Merrill Kelly Unlikely To Be Ready For Opening Day
D-backs righty Merrill Kelly has been slowed by back discomfort in recent days and has undergone multiple waves of testing to get to the root of the issue. It seems the Snakes still haven’t determined the exact problem, but Kelly tells the team’s beat that he’s not expecting to be ready to take the mound on Opening Day (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Tests thus far have fortunately not revealed any major issues in his back, but doctors are still working to ascertain what’s hobbling him. Piecoro adds that Kelly played catch today but still felt pain in his back while doing so.
If the D-backs feel Kelly only needs to be pushed back a few days or skip one start, it’s possible he could avoid a trip to the 15-day IL, but obviously today’s comments firmly put an IL stint on the table as a possibility. If he heads to the injured list to begin the season, Arizona will open the year with Zac Gallen, Ryne Nelson, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Michael Soroka in the rotation. One would imagine Gallen’s standing with the team would make him the Opening Day favorite, even on the heels of a down season, though that much will be determined as camp plays out.
Kelly, 37, spent six and a half seasons in the Diamondbacks’ rotation from 2019-25 but was traded to the Rangers at last summer’s deadline. Asked about his time with the D-backs following that trade, Kelly said he’d be open to a return in free agency after calling Phoenix home for so long and setting down some roots there. Though he didn’t perform as well as hoped in his two months with Texas, he still finished out the season with a sharp 3.52 ERA in 184 innings, fanning a roughly average 22.3% of his opponents against a strong 6.4% walk rate.
The Diamondbacks entered the offseason looking to scale back payroll but still managed to find common ground with Kelly, making a two-year offer worth $40MM that sold the righty on heading back to the desert. The D-backs are effectively trotting out the same rotation that struggled last year — plus an affordable one-year flier on the talented but injury-prone Soroka — so they’ll be counting on Pfaadt, Rodriguez and especially Gallen (who als0 re-signed as a free agent) to bounce back after rough showings.
It’s clearly not ideal for the team’s steadiest starter to already be dealing with an injury in camp — even if it proves minor — though the Snakes should have better rotation depth this year. Part of that is due to the very trade that shipped Kelly out of town. The Rangers sent pitching prospects Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and David Hagaman to Arizona to rent Kelly for the remainder of the ’25 season. Drake and Bratt are now both on the team’s 40-man roster and could make their big league debuts this season as they look to stake their claim to a long-term rotation spot.
Other depth options in camp include prospects Yilber Diaz and Cristian Mena, both of whom have made brief MLB debuts but struggled through down showings in 2025. Righty Dylan Ray was also selected to the 40-man roster this past offseason, and veterans Joe Ross and Thomas Hatch are in camp as non-roster invitees as well.
Diamondbacks Notes: Kelly, Waldschmidt, Outfield
Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly has been battling some back tightness this week. A quick diagnosis was expected but the issue is dragging on a bit longer than initially anticipated, as detailed by Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic.
The issue first cropped up on Saturday, which led to Kelly being scratched from a live batting practice session. He was sent for an MRI and those results were expected to be announced on Monday. He has instead been sent for additional testing, including a CT scan, with the club still avoiding any kind of official announcement on his status.
“It’s a wide range,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I’m not going to lie. We’re being very thorough with what we’re doing. We’re taking every test necessary to make sure that we get everything in the bag before we start to pass that information along. We’ve got to figure out exactly what’s happening in there.”
Time will tell if this is just the club being cautious or if it’s a sign the injury is more significant than anticipated. If Kelly has to miss any time, it would be less than ideal for a club with subpar rotation depth. Right now, they project to have Kelly alongside Zac Gallen and Ryne Nelson with Eduardo Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Michael Soroka battling for two spots. If Kelly is on the shelf, then everyone in that group would be in line for rotation gigs to open the season.
The Snakes also have Yilber Díaz, Cristian Mena, Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Dylan Ray on the 40-man roster and the guys in that group could suddenly jump to next-man-up status. No one in that cluster has even 32 big league innings pitched. Non-roster invitees with some big league experience include Joe Ross, Thomas Hatch and Bryce Jarvis.
Elsewhere, Arizona has a fairly wide open outfield group. They traded away Jake McCarthy in the offseason and Corbin Carroll require hamate surgery, meaning he could start the season on the injured list. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is recovering from last year’s surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was expected to be out until the All-Star break. There are some signs he could beat that timeline but he is still projected to start the season on the IL.
That leaves Alek Thomas as the lone guy seemingly locked into a spot. Jordan Lawlar could be in there as well, though he is still getting accustomed to the outfield after coming up as an infielder. He also hasn’t hit at the big league level yet, though he has destroyed the minors and is out to a strong start this spring.
