jordan Montgomery) on high salaries are impending free agents, the D’Backs will be getting some money off the books next winter, but for now are firmly focused on winning while the entire group is together.  The Diamondbacks are off to a decent 5-3 start, though the club has been overshadowed by the red-hot performances of the other NL West contenders, and Marte now looks to be heading to the injured list due to a hamstring strain.

While Marte’s deal was his third long-term pact with the D’Backs, Brandon Pfaadt’s recent extension represented his first multi-year contract, as the right-hander is set to earn $45MM in guaranteed money over the 2026-30 seasons.  Now firmly locked in as a big part of the Diamondbacks’ future, Pfaadt almost didn’t end up in the organization at all, due to what Hazen now views as something of a “lucky” turn of events.

As Hazen and assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, Pfaadt was one of three players the Snakes were considering with their fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft.  That was the year the draft was shortened to only five rounds due to the pandemic, creating a crunch for both players in starting their pro careers, and for teams in making the most of a drastically reduced draft system.  As always, clubs were still looking to maximize their draft pool budgets, and the D’Backs asked the three players on their radar whether or not they would sign for less than the $360.8K slot value attached to the 149th overall pick.

Two of the players balked, but Pfaadt agreed to take a $100K bonus and thus became part of Arizona’s organization.  “I think there were 11 picks left after me.  It was getting towards the end.  We took the opportunity over any money amount,” Pfaadt said.

The decision has now paid off for Pfaadt in tremendous fashion, and now the D’Backs look wise in hindsight for finding a quality starter in the fifth round.  Naturally, Hazen and Sawdaye didn’t name the other two players considered, though Sawdaye said that one didn’t make the majors and the other did, “but Pfaadt is better.”  Sawdaye also said that if the other two players had also agreed to a below-slot price, the team might have gone with one of the others over Pfaadt, just because they had less scouting evaluation and background work on Pfaadt.

“Sometimes it works out in your favor and you get the right guys,” Sawdaye said.  “Other times you look back and you kick yourself.  You’re like, ’My god, we passed up on him just to save money?’ ”

In some off-the-field news for the Diamondbacks, a bill intended to re-direct sales taxes at Chase Field towards ballpark renovations continues to work its way through the state legislature.  Arizona’s House of Representatives has already okayed the bill and it is now under review from the state Senate, with the finance committee also giving it a green light after an amendment.  However, the mayor of Phoenix and Maricopa County officials in general have increased concerns over how much taxpayer money is involved in the bill.

The project still has a major supporter in Arizona governor Katie Hobbs, who said Wednesday in an interview with KTAR 92.3’s “Outspoken With Bruce and Gaydos” show (hat tip to Alex Weiner for the partial recap) that she would sign the bill “at this point.”  Governor Hobbs acknowledged the tax implications and said “one thing that we want to make sure happens in the bill is that it doesn’t harm the taxpayers.  That’s one of the things being worked out in the details.”

“I think everyone wants to do what we can to keep the Diamondbacks here in Arizona, keep Major League Baseball in Arizona and I think we’re very close to an agreement.”

Ketel Marte Likely Headed To IL With Left Hamstring Strain

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The Diamondbacks announced that Ketel Marte sustained a left hamstring strain in this evening’s win over the Nationals. The star second baseman pulled up lame as he ran out a first-inning double. He left the game immediately and was replaced by pinch-runner Garrett Hampson.

Manager Torey Lovullo suggested postgame that Marte was likely headed to the 10-day injured list (h/t to Megan Plain of Fox 10 Phoenix). The team will presumably have a better idea of how long he’ll be out as he goes through testing over the next couple days. Any absence is a significant blow on the heels of Marte’s first top-three MVP finish.

The two-time All-Star drilled 36 home runs with a .292/.372/.560 slash en route to a Silver Slugger award last season. Marte had been out to a strong start this year. Today’s double pushed him to 9-26 on the young season. He has drawn six walks while only striking out four times. The injury comes two days after Marte signed an extension that added four years and $64MM while deferring a decent chunk of salary to give the team more payroll flexibility in the short term.

Hampson is the only backup infielder on the active roster. He’s a light-hitting utility player who posted a .230/.275/.300 line over 113 games for the Royals last season. Blaze Alexander has been down since February because of an oblique strain. Grae Kessinger and Tim Tawa are on the 40-man roster if the D-Backs want to promote a backup infielder while drawing Hampson into the lineup at second base.

The higher-upside play would be to promote top prospect Jordan Lawlar, who hasn’t appeared in the majors since a late-season call in 2023. Lawlar missed most of last season to injury. There wasn’t a path to everyday playing time behind Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Eugenio Suárez, so the D-Backs optioned him back to Triple-A Reno to begin the season. He’s hitting .273 without a home run through his first six games. Primarily a shortstop, Lawlar made his third start of the season at second base in Reno’s game tonight. He has also made one start at third base and three at shortstop.

