Diamondbacks Reportedly Planning To Be Deadline Sellers
The Diamondbacks seem to have picked a lane. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that they are informing rival clubs that they plan to trade at least some of their veteran players, though the extent of their sell-off is still to be determined. Many of their players are impending free agents and qualifying offer candidates, so the trade returns would have to notably eclipse QO compensation for the Diamondbacks to pull the trigger on trading one of those players. It also seems they don’t want to totally wave the white flag on 2025, so they won’t just sell any theoretical candidate.
It’s a tricky spot for the club to be in. As noted by Rosenthal, the club may not want to punt the 2025 season. Back in 2023, they snuck into the playoffs with 84 wins and ended up going all the way to the World Series, eventually falling to the Rangers. But their 2025 club has been decimated by injuries, particularly on the pitching side. Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, A.J. Puk, Justin Martínez and others have required season-ending surgeries. Notable position players like Gabriel Moreno and Pavin Smith are also on the shelf.
Despite all of that, the club has hung around the playoff race. General manager Mike Hazen has spoken about how he would like to act as a buyer at the deadline but needed the club to justify that position by winning games. They came out of the All-Star break with a sweep of the Cardinals, but then got swept by the Astros. They are currently 50-53 and 5.5 games out of a playoff spot. They’re not totally buried but it seems the club has decided this may not be their year and some decisions should be made to help the club focus on the future.
Moving more clearly into seller position will have its advantages. With the expanded postseason, many clubs are still in contention, which makes it a seller’s market. By making some attractive players available, the front office could do a lot to help the Diamondbacks in the future.
Young pitching seems likely to be a focus. The rotation is set to lose Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly to free agency. Burnes will still be recovering from his surgery for a lot of next year. The 2026 rotation projects to include Eduardo Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. Rodríguez and Pfaadt are struggling this year. Nelson is doing well but has only really had a rotation spot for about six weeks, having been in long relief until injuries opened a spot for him. The Snakes could improve their 2026 rotation outlook by getting some younger pitchers now.
Eugenio Suárez seems the most likely player to be traded. He’s an impending free agent and his stock is tremendously high right now, since he’s been on a heater for more than a year. Dating back to July 7th of last year, he has 60 home runs, a .277/.334/.607 batting line and 154 wRC+. He has a $15MM salary this year, which will leave about $5MM left to be paid out at the deadline.
He will be highly attractive. He’s already been connected to teams like the Cubs, Yankees, Mariners and Reds. Rosenthal mentions those teams and adds the Mets to the pile. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix says 12 teams in total have contacted the Snakes about Suárez. Bob Nightengale of USA Today says the Mariners and Yankees are the most aggressive of the suitors, though the market appears to be very crowded.
The Mets have a cluster of young infielders which includes Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio. Baty is the only one in that group having a good season, though he’s also been playing some second base, so it’s possible he could co-exist with Suárez. The Mets are also reportedly willing to trade from that infield depth, so it’s possible Suárez could be brought in as part of a bigger shake-up.
With that hot market, it’s easy to the appeal for the Snakes in cashing in. It’s also possible that it could hurt their 2025 chances less than trading some of their other veterans. Jordan Lawlar is one of the top prospects in baseball but has been blocked from getting a big league audition. He can’t be expected to come up and produce at the same level as Suárez but it’s possible he could run with the opportunity and make up some of what is lost. He is currently out with a hamstring strain but could be back in the coming weeks. Even if he doesn’t come up and immediately succeed, there would be value in the Diamondbacks giving him an extended audition before they have to make key offseason decisions about their lineup.
There are some parallels on the other side of the infield. Josh Naylor is an impending free agent and consistently above-average hitter. Dating back to the start of 2022, he has a .272/.336/.462 line and 121 wRC+. He is making $10.9MM this year, which will leave a little under $4MM to be paid out as the deadline nears. Smith has been putting up big numbers the past two years and could take over for Naylor at first, though he’s currently sidelined by an oblique strain. Naylor has been connected to the Mariners though they are reportedly more interested in Suárez.