That leaves a path open for prospect Ryan Waldschmidt and Piecoro writes that the club hasn’t ruled out the possibility of him breaking camp with the club. It would be fairly bold if the Snakes ultimately went down that path. Waldschmidt topped out at Double-A last year and isn’t yet on the 40-man roster. But he can clearly hit, as shown by last year’s .289/.419/.473 slash line and 142 wRC+. He hit a home run off Pedro Avila of the Guardians in yesterday’s Cactus League game.
Waldschmidt is a consensus top 100 prospect in the league, so he would be eligible for the prospect promotion incentive if he cracked the Opening Day roster. If he went on to win Rookie of the Year or finish top three in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration years, the Snakes would net a future draft pick just after the first round.
It’s possible there’s a great amount of fluidity in the Arizona outfield this year. Between Carroll, Thomas, Gurriel, Waldschmidt, Lawlar, Jorge Barrosa, Pavin Smith and Tim Tawa, they have a number of options in the mix, with health and performance surely to shuffle the depth charts over the months to come.
Photo courtesy of Rob Schumacher, Imagn Images
Diamondbacks Notes: Kendrick, Trades, Kelly, Locklear
As per RosterResource‘s estimates, the Diamondbacks spent around $191.3MM on payroll in 2025, which translated to a $214.8MM luxury tax number. The Snakes are currently projected for a $195.2MM payroll and a $223.7MM tax figure, as team managing general partner Ken Kendrick’s statement from last September that his club “will not be spending at the same level” has ended up being incorrect.
Kendrick addressed this topic when speaking with the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters at the Diamondbacks’ spring camp, saying simply that “well, sometimes you surprise yourself in life in what you do.” The D’Backs are set for their third consecutive payroll increase since the team won the NL pennant in 2023, and while they haven’t since returned to the postseason, Kendrick remains intent on keeping the team in position to contend.
“I want us to be successful. I want our fans to feel that we are committed to investing every dollar possible and putting the best team we can put together on the field….I don’t want to overplay it, but, to a degree, we’re in a partnership with the fans,” Kendrick said. “That’s the way I see what we do. We’re in a partnership with our fans. They generate revenue by buying tickets and coming to ball games and supporting us. And as a good partner, we need to take the money they spend and invest it wisely, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The spending may not be over, since Kendrick said “we have some room beyond where we are, but we don’t have a ton of room….Do we have the possibility of adding from the present moment? Yeah, possibly. Not highly likely of significance, but we have some room to add without getting into a tax problem.”
The D’backs are still well shy of the $244MM luxury tax threshold, though their current $223.7MM figure is as close as the organization has ever been to exceeding the tax line. While Kendrick has obviously okayed larger expenditures already, it is probably safe to assume that $244MM is Arizona’s budget ceiling, though the team has some room to maneuver in terms of trade deadline upgrades.
Expanding the payroll has reportedly put the D’Backs into the red, as Piecoro hears from sources that the club lost around $30MM in 2025. It is always a source of conjecture about how much or little any MLB team (apart from the Braves, who are publicly owned) is really making given all of the accounting that goes into a club’s many revenues streams, yet even if the Diamondbacks did operate at a loss, it hasn’t stopped Kendrick from continuing to spend on a roster he believes is capable of big things. Further spending to ensure a more competitive team may well be the most logical way of getting the team back into the black, as a winning product leads to higher attendance, higher TV ratings, and extra games in the form of playoff contests.
More moves could come before Opening Day, albeit on a lower spending scale. John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports writes that the D’Backs are looking to trade a prospect for a utilityman type of player. This new addition would replace the recently-traded Blaze Alexander as a multi-position asset coming off the Diamondbacks’ bench. While an exact match for Alexander may not be a priority, Alexander is a right-handed hitter who saw time as second base, third base, shortstop, left field, and center field over his two seasons in the desert.
Most of Arizona’s offseason spending was invested in two familiar faces. Zac Gallen spent most of the winter on the free agent market after rejecting Arizona’s qualifying offer, but this past week returned to the fold on a one-year, $22.025MM deal that technically matches the value of the QO, though $14MM of the money is deferred. After the D’Backs traded Merrill Kelly to the Rangers at the trade deadline, Kelly was brought back in December on a two-year deal worth $40MM in guaranteed money, with a vesting option covering the 2028 season.
Soon after Kelly re-signed, reports emerged that a team on the West Coast made Kelly a three-year offer worth over $50MM, and that the Padres were one of Kelly’s prime suitors. Speaking with Piecoro and other media today, Kelly said the Padres had a three-year deal on the table, though he didn’t confirm the dollar figure. Beyond whatever numbers were involved, Kelly said his decision was based in large part on his family. It may well be that the Kelly clan simply preferred returning to the familiar routine of living and playing in Arizona, and Kelly himself said last summer amidst trade speculation that he would be open to re-signing with the Snakes in free agency.