Diamondbacks Sign Ketel Marte To Extension

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The Diamondbacks announced a new seven-year contract with star second baseman Ketel Marte. It’s a reported $116.5MM guarantee that comes with $64MM in new money. Marte, who had already been under contract for three seasons, is now signed through 2031. He can opt out of the deal after the 2030 season, when there’ll be at least $11.5MM remaining. There are also $33MM in escalators and performance bonuses for the QC Sports client. Marte receives a five-team no-trade clause, though that’ll become moot when he gets 10-and-5 rights early in the 2026 season.

The contract takes effect this year and breaks down as follows: $14MM in 2025 ($5MM of which is deferred), $15MM in ’26, $12MM in ’27, $20MM in ’28, and $22MMM per season between 2029-30. Each top-three MVP finish would boost the following year’s salary by $3MM; it’d go up by $2MM if he finishes between fourth and seventh in MVP voting. The deal also includes $2.5MM annually from 2026-31 in plate appearance incentives.

The news surely comes as a delight to fans in Arizona. The face of the Diamondbacks franchise first flashed superstar potential back in 2019, when he was an All-Star and finished fourth in NL MVP voting after slashing .329/.389/.592 (150 wRC+) in 144 games. In the years since then, he’s generally been an above-average player but not necessarily a superstar, slashing .275/.347/.462 with a wRC+ of 118 from 2020 to 2023. That narrative changed in 2024, however, as Marte rediscovered his MVP-caliber form during his age-30 season with a phenomenal .292/.372/.560 (151 wRC+) slash line that earned Marte his first career Silver Slugger award, a second All-Star appearance, and a third place finish in MVP voting behind Shohei Ohtani and Francisco Lindor.

That’s the sort of elite production that makes for a phenomenal building block, so it’s not exactly a surprise that Arizona brass were interested in extending Marte’s stay with the club and making him a Diamondback for life. The club has often been aggressive about extending its top players under Mike Hazen, with this latest deal for Marte standing as the tenth extension agreed upon since he took over baseball operations in fall of 2016. It’s also the fourth of 2025, joining agreements the club reached with shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, reliever Justin Martinez, and right-hander Brandon Pfaadt.

More notably, it’s also the third extension of Marte’s career. His first came back in 2018 when he was a pre-arbitration player. The switch-hitter was guaranteed $24MM by that first deal, which ran through the end of his expected team control window but also afforded the Diamondbacks two option years on what otherwise would’ve been Marte’s first two years of free agency. Marte’s second deal came about just before the 2022 season began, ahead of his final year before those options would’ve kicked in. That deal overwrote those two option years and guaranteed Marte $76MM for the 2023-27 seasons, and also included a club option for 2028.

The second deal ended up covering just two seasons, as it has now already been overwritten to extend Marte’s stay in Arizona through at least 2030, with a player option that could push the deal into 2031. Given the fact that Marte was already under team control through the end of his age-34 season, it’s at least somewhat surprising that the Diamondbacks would decide to commit to their second baseman’s mid-30s this far ahead of time. After all, the club very easily could’ve waited to see how Marte would perform over the next two or three seasons before opening discussions with Marte prior to the 2028 season, when they would likely exercise their club option over his services.

With that being said, the deal not only extends Arizona’s years of control over their star, but also restructures his existing contract. Marte was slated to earn $50.8MM over the next three seasons on his existing contract. That number drops to just $41MM with his new deal, saving the club nearly $10MM over the next three seasons and $5MM in 2025 alone. That also does not factor in the $46MM in deferred money in the deal, which cuts down the amount of money owed to Marte in the short-term even further.

That the Diamondbacks would seek a restructured deal with Marte in order to save a bit of money in the short-term is understandable considering that the team is deep into uncharted financial waters. According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the club opened the 2025 season with a payroll of nearly $187MM. That’s an increase of $24MM over 2024, which was already the highest payroll in franchise history by more than $30MM. The club’s aggressiveness this winter in adding Corbin Burnes and swinging a trade for Josh Naylor was certainly admirable, but it’s long appeared likely that the Diamondbacks were likely stretching the limits of owner Ken Kendrick’s comfort zone.

If Arizona is facing the upper limits of its baseball operations budget, that could also explain the club’s reported insistence on suitors for struggling southpaw Jordan Montgomery eating at least $13MM of his $25MM salary for 2025 in trade talks as well as the club falling short in its pursuit of a top-flight closer this winter. Perhaps this restructured deal with Marte will offer them a bit more breathing room to work with at the trade deadline during an important 2025 season. After the current campaign, Montgomery and Naylor are slated to be joined by Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and Eugenio Suarez in departing for free agency. That’s a lot of significant players who will need to be re-signed or replaced to avoid a step back in 2026, and it’s possible today’s restructuring of Marte’s deal could help the club fill those upcoming holes as well.