As mentioned, Gallen and Kelly are also impending free agents. Rosenthal has previously suggested the club is unlikely to trade both as they will still need innings to get through the season. That’s a bit of an odd hedge. They could always grab cast-offs from other clubs, Erick Fedde types, to finish the year. But perhaps the Snakes are trying to walk a fine line where they sell some pieces without totally punting their 2025 campaign. Trading one of this duo but keeping the other could be a compromise along those lines.
Kelly is having the better season but Gallen has higher theoretical upside. Jesse Rogers of ESPN recently reported that teams were a bit more interested in Gallen, despite the recent results. Gallen, 29, has a 5.58 ERA and 22.2% strikeout rate this year. Some of that might be luck, as he his 65.1% strand rate and 16.7% home run to fly ball rate are both to the unfortunate side. His 4.16 SIERA suggests he might not be too far from his past self, though his hard hit rate and barrel rate are also quite high this year, so it might not be all luck.
From 2022 to 2024, Gallen tossed 542 innings with a 3.20 ERA, 26% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate, 44.4% ground ball rate, 3.20 FIP and 3.60 SIERA. FanGraphs credited him with 12.1 wins above replacement in that time, seventh among all pitchers. It’s understandable that teams looking for rotation upgrades, particularly for the postseason, would be intrigued by acquiring Gallen and getting him back to that level. He is making $13.50MM this year, which will leave about $4.5MM left to be paid out at the deadline. He’s been connected to the Blue Jays but should be of interest to several other pitching-needy teams.
Kelly, 36, doesn’t have the same ace ceiling but has been more steady. He is in his seventh season with the Snakes and has a 3.76 ERA. That figure was 3.37 in 2022 and 3.29 in 2023. Last year, injuries limited him to 13 starts and his ERA jumped a bit to 4.03. This year, it’s back down to 3.32. He has a 24.2% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 44.2% ground ball rate. He’s making $7MM this year, so he’ll have just $2.33MM left to be paid out at the deadline.
Any of those four players is a plausible candidate to receive and perhaps a reject a qualifying offer candidate at season’s end. The exact value of the QO hasn’t been set, but is likely to be somewhere around $22MM. The 2024-25 qualifying offer was $21.05MM and it usually goes up annually.
The Diamondbacks are a revenue-sharing recipient, which affects their compensation for a player rejecting a QO and signing elsewhere. If the player ultimately signs for $50MM or more, the Snakes would get an extra draft pick just after the first round. Less than $50MM and the pick would come just ahead of the third round.
While teams value draft picks, drafted players usually take a few years to reach the majors. The Diamondbacks are presumably hoping to contend again in the near future, while they still have core players like Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte putting up great numbers. By trading these impending free agents, they could garner returns of prospects who are closer to the majors than anyone they would draft next summer. That should move the needle to the trade side, though it also seems like they’re leery of totally bottoming out their chances of hanging in the race this year.
In addition to those names, the Diamondbacks could also sell other impending free agents, such as Randal Grichuk and Shelby Miller. Those players wouldn’t bring back huge returns, though they’re also less essential to the club contending down the stretch in 2025. The Snakes have also reportedly gotten some interest in Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who is signed through 2027. They have also reportedly listened to offers on controllable outfielders like Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy. Time will tell how aggressively they smash the sell button but it seems like the Diamondbacks will be one of the most interesting clubs to watch over the next week.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
D-backs Expected To Target Young Pitching At Deadline
The Diamondbacks enter the unofficial second half of the season with a 47-50 record that has them buried by 11 games in the NL West and sitting 5.5 games out of the final NL Wild Card spot (with four teams to leapfrog to get there). General manager Mike Hazen said two weeks ago that he hopes the team puts him in a position to buy at the trade deadline. The team has gone 4-8 since he made those comments. FanGraphs gives the Diamondbacks just a 10.2% chance to make the postseason. Baseball Prospectus is ever so slightly more charitable at 11.3%. The D-backs open the second half with a three-game series against a 51-46 Cardinals team. They follow that with three against a last-place Pirates squad but then face a pair of first-place clubs — Tigers, Astros — in the final stretch leading to the trade deadline.
Suffice it to say, the outlook for 2025 isn’t great. Hazen spoke with Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic at this week’s All-Star festivities and acknowledged that the Snakes “are running out of time” and that they would “need to play pretty exceptional” baseball to get back into a buy position prior to the deadline. Hazen also conceded that he’s been fielding inquiries from clear buyers already but naturally wouldn’t commit one way or another when asked about his willingness to make a move well ahead of the July 31 deadline.