Turning to an injury update, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Alex Weiner of 98.7 Arizona Sports) that first baseman Tyler Locklear isn’t expected back until sometime around mid-May or possibly early June. Locklear underwent twin surgeries to fix both a labrum problem in his left shoulder and a ligament tear in his left elbow. There was some hope Locklear would be ready to return to the Diamondbacks’ lineup at some point in April, though today’s news puts more of a specific timeline in place.
Locklear will definitely start the season on at least the 10-day injured list, and a move to the 60-day IL would occur if the D’Backs are certain Locklear won’t be ready by the end of May. The team can continue to monitor his progress throughout Spring Training and in April with no penalty, as a shift to the 60-day IL would still keep Locklear’s placement date as Opening Day.
Over 47 games and 165 career plate appearances with the Mariners and Diamondbacks, Locklear has hit just .169/.255/.277 against Major League pitching. His impressive minor league numbers hint at more potential, though once he does get healthy, Locklear’s potential spot as a platoon partner with Pavin Smith at first base has now been filled by Carlos Santana. Since Arizona doesn’t have a set DH, there is room for Locklear to potentially earn some at-bats down the road, but for the next three months, his only priority is completing his rehab.
Diamondbacks Notes: Bullpen, First Base
The D-backs have bolstered their rotation mix this winter by agreeing to a two-year reunion with Merrill Kelly and bringing Michael Soroka in on a one-year deal, but the bullpen remains largely untouched. Taylor Clarke‘s low-cost, one-year deal is the only addition of any real note. General manager Mike Hazen emphasized to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that he still plans to add to his relief corps, but the focus for much of the winter was on the rotation.
“The bullpen market isn’t done,” Hazen told Piecoro over the weekend. “There’s trades out there. … There are still active conversations all over the place in this area.”
While that doesn’t necessarily mean that the D-backs are lock to trade for an established reliever rather than sign one of the remaining free agent arms, it at least lends some credence to the belief that the trade market is the preferred route. Diamondbacks brass has been candid about the fact that payroll will be reduced in 2026 even as the team keeps aiming to contend. Hazen implied to Piecoro that if he’d signed a more prominent, established reliever in free agency, that doing so would have come at the expense of being able to re-sign Kelly, who commanded a two-year, $40MM contract.
Pinning down viable trade candidates, particularly in the bullpen, is often a tricky endeavor — particularly at this point of the offseason when many names have already moved. Cardinals lefty JoJo Romero is an obvious trade candidate, but the D-backs and Cards already pulled off one notable deal (Nolan Arenado) and clearly didn’t line up on a way to include Romero in that deal. The Rockies have some young, controllable relievers who’ve garnered interest (e.g. Victor Vodnik, Seth Halvorsen, Juan Mejia), but trading with a division foe is always a bit more complicated. Milwaukee’s Trevor Megill was in trade rumblings earlier in the winter, but the Brewers might not feel as urgent to shed his salary after trading a more expensive Freddy Peralta to the Mets.
However it shakes out, Hazen’s comment aren’t the lone indicator that the Diamondbacks could prefer the trade market as an avenue to bolster manager Torey Lovullo’s relief options. John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM Arizona Sports suggested last week (prior to Hazen’s comments) that adding more bullpen help, specifically via the trade market, and bringing in a righty-hitting first baseman were likely goals for the front office.
A righty-hitting first baseman is a natural target. Arizona hoped to be adding just that last summer when scooping up former top prospect Tyler Locklear from the Mariners as part of the Eugenio Suarez return, but Locklear suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow and injured the labrum in his left shoulder on a collision at first base in September. He underwent season-ending surgery shortly thereafter and isn’t a lock to be ready for the early portion of the season. The 25-year-old Locklear has yet to hit in 165 big league plate appearances, but he bashed Triple-A pitching at a .316/.401/.542 pace last year (136 wRC+) and logged strong offensive performances in 2024 (131 wRC+ between Double-A, Triple-A) and in 2023 (145 wRC+ between High-A and Double-A).
As it stands, Arizona has Pavin Smith penciled in for the majority of work at first base. He’s a career .253/.333/.439 hitter against righties (111 wRC+) but has been considerably better across the past two seasons, albeit while battling some notable injuries that have limited his time on the field. Still, the late-blooming Smith has posted a big .271/.359/.493 slash (134 wRC+) with 16 home runs, 26 doubles and a triple in 399 plate appearances against righties across the past two seasons. Unfortunately, he’s a career .222/.296/.301 hitter against fellow lefties, which only underscores the need for a platoon partner.