Mike Rodriguez first reported last night that the D-Backs and Marte were working on a new nine-figure contract. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic was first on the $116.5MM guarantee, the $46MM in deferrals, the 2031 player option, and the salary structure. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers had the $11.5MM option value and the $149.5MM maximum after escalators. Piecoro had the escalator specifics.

Image courtesy of Imagn Images.

MLBTR Podcast: Garrett Crochet’s Extension, Problems In Atlanta, And Other Early-Season Storylines

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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 Anthony Franco 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!

Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images

Padres, D-Backs In Discussions To Play Mexico City Series In 2026

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The Diamondbacks and Padres are in discussions with MLB about playing a regular season series in Mexico City next year, report Dennis Lin and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The league has yet to make that event official.

MLB and the Players Association agreed to the establishment of the “World Tour” series to promote international play in the 2022 collective bargaining agreement. The CBA provides for a possible Mexico City event in May 2026. It also includes the possibility for a London series in June and one in San Juan in September, but MLB has not proceeded with every World Tour series contemplated in the bargaining agreement. The CBA permitted 2025 events in Mexico City, Paris and San Juan — none of which will happen for economic reasons.

Arizona and San Diego were scheduled for a two-game series in Mexico City on April 18-19, 2020. Those games were canceled for obvious reasons. MLB played its first regular season games in the city three years later. The Padres and Giants met for two games on April 29-30, 2023. The Rockies and Astros played there on April 27-28 last season.

There will not be any regular season contests in Mexico this year, though the Red Sox played a pair of Spring Training games against a Mexican League team in Monterrey. The only regular season action outside the U.S. and Canada this season was the season-opening Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs.

Diamondbacks Outright Rene Pinto

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Catcher Rene Pinto has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Reno by the Diamondbacks, according to Alex Weiner of AZ Sports. Pinto does not have the requisite service time or previous outright necessary to reject the assignment, so he’ll remain in the organization as non-roster depth going forward.

Pinto entered camp with Arizona in the mix to back up Gabriel Moreno alongside Adrian Del Castillo and Jose Herrera. The job ultimately went to Herrera, which necessitated the club designating Pinto for assignment as he had no minor league options remaining. The 28-year-old signed with the Rays out of Venezuela as an amateur and made his pro debut back in 2014. He’s spent his entire pro career in a Rays uniform prior to this winter, when the Rays DFA’d him in November and he was claimed off waivers by the Orioles. He stuck with Baltimore throughout much of the offseason but was DFA’d once again to make room for Charlie Morton on the club’s 40-man roster, at which point he was claimed by Arizona.

Pinto made his big league debut with the Rays back in 2022. The cup of coffee lasted only 25 games, and he hit just .213/.241/.325 during that time. Despite that meager performance in the majors, however, Pinto turned in a strong season at Triple-A as he slashed a strong .266/.320/.521 across 73 games at the level. That was enough to earn Pinto additional opportunities in Tampa, and he generally performed much better in them. 2023 saw Pinto appear in 38 games in the majors, hitting a respectable .252/.267/.456 with six homers in just 103 trips to the plate.

That intriguing combination of power and strong defense behind the plate was enough to make the Rays comfortable making Pinto their starting catcher to open the 2024 season. Unfortunately, Pinto didn’t last very long in the role. While he hit a respectable .214/.292/.429 that clocked in above league average over 19 games, those would be the only 19 games Pinto would play in the majors last year as he ceded playing time to a tandem of Ben Rortvedt and Alex Jackson. The catcher didn’t exactly go on to make a case for himself to get another shot in the majors upon being optioned to Triple-A, either, hitting just .191/.257/.373 in 53 games for the club’s Durham affiliate.

Now that Pinto has cleared waivers and been outrighted to the minors, he likely stands as the next man up to help out behind the plate in the event of an injury to either Moreno or Herrera. Normally, that role would appear more likely to go to Del Castillo given that he remains on the 40-man roster while Pinto does not, Weiner notes that Del Castillo has been placed on the minor league’s 7-day injured list. It’s unclear what ailment is bothering Del Castillo or how long he’ll be out of action at this point, but until he returns he won’t be able to serve as a fill-in catcher in the majors fro the Diamondbacks.

Diamondbacks Extend Brandon Pfaadt

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have agreed to a five-year contract extension with right-hander Brandon Pfaadt. It runs from 2026 through 2030 with a club option for 2031 and a mutual option for 2032. Reportedly, he is guaranteed $45MM with the following breakdown: $2MM signing bonus, a $3MM salary in 2026 followed by subsequent salaries of $5MM, $8MM, $11MM and $15MM. Then there’s a $21MM figure on the ’31 club option and a $25MM mutual option in 2032, with each of those options having a $1MM buyout.