[Related: Arizona Diamondbacks Trade Deadline Outlook]
Arizona isn’t short on marketable assets, even if the goal is to hang onto players controlled beyond the current season. Corner infielders Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor would be two of the best bats on the market. Suárez was plunked on the hand in last night’s All-Star Game but remained in the contest. Postgame x-rays were negative. Randal Grichuk would be a nice role player for a team looking for a right-handed bat with a long track record versus lefties.
On the pitching side of things, Zac Gallen has struggled all season but has an excellent track record. He looked to be turning a corner with terrific starts on July 1 and 7 (combined 13 innings with one run on 10 hits and a 19-to-1 K/BB ratio) before being rocked for six runs in his final start prior to the break. Merrill Kelly (3.34 ERA in 116 frames) has been strong all season, though, as have relievers Jalen Beeks and Shelby Miller. Both Beeks and Miller are on the injured list — the latter due to a forearm strain on which he is ominously seeking a second opinion. If one or both returns in timely fashion, they’d be obvious trade targets for clubs seeking affordable bullpen help.
It’s at least possible the Diamondbacks will listen on more controllable players. They’re reportedly listened on their outfield depth. Corbin Carroll isn’t going anywhere, but each of Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Grichuk could hold varying levels of appeal.
If the D-backs do end up as a seller, which seems likely, Piecoro suggests they’ll prioritize adding pitching they can control beyond the current season. That’s only logical with Corbin Burnes facing a lengthy recovery from Tommy John surgery and both Kelly and Gallen hitting free agency at season’s end. Lefties Blake Walston and Tommy Henry also had UCL surgeries this season — Walston in March, Henry in June. Young righty Cristian Mena is on the 60-day IL due to a shoulder strain. The injury problems extend to the bullpen, where top relievers Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk had Tommy John surgery just last month.
Looking ahead to the Diamondbacks’ 2026 rotation mix, they’ll have Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Ryne Nelson all locked into spots. The former two have struggled to ERAs north of 5.00 this season. Nelson has a 3.68 ERA in 78 1/3 innings. Other in-house options, like 24-year-old righty Yilber Diaz (one of their top prospects entering the season) and 27-year-old Bryce Jarvis, have had nightmare seasons in Triple-A. Diaz currently has an ERA north of 11.00.
Given the broad-reaching slate of injuries and departing free agents, it’s sensible to focus on pitching help to the extent possible. That doesn’t mean the D-backs will turn away offers that include enticing young hitters to take on lesser pitchers, but if two packages of comparable quality are offered up, the D-backs seem likely to favor one that skews toward the pitching side of things.
Of course, the D-backs needn’t focus entirely on rebuilding their staff in the next two weeks. They have nearly $75MM in salary set to come off the books via free agency and could save further money via trades in the next two weeks. Their arbitration class isn’t large, and one of their most notable arbitration salaries (Puk) could come off the books via non-tender. His UCL surgery was just last month, and 2026 is Puk’s final season of club control. There should be ample space — and need — to pursue help both in the rotation and the bullpen this offseason.
D-backs Have Listened To Offers On Outfield Depth
The Diamondbacks remain on the fringes of the NL postseason picture, sitting five and a half games out in the Wild Card chase. General manager Mike Hazen has said he hopes the team performs well enough to position itself as a late buyer, but the GM has also at least been listening to offers on some of his outfielders, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports. That does not include star Corbin Carroll, unsurprisingly, but Heyman suggests names like Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk have likely been discussed.
Of the four outfielders, Grichuk is the most obvious trade candidate. He’s playing the 2025 season on a one-year, $5MM contract. He’ll unlock a $250K bonus when he reaches his 200th plate appearance — he’s currently at 174 — and another $250K if he reaches 275 plate appearances.
Grichuk’s contract is structured such that Grichuk is owed a $2MM salary and a $3MM buyout on a $5MM mutual option for next year. That makes him a bit more expensive for the rest of the season than a standard one-year, $5MM contract would imply; he’d have about $634K in salary remaining at the time of the trade deadline but also that $3MM buyout and some potential incentive pay. Of course, the D-backs could make a trade more appealing by including cash to offset some of that backloaded 2025 salary.