There’s been plenty of speculation among D-backs fans about a reunion with Paul Goldschmidt, who of course starred for Arizona for the first eight seasons of his career before being traded to St. Louis in the 2018-19 offseason. The 38-year-old’s .274/.328/.403 slash with the Yankees last year was about league average, but he did nearly all of his damage against lefties, hitting them at a .336/.411/.570 clip compared to just .247/.289/.329 against fellow righties. If Goldschmidt is amenable to a limited role coupled with a Phoenix homecoming, he’d indeed be a fine fit. Speculative alternatives on the free agent market include Rhys Hoskins, Ty France and Justin Turner.
Padres Notes: King, Kelly, Darvish
The Padres reunited with Michael King this past week on a three-year deal that offers him the opportunity to opt out in each of the next two offseasons. As noted by Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union Tribune, however, negotiations between the two sides didn’t kick into gear until very recently.
Sanders notes that president of baseball operations A.J. Preller instructed manager Craig Stammen and pitching coach Ruben Niebla to message King less than two weeks ago to see if King was interested in returning to San Diego. At the outset of the offseason, the right-hander initially preferred a return to the east coast, where he pitched for years with the Yankees after growing up in Rhode Island and going to college in Boston. King indicated to reporters (including Sanders) that while some teams had “blown [him] away” with strong offers, he didn’t believe those teams had the roster and commitment to winning necessary to field a World Series contender in 2026. King added that he was prioritizing winning “for the duration of the contract,” and that he was willing to take less in order to make that happen.
It seems that ended up being what he did with San Diego, which Sanders adds was the only west coast team King had interest in playing for. While King’s $75MM guarantee came in just shy of the $80MM guarantee MLBTR predicted for the right-hander at the outset of the offseason, it’s nonetheless a strong deal given the higher average annual value and opt-out opportunities after each season. With that said, King clearly was trending towards a nine-figure contract prior to his injury woes this past season. It’s not inconceivable that there was a team willing to look past the medical concerns and offer him that sort of deal this winter, given King’s comments. The Marlins, Cubs, Orioles, Yankees, and Red Sox were among the teams known to have interest in King’s services this winter, though Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that the Yankees ultimately never made an offer to the righty.
With King in the fold alongside Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove, Preller indicated that he’s satisfied with the front of the club’s rotation. It seems the Padres had a strong desire to add to the front of their rotation this winter, however, as Dennis Lin of The Athletic reports that San Diego made a “competitive” offer to right-hander Merrill Kelly before landing King. Kelly ultimately landed with the Diamondbacks on a two-year, $40MM deal. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal recently reported that Kelly received a three-year offer from a west coast team that would’ve guaranteed the right-hander “more than $50MM,” and it’s not clear if the Padres were the team references in Rosenthal’s report, it certainly wouldn’t be a shock if the “competitive” offer Lin reports that San Diego made to Kelly was in that ballpark. A three-year offer in that range could theoretically have been similar to the four-year, $55MM contract the team signed Pivetta to last winter.
Perhaps Preller’s desire to add a front-of-the-rotation arm this winter in part stems from uncertainty surrounding Yu Darvish‘s future. The veteran right-hander underwent UCL surgery last month that will keep him out of commission for at least the entire 2026 campaign. What’s more, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported earlier this week that Darvish is not certain if he’ll pitch again following his rehab process. The 39-year-old hurler was limited to 15 starts this past year due to injury and struggled when he did take the mound, with a 5.38 ERA in 72 innings of work. Given that he’ll celebrate his 41st birthday during the 2027 season, it’s perhaps not a shock that Darvish is uncertain about his ability to return to a major league mound after this latest health-related setback.
Of course, the possibility of Darvish stepping away from baseball is complicated by his contract situation. The veteran righty is under contract for $16MM in 2026 and is set to make $15MM per year in both 2027 and 2028. If Darvish were to retire, as Acee has reported he’s contemplating, he would stand to lose out on at least some of that money. It’s also possible that Darvish and the Padres could negotiate a buyout, not unlike the process the Angels and Anthony Rendon are reportedly in the midst of ahead of the final year of his contract with the organization. Perhaps that sort of buyout could help create financial flexibility for the budget-conscious Padres, who have had to get creative with their contracts in recent years in order to remain competitive and continue spending in free agency.
Diamondbacks Sign Merrill Kelly
The Diamondbacks officially announced a reunion with Merrill Kelly on a two-year contract with a 2028 vesting option. The Apex Baseball client is reportedly guaranteed $40MM. He receives a $2MM signing bonus and will make successive $17MM and $21MM salaries. If Kelly reaches 170 innings in 2027, he’ll lock in a $12MM salary for the 2028 season. If he reaches 185 innings in ’27, that ’28 guarantee will jump to $14MM. The D-Backs cleared a roster spot earlier by flipping Kyle Backhus to the Phillies.