He will reportedly have a five-team no-trade from 2030 to 2032. Pfaadt was previously slated for free agency after 2029, so this buys out at least one free agent year and the club option extends the club’s window of control by another season. The deal also reportedly includes a five-team no-trade list covering the 2030-32 seasons. Pfaadt is represented by Frontline.

Pfaadt, 26, was a fifth-round selection of the Diamondbacks in 2020. He quickly raised his stock with some strong minor league numbers. In 2021, he tossed 131 2/3 innings over 22 starts, spread across Single-A, High-A and Double-A. He had a combined 3.21 earned run average, 30.2% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. In 2022, it was 167 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.83 ERA, 31.6% strikeout rate and 4.8% walk rate.

Going into 2023, he was considered one of the top prospects in baseball. He made his major league debut that year with 96 innings over 18 starts and one relief appearance. The 5.72 ERA doesn’t look amazing at first glance but Pfaadt’s 22.3% strikeout rate was around league average with a strong 6.2% walk rate. He held a spot in the rotation through the playoffs, making five postseason starts with a 3.27 ERA as the Diamondbacks took the National League pennant.

2024 was his first full season in the majors and he again performed better than his ERA would tell you. He allowed 4.71 earned run per nine over his 32 starts and 181 2/3 innings. His 24.3% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate were both strong numbers.

At this point, Pfaadt has a 5.06 ERA in 277 2/3 innings but that doesn’t tell the whole story. As mentioned, his strikeout and walk rates have been good. His .315 batting average on balls in play and 66.4% strand rate are both on the unlucky side. His 4.15 FIP and 3.86 SIERA point to him being roughly one run better than his ERA.

The Diamondbacks are presumably putting more stock in those under-the-hood numbers in committing to Pfaadt today. He was previously set to hit the open market after his age-30 season but they have instead locked him up through his age-31 season with a club option for his age-32 campaign as well.

Looking at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, there have been a few recent extensions for pitchers in their pre-arb years. The top of the list has guys like Spencer Strider at $75MM, Brayan Bello at $55MM and Hunter Greene at $53MM. Those guys were all younger than Pfaadt is now and Greene also had the hype of being a second overall pick and high-profile prospect. Strider was just wrapping up a 2022 season with an insane 38.3% strikeout rate.

Pfaadt’s $45MM deal comes in just a hair under Tanner Bibee’s recent $47.2MM deal. That’s understandable since Bibee has a 3.25 ERA, 25.3% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 315 2/3 innings. Those numbers all put him a bit ahead of Pfaadt. He’s also a year closer to free agency, which gives him a bit of extra earning power.

For Pfaadt, he is kicking his free agency down the road, which will presumably lead to less future earning power. However, unlike some top prospects, he hasn’t been sitting on a multi-million-dollar bonus. He only got $100K when he signed and wasn’t slated to qualify for arbitration until after the 2026 season. This deal allows him to lock up some life-changing money ahead of schedule and before his career gets derailed by an injury, an ever-present concern for a pitcher.

For the Diamondbacks, they have been aggressive in locking up their incumbent players. In the past six weeks, they have given notable extensions to shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, reliever Justin Martínez and now Pfaadt.

The current rotation in Arizona is overloaded but the long-term picture is more open. For the 2025 season, they have Zac Gallen, Corbin Burnes, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodríguez and Pfaadt in five spots. Ryne Nelson is working in long relief even though he’s talented enough to pitch in the rotation of many other clubs.

But Gallen and Kelly are both impending free agents. Burnes has an opt-out after 2026. Rodríguez is guaranteed through 2027. As the next few years play out, it’s possible that each of those guys eventually leaves Arizona. Pitchers within the system could possibly replace them, with Nelson, Drey Jameson, Yilber Díaz, Cristian Mena and some other arms already in house. As that plays out, the Snakes are surely hoping that Pfaadt can be a constant in their rotation as one group potentially makes way for another.

The club is currently running a franchise-record payroll but has some decent money coming off the books. In addition to the aforementioned pitchers, Jordan Montgomery’s deal expires after 2025. He’s making $22.5MM this year but won’t pitch at all due to Tommy John surgery. Eugenio Suárez is making $15MM this year and also slated for free agency. That will potentially create a hole at third base but it’s possible that prospect Jordan Lawlar could provide a cost-effective replacement. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is only guaranteed through 2026 and Ketel Marte 2027.

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic first reported the $45MM guarantee. John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM in Phoenix relayed the option values. Robert Murray of FanSided reported the limited no-trade protection and then the annual salary breakdown. Gambadoro then relayed that the no-trade covered five teams.

Photos courtesy of Joe Rondone and Rob Schumacher, Imagn Images

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