The 2025 season hasn’t been Grichuk’s best, but he’s still hitting for power. The 33-year-old is batting .242/.282/.466 with seven homers, 13 doubles and a triple in his 174 trips to the plate. His 5.7% walk rate is right in line with his career mark. His 21.6% strikeout rate is down from his career level of about 25% but noticeably higher than the personal-best 16.5% clip he turned in last year in a more productive season with the Snakes.
Gurriel, 31, is a tougher sell from a trade standpoint. He’s being paid $14MM this season and is guaranteed $13MM in 2026 plus at least a $5MM buyout on a $14MM club option for the 2027 season. His .251/.299/.421 batting line (98 wRC+) already represents a down year, and any team to acquire him would know Gurriel will either opt into the remaining $18MM he’s guaranteed beyond the current season or go on a second-half tear and opt out. It’s not an appealing structure, and the Diamondbacks would probably need to eat a significant portion of the remaining money he’s owed to facilitate a trade.
Thomas and McCarthy are both controllable lefty-swinging outfielders, but neither is having a good season at the plate. Thomas, once touted as one of the top outfield prospects in baseball, has yet to hit in parts of four major league seasons. He’s an above-average runner and strong defensive center fielder, but this year’s .245/.295/.366 batting line (84 wRC+) is actually the best of the 25-year-old’s young career. He’s a lifetime .230/.276/.360 hitter in just under 1200 big league plate appearances.
McCarthy, on the other hand, has had plenty of big league success at the plate — just not in 2025. He hit .283/.342/.427 in 99 games back in 2022 (116 wRC+) and slashed .285/.349/.400 (110 wRC+) as recently as last season. He had a down year in 2023, however, and the 27-year-old has struggled to a career-worst .144/.228/.244 line (33 wRC+) in 102 trips to the plate this season.
That’s a relatively small sample, of course, and McCarthy has had some demonstrably poor luck. He’s hitting just .151 on balls in play — less than half the .328 career mark he carried into the season and some 130 points lower than the league average. McCarthy isn’t hitting the ball hard at all (83.9 mph average exit velocity, 23.7% hard-hit rate), but he also had poor batted-ball metrics even in his more productive 2022 and 2024 seasons. His 15.7% strikeout rate remains excellent, and McCarthy has walked at a solid 8.8% rate.
The D-backs optioned McCarthy to Triple-A after a rough three-week start and only recalled him back in late June. He batted .314/.401/.440 in 237 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks’ top affiliate in Reno and has put together an improved (albeit still diminished) .222/.300/.400 slash in his past 51 major league plate appearances.
Both Thomas and McCarthy are controllable for an additional three seasons. Both are eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason. The Diamondbacks burned McCarthy’s final option year when they sent him down to Triple-A back in April. He’ll be out of minor league options next year. Thomas also entered 2025 with one option year remaining, but his is still intact, as he hasn’t been sent down at any point this season.
Looking Ahead To Club Options: NL West
Over the coming days, MLBTR will look at next offseason’s option class. Steve Adams will highlight the players who can opt out of their current deals, while we’ll take a division-by-division look at those whose contracts contain either team or mutual options. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.
Arizona Diamondbacks
- Kendall Graveman, RHP ($5MM mutual option, $100K buyout)
Arizona signed the veteran righty, who missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in January 2024. Graveman was hobbled by back discomfort this spring and began the year on the 15-day injured list. He has thrown a few bullpen sessions but has yet to begin a rehab assignment. During his most recent healthy season, Graveman worked to a 3.12 ERA across 66 1/3 innings between the White Sox and Astros.
- Randal Grichuk, OF ($5MM mutual option, $3MM buyout)
Grichuk posted big numbers in a short-side platoon role for the Snakes in 2024. Arizona brought him back on a $5MM free agent deal. He’s making only a $2MM salary and will collect a $3MM buyout on his option at the end of the season. Grichuk hasn’t gotten much playing time, starting six of Arizona’s 19 games (all but one as the designated hitter). He’s out to a decent start, batting .240 with five doubles over 28 plate appearances.