The 37-year-old Kelly returns to the team with which he has spent nearly his entire major league career. Though initially drafted by the Rays in the eighth-round of the 2010 draft, Kelly made his big league debut with the Diamondbacks back in 2019 after a four-season stay in Korea as a member of the KBO’s SK Wyverns (now known as the SSG Landers). After a pedestrian rookie campaign in the majors where he pitched to a league-average ERA in 32 starts, Kelly managed to fashion a role for himself as one of the better mid-rotation arms in the majors.
Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Kelly has pitched to a 3.47 ERA in 108 starts. He’s struck out 23.1% of his opponents while walking 7.7% in that time, leaving him with a 3.81 FIP. Although a 4.03 SIERA and other so-so peripherals cast him as a step down from your prototypical front-end starter, the veteran has managed to remain a durable and productive rotation piece. Kelly particularly endeared himself to Arizona fans when he delivered a brilliant 2.25 ERA over 24 postseason innings during the club’s run to the World Series in 2023.
Amid a disappointing 2025 season where the Diamondbacks were ravaged by injuries to everyone from star closers Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk to newly-signed ace Corbin Burnes, the team engaged in a sell-off at trade deadline and shipped Kelly to the Rangers in exchange for a trio of pitching prospects. Kelly put up fairly pedestrian numbers across ten starts with the Rangers: a 4.23 ERA and near-matching 4.18 FIP across 55 1/3 innings of work.
Even while the veteran was in Texas, an offseason reunion with the Diamondbacks was already being speculated upon. Kelly spoke fondly of Arizona and expressed an openness to re-signing when asked about the possibility while the Rangers were visiting Chase Field in the season’s final few weeks. “Definite” interest in a reunion with Kelly was reported on Arizona’s side shortly before last week’s Winter Meetings, and now the sides have come together on a deal.
Turning to the deal itself, Kelly’s $40MM guarantee clocks in just ahead of the two years and $36MM MLBTR predicted for the right-hander when ranking him as the #25 free agent in this offseason’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents list. The Snakes were aggressive both in their offer and the timing of the deal; while the free agent market for position players and especially relievers has kicked into gear already, Kelly is just the third starting pitcher from MLBTR’s Top 50 to sign a contract this offseason. He joins Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, both of whom received guarantees that slightly eclipsed MLBTR’s predictions.
Now that he’s set to return to Arizona, Kelly stands as the favorite to start for the Diamondbacks on Opening Day this year. He’ll join a rotation that already added Michael Soroka and will reunite with former teammates Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson. Burnes could be a factor later in the season but is not expected to pitch until sometime in the second half after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June. While the team’s rotation certainly looks much more complete with Kelly back in the fold, bringing the right-hander back shouldn’t stop the team from pursuing other rotation additions after the club’s pitching staff finished 19th in the majors with a 4.29 ERA last year.
Of course, adding beyond this could prove to be easier said than done. The Diamondbacks are projected for a payroll just north of $171MM in 2026, according to RosterResource. That rises to north of $205MM for luxury tax purposes. GM Mike Hazen has suggested that, while Arizona’s payroll would likely be moving downward from its 2025 level, that would still leave the team with room to spend. The club spent $188MM on its payroll last season, however, meaning they currently sit less than $17MM from that mark.
Perhaps that leaves enough wiggle room to reunite with Paul Goldschmidt on an affordable one-year deal, a move the Diamondbacks have been said to be contemplating, but Kelly will surely go down as the team’s biggest expenditure unless an increase in payroll is approved or the team makes a trade that clears salary. To that latter point, the hot stove has been burning with Ketel Marte trade buzz in recent weeks. Moving Marte would certainly clear payroll off the books (and simultaneously add some young rotation options as part of the return), though Hazen has consistently downplayed the likelihood of a deal surrounding Marte actually coming together.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the Diamondbacks and Kelly were finalizing a two-year, $40MM deal. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reported the option specifics. David Brandt of The Associated Press had the salary structure.
D-backs Have Shown Interest In Reunions With Kelly, Goldschmidt
The D-backs are in the market for rotation help this offseason, and there’s mutual interest between the team and longtime right-hander Merrill Kelly, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. A reunion with righty Zac Gallen is seen as less likely, he adds. Beyond the “definite” interest in re-signing Kelly, Gambadoro adds that Arizona is open to the idea of bringing Paul Goldschmidt back to Phoenix — albeit in more of a part-time/platoon role at first base.
Kelly, 37, spent six and a half seasons in the Arizona rotation before being traded to the Rangers at this summer’s deadline. The former Rays farmhand broke out in the Korea Baseball Organization from 2015-18 and had never pitched in the majors before the D-backs took a two-year flier on him in the 2018-19 offseason.
That modest investment proved to be a masterstroke. Kelly went on to sign an extension with the Snakes and ultimately made 162 starts with a 3.74 ERA over the course of 953 innings during his time in Arizona. All three of the pitching prospects the Snakes picked up in the trade sending Kelly to Texas now rank among the top 20 or so within the Diamondbacks’ system; Baseball America recently ranked righty David Hagaman their No. 5 prospect. Lefty Kohl Drake and righty Mitch Bratt are further down BA’s list of D-backs prospects but are also closer to the majors. Both could debut in 2026.
Bringing Kelly back to Chase Field after receiving a solid trade return would be a nice sequence for the D-backs. Even when the season was still ongoing, Kelly was asked (during a return series to Arizona as a visitor) about whether he’d be open to returning as a free agent.
“I’ve voiced my love for this place,” Kelly said at the time (video link via 98.7’s Jake Garcia). “I’ve talked to the front office tirelessly about being a D-back for life. That was really my plan. That was real. That was genuine. … So it’s never off the table. Coming home is very attractive, not only for me but also for the family aspect of it. But at the same time, I’ve put myself in a position to have what I hope to be a decent market, so I’m going to have to make a hard decision, business-wise, but coming back and being a D-back is never off the table.”
The D-backs have made no secret about the fact that they’re cutting payroll after topping $200MM for the first time in franchise history last year. With multiple rotation spots and several bullpen roles to fill, that could be a tall order. However, Kelly isn’t going to command the type of long-term megadeal that some of his free agent counterparts can seek, given that he’ll pitch next year at age 37. He’s likely capped at a two-year deal on the open market, which surely only enhances his appeal to the Diamondbacks. Arizona currently projects for a payroll around $145MM, per RosterResource.
With that in mind, a Goldschmidt reunion also makes some sense for a team that could use a right-handed platoon bat at first base. Pavin Smith seems likely to enter the season as Arizona’s primary option at either first base or designated hitter (depending on how righty-swinging Tyler Locklear looks next spring). Smith has hit .262/.357/.475 with 17 homers in 446 plate appearances across the past two seasons, but he’s been limited by injury and nearly all of that production came versus right-handed pitching. The lefty-swinging Smith has just 47 left-on-left plate appearances since 2024 and is a career .222/.296/.301 hitter versus southpaws.
Goldschmidt, at 38 years old, is no longer the annual MVP threat he once was. He spent 2025 with the Yankees and got out to a torrid start before limping to a sub-par finish over the final four months of play. His .274/.328/.403 batting line was about league average, but Goldschmidt batted only .226/.277/.333 (69 wRC+) from June 1 onward.
One thing he managed to do all season, however, was to pummel left-handed pitching, just as he always has. Goldschmidt posted an awful .247/.289/.329 line against righties but decimated lefties at a .336/.411/.570 clip in 168 turns at the plate. He earned $12MM last year, and coming off a poor finish with glaring platoon splits, he’s probably looking at a further pay cut. Critics might label a reunion as a nostalgia bid for a player who is past his prime, but Goldschmidt can still provide value in a limited role. And, with someone this talented, a rebound to better numbers against righties can never be expressly ruled out; Goldschmidt didn’t hit right-handers at all in 2024-25, but he slashed .259/.359/.446 against them as recently as 2023.
D-backs’ GM Downplays Payroll Concerns
Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick has already publicly indicated that his team’s payroll will decline from the franchise-record $200MM set in 2025, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the front office is handcuffed in terms of its ability to pursue additions this winter. General manager Mike Hazen recently pushed back on the idea that he might have to subtract some salary via trade, telling Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic:
“I don’t really feel that way, honestly. That’s not the impression I have. Are we going to be doing what we did last offseason? Probably not. But I don’t think I have zero wiggle room or avenues to pursue players.”
RosterResource currently projects the Snakes for about $143MM in 2026 payroll, and that’s before potential non-tenders among the arbitration class. Injured lefty A.J. Puk, who underwent UCL surgery this summer, is projected for a $3.3MM salary (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) but might not even pitch next season in his final year before free agency. Righty Kevin Ginkel ($3MM projection) posted a 7.36 ERA in 25 2/3 MLB innings. Outfielders Alek Thomas ($2.2MM projection) and Jake McCarthy ($1.9MM projection) both had well below-average seasons at the plate; McCarthy, in particular, was one of the 20 worst hitters in MLB, sitting with the 18th-worst wRC+ mark among the 348 hitters who tallied at least 200 turns at the plate.
Assuming some of that group departs, the Diamondbacks will find themselves with a $135-140MM projection for next year’s Opening Day payroll. Even if ownership plans to scale back payroll by as much as $25MM — and that’s just an arbitrary number for illustrative purposes — Hazen could reasonably have as much as $40MM to spend on next year’s payroll alone.