Colorado Rockies
- Kyle Farmer, 2B ($4MM mutual option, $750K buyout)
Farmer has been a rare bright spot in what has been a terrible Colorado lineup. The veteran utilityman has started 15 of their 18 games. He’s playing mostly second base and is hitting .345 with nine doubles, the second-most in MLB. Farmer isn’t going to keep hitting at this pace, but it’s an excellent start for a player who signed for $3.25MM after a down year (.214/.293/.353) with Minnesota.
- Tyler Kinley, RHP ($5MM club option, $750K buyout)
Kinley signed a three-year extension during the 2022-23 offseason. The slider specialist had a brilliant first half to the ’22 campaign, but that was cut short in July by elbow surgery. Kinley hasn’t been the same pitcher since returning. He allowed more than six earned runs per nine in both 2022 and ’23. He has given up five runs (four earned) with seven strikeouts and six walks across 7 2/3 innings this season. Kinley owns a 6.03 ERA while walking more than 11% of opposing hitters over 88 frames since signing the extension.
The option comes with a $5MM base value. It would escalate by $500K apiece if Kinley finishes 20, 25, and 30 games — potentially up to $6.5MM. He has finished two contests in the early going. While the option isn’t especially costly, this is trending towards a buyout.
- Jacob Stallings, C ($2MM mutual option, $500K buyout)
Stallings produced the best offensive numbers of his career for the Rox in 2024. He returned on a $2.5MM deal early in the offseason. Stallings has been more of the 1-b catcher behind Hunter Goodman. He has started seven games and caught 59 innings. It’s been a slow start, as he’s batting .125 with 12 strikeouts in 27 trips to the plate.
Note: Thairo Estrada’s one-year deal contains a ’26 mutual option, but he’s excluded from this exercise because he would remain eligible for arbitration if the option is declined.
Los Angeles Dodgers
- Max Muncy, 3B ($10MM club option, no buyout)
This could end up being a borderline call. The Dodgers can keep Muncy around for what’d be his ninth season in L.A. on a $10MM price tag. That’s not an exorbitant sum for baseball’s highest-spending team. Muncy has generally been an excellent hitter in the middle of Dave Roberts’ lineup. He’s a career .230/.355/.482 hitter in Dodger blue. He remained as productive when he was healthy last season, posting a .232/.358/.494 slash over 73 games. An oblique strain cost him three months.
Muncy is out to a much slower start this year. He has yet to connect on a home run in 18 games. He’s batting .193 with 25 strikeouts in 68 plate appearances (a 36.8% rate). It’s very early, of course, but he’ll need to pick things up. Muncy turns 35 in August. NPB third baseman Munetaka Murakami will be posted for MLB teams next offseason. The Dodgers will very likely be involved on the 25-year-old slugger, so it’s possible they’d prefer to keep the position open early in the winter.
- Chris Taylor, INF/OF ($12MM club option, $4MM buyout)
Taylor is in the final season of his four-year, $60MM free agent deal. He was coming off an All-Star season in 2021, when he hit .254/.344/.438 with 20 homers. His offense has trended down over the course of the contract, especially sharply over the past two years. Taylor fanned at a near-31% clip last season, batting .202/.298/.300 in 246 plate appearances. He has only been in the starting lineup three times this season.
The Dodgers have kept Taylor throughout his offensive struggles. They clearly place a lot of value on him as a clubhouse presence and appreciate the defensive versatility he provides off the bench. Still, it’s hard to imagine them paying the extra $8MM to exercise the option since he’s essentially the final position player on the roster. The option price would increase by $1MM if Taylor is traded or in the unlikely event that he reaches 525 plate appearances and/or makes the All-Star Game.
Note: Alex Vesia’s arbitration contract contains a ’26 club option, but he’s excluded from this exercise because he would remain eligible for arbitration if the option is declined.
San Diego Padres
- Elias Díaz, C ($7MM mutual option, $2MM buyout)
Díaz finished last season in San Diego after being released by the Rockies. He re-signed on a $3.5MM deal as the Padres went with the affordable veteran catching tandem of Díaz and Martín Maldonado. He’s hitting .206 in 13 games, though he has taken seven walks against eight strikeouts.