All of this pushes back somewhat against the notion of a potential trade of star second baseman Ketel Marte. Hazen has already called trading Marte or any of his star hitters “unlikely,” although because he’s acknowledged that he’ll hear offers as a matter of due diligence, some optimists have clung to the idea that Marte might be available. Trading him would bring a haul of talent, but it’d also just create another hole which needs to be filled.
Arizona’s shopping list this winter is lengthy, to say the least. Hazen & Co. will need to add at least two starters to a rotation that currently consists of Ryne Nelson and a pair of pitchers who struggled badly in 2025: righty Brandon Pfaadt and lefty Eduardo Rodriguez. Corbin Burnes underwent Tommy John surgery in June and will miss most or all of next year. Zac Gallen is a free agent. Most of the organization’s top pitching products heading into 2025 pitched poorly and/or suffered an injury this past season. The bullpen needs a nearly complete overhaul.
In a separate piece, Piecoro suggests that reunions with Gallen and fellow righty Merrill Kelly (whom the D-backs traded to the Rangers back in July) seem unlikely if the two indeed command the type of $17MM+ annual values many (MLBTR included) have predicted for both pitchers. There’s no firm indication that either is squarely off the table, to be clear, but the D-backs need to add at least two starters and relievers apiece, and that’s to say nothing of the infield corners or the bench. Young sluggers Tyler Locklear and Jordan Lawlar could get looks at first base and third base, respectively, but neither has proven himself in the majors. Lawlar has also been getting a look in center field, which stands as another potential area of need after Thomas struggled so much with the bat in 2025 (and really, in his overall parts of four MLB seasons to date).
Diamondbacks Notes: Gallen, Kelly, Rotation, First Base
Zac Gallen is one of the more intriguing pitchers on the free agent market this winter, as interested clubs will have to balance the right-hander’s solid track record up against his shaky 2025 season. Theoretically, the situation could present an opening for Gallen to accept a qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks, though John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7FM Radio (multiple links) feels “there is no chance he accepts it.”
This winter’s qualifying offer is estimated to be worth roughly $22MM. While a nice one-year payday, Gallen is undoubtedly looking for much more in a longer-term commitment as he tests the market for the first time. Even if his struggles this year inevitably lower his asking price, baseball’s ever-present need for pitching means that Gallen should be able to land some kind of acceptable multi-year pact.
Scott Boras (Gallen’s agent) has a long history of finding such deals for his clients, though Boras has also explored relatively shorter-term contracts with opt-out clauses for players who are entering free agency on the heels of so-so platform years. It isn’t hard to imagine Gallen signing such a deal, and then if he returns to form in 2026, enacting an opt-out clause to immediately return to free agency. Obviously there’s some risk in betting on himself in such a fashion, plus next year’s market has the added uncertainty of labor unrest and a potential lockout as the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.
Gallen posted a 4.83 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, and 8.1% walk rate over 192 innings in 2025, with the ERA and K% both standing out as career worsts. Pretty much all of Gallen’s Statcast numbers were below the league average, and he was continually plagued by the home run ball — Gallen’s 31 homers allowed were the third-most of any pitcher in baseball. The inflated number is related in part to the number of innings Gallen tossed, though his barrel rate and hard-hit ball rates didn’t surpass the 26th percentile of all pitchers.
The good news for Gallen is that he seemed to get on track over the season’s final two months. After posting a 5.60 ERA over his first 127 innings, he improved to a 3.32 ERA over his last 65 frames and 11 starts. Gallen’s turn-around came directly after the trade deadline, and had he started pitching better a little earlier, it is quite possible he already would’ve been gone from Arizona considering the Diamondbacks’ other deadline sells.
Ken Kendrick is a known fan of Gallen, and the D’Backs owner stated earlier this week that it isn’t “out of the realm of reality” that the righty could be re-signed. Within that same interview, however, Kendrick said that “we will not be spending at the same level” as in 2025, though the Diamondbacks still plan to have a competitive payroll and are intent on winning next year.
Whether this adds up to a salary number that can work for both the D’Backs and Gallen’s camp remains to be seen. If Gallen did reject the qualifying offer and sign elsewhere, Arizona would receive a compensatory draft pick just after the first round of the 2026 draft. Landing an extra pick in the 31-36 overall range would be a decent consolation prize if Gallen did depart, especially if the Diamondbacks could add starting pitching elsewhere at a lower price.
For instance, a reunion with Merrill Kelly has been speculated on basically ever since Kelly was traded to the Rangers at the deadline. Kelly was open about his desire to stay in Arizona both before and after the trade, and Kelly would be available at a lower price than Gallen given their ages (Kelly turns 37 in a couple of weeks, and Gallen turned 30 last month). Gambadoro feels the Diamondbacks will pursue one of Gallen or Kelly but not both, leaving one rotation spot open for a younger pitcher until Corbin Burnes is ready to return from Tommy John surgery.
Between Arizona’s pitching needs and the team’s desire to lower payroll, some other areas of the roster might receive less focus. For instance, Gambadoro thinks the D’Backs will probably stand pat at first base, with Pavin Smith getting the bulk of at-bats and Tim Tawa or Tyler Locklear facing as the right-handed hitting side of the platoon. Bringing in a veteran bat for the first base/DH mix would also seem logical, even if such an acquisition isn’t likely to be as high profile as last offseason’s trade for Josh Naylor.
Smith appeared in only eight games after July 5, as an oblique strain and then a quad strain cost him essentially all of the back half of the season. Smith hit .258/.362/.434 with eight home runs over 288 plate appearances in 2025, facing right-handers in all but 24 of those trips to the dish. The result was a very solid 123 wRC+ for the season, yet almost all of Smith’s production came during a scorching-hot April, and his strikeout rate ballooned upwards to an ungainly 31.9%. Getting more out of Tawa or Locklear would go a long way towards solidifying the Diamondbacks’ first base platoon, but the unproven duo has only 390 combined Major League PA between them.
Red Sox Promote Connelly Early, Place Dustin May On Injured List
5:50pm: Early’s promotion is official. May lands on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 6, with elbow neuritis. Boston created the necessary 40-man spot by recalling infielder Vaughn Grissom from Triple-A and placing him on the 60-day injured list. Grissom’s season is over due to plantar fasciitis.
10:46 am: The Red Sox will promote pitching prospect Connelly Early to make his major league debut tonight versus the A’s, as first reported by Foul Territory. Katie Morrison-O’Day of MassLive.com noted earlier in this week that Early, a 2023 fifth-round pick, was scratched from his start at Triple-A Worcester because the Sox wanted him to be ready if the big league club had a need this week. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo wrote yesterday that Early was “very much in play” to make his MLB debut within the next couple of days.
Early isn’t on the 40-man roster, so Boston will need to make corresponding transactions to open space on both the active and 40-man rosters. Righty Dustin May will head to the injured list to open an active roster spot, per Foul Territory and Cotillo.
The 23-year-old Early has thrived in both Double-A and Triple-A this season, combining for 100 1/3 innings with a 2.60 earned run average, a huge 31.9% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate. The 6’3″, 195-pound lefty is sitting 93.4 mph on his four-seamer, complementing the pitch with a deep variety of secondary offerings including a slider, changeup, sinker, cutter and curveball (listed in descending order of usage rate). He’s kept the ball on the ground at a strong 50% clip and has thus far posted an excellent 14.3% swinging-strike between Double-A and Triple-A.
Early entered the season ranked tenth among Boston prospects at Baseball America but has climbed to sixth, even after the draft added several new entrants to the top tiers of every system in the sport. Scouting reports at BA, FanGraphs and MLB.com tout Early’s changeup as a plus offering. There’s a wider range of opinions on his slider, but the general consensus is that it at least has the potential to be an above-average, if not plus offering. The Virginia product will join fellow rookie Payton Tolle as a fairly high-profile September addition who could not only help into and throughout the postseason but could very well be auditioning for a 2026 rotation spot.
Although Early wasn’t on the 40-man roster on Sept. 1, he’ll still be eligible for postseason play. Players only need to be in the organization to have eligibility. The Sox will technically need to petition to have Early added to their postseason roster as an injury replacement, but teams do that every year. Depending on May’s timetable, he could simply be added as a replacement for the same pitcher he’s replacing on the active roster today.
There was at least one scenario where the Red Sox wouldn’t have had Early as an option to call up. When speaking with the Diamondbacks about Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen prior to the trade deadline, Early was of interest to Arizona’s front office, Alex Speier and Tim Healey of the Boston Globe report. The Sox were willing to discuss lefty Brandon Clarke but deemed Early too steep a price to pay in those talks, per the Globe duo. Kelly went to the Rangers for a package of three pitching prospects. Gallen stayed in Arizona and will likely receive a qualifying offer.
As for May, it’s not yet clear exactly what type of injury he’s facing. Boston acquired him from the Dodgers at the trade deadline, sending 2024 first-round pick James Tibbs III (whom they’d acquired from the Giants for Rafael Devers) back to Los Angeles in return.
That trade hasn’t gone at all as the Red Sox hoped. May has made six appearances, five of them starts, and pitched to an ugly 5.40 ERA with a lower strikeout rate (19.5%) and higher walk rate (9.8%) than he’d logged in what was already a shaky season with Los Angeles (4.85 ERA). He’s a free agent at season’s end and doesn’t necessarily have a spot on the postseason roster set in stone, so if May needs even three weeks on the injured list, it’s at least feasible that his Red Sox tenure is effectively over. Certainly, both he and the organization will hope he can get back in minimal time and pitch his way into postseason consideration, but time will tell whether that’s plausible.