- Kyle Hart, LHP ($5MM club option, $500K buyout)
Hart, a soft-tossing lefty, returned to the majors after an excellent year in Korea. He signed a $1.5MM guarantee with a ’26 team option that has a $5MM base salary. The option price could climb as high as $7.5MM. It would jump $250K if Hart reaches 18 starts this year, $500K at 22 starts, $750K at 26 starts, and $1MM if he starts 30 games.
San Diego has given Hart a season-opening rotation spot. He has allowed seven runs over his first 11 2/3 innings. Hart has walked five with eight strikeouts and a below-average 8.3% swinging strike percentage.
- Michael King, RHP ($15MM mutual option, $3.75MM buyout)
King’s option is purely an accounting measure. He agreed to push $3.75MM of this year’s $7.75MM guarantee back to the end of the season in the form of a buyout — potentially buying the Padres a bit of flexibility for in-season trade acquisitions. Barring a major injury, he’s going to decline his end of the option and will be one of the top pitchers in next year’s class.
- Tyler Wade, SS/OF ($1MM club option, no buyout)
Wade agreed to a $1MM club option as part of a deal to avoid a hearing in his final year of arbitration. He was squeezed off the roster during Spring Training. Wade cleared waivers, accepted an assignment to Triple-A, then came back up last week. He’s playing center field with Jackson Merrill and Brandon Lockridge on the injured list. The option price is barely above the league minimum, but Wade is on the roster bubble and no guarantee to stick in the majors through the end of the season.
San Francisco Giants
- Tom Murphy, C ($4MM club option, $250K buyout)
San Francisco added Murphy on a two-year deal during the 2023-24 offseason. The veteran catcher has had a difficult time staying healthy throughout his career, and that’s continued in San Francisco. He played in only 13 games last year because of a knee sprain. He started this season on the shelf with a herniated disc that is going to keep him out for at least the first two months. This looks like a buyout.
Diamondbacks Re-Sign Randal Grichuk
The Diamondbacks announced that they have signed outfielder Randal Grichuk to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026. It’s reportedly a $5MM guarantee for the Excel Sports Management client, broken up into a $2MM salary, followed by a $3MM buyout on a $5MM mutual option. He can also earn another $500K via incentives: $250K for getting to 200 plate appearances and another $250K for getting to 275. There’s also a one-time $250K assignment bonus if Grichuk is traded. The club had a 40-man roster vacancy and doesn’t need to make a corresponding move.
Grichuk, 33, signed a similar deal with the Snakes around this time last year. He and the club agreed to a deal with a $2MM guarantee in the middle of February, which turned out to be a big win for the D’Backs. Grichuk played a part-time role, getting into 106 games and stepping to the plate 279 times. He hit .291/.348/.528 in those, production that translated to a 139 wRC+.
Most of that production came in a platoon capacity, which has been a trademark of the righty swinger. He has a .273/.324/.509 line and 121 wRC+ against lefties in his career, compared to a .242/.288/.449 line and 93 wRC+ without the platoon advantage. Arizona sent him to the plate 184 times against southpaws last year and he responded with a huge .319/.386/.528 line and 151 wRC+. They limited him to just 95 trips to the plate against righties, but he actually fared well in those, hitting .242/.274/.527 for a 116 wRC+.
Strikeouts have often been a problem for Grichuk in his career, as he was in the 26 to 32% range in each season from 2014 to 2019. But he then got that down into the low 20s for a few years before dropping all the way to 16.5% in 2024.
That production fit very well on a Diamondbacks club that had a lot of prominent lefties bats and will again in 2025. The outfield mix features Corbin Carroll, Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas. This offseason, the Snakes acquired lefty Josh Naylor to replace righty-swinging Christian Walker at first base. Last year, lefty Joc Pederson was the primary designated hitter, though he became a free agent and signed with the Rangers. It’s possible that the club will redirect some of Pederson’s plate appearances to Pavin Smith, another lefty.
Grichuk gives manager Torey Lovullo plenty of ability to shuffle those lefties out of the lineup whenever he sees fit, either by sending Grichuk out into the field or by putting him in the designated hitter slot. Defensively, Grichuk is capable of playing any of three outfield slots, though he’s a bit better in a corner than in center.
From a financial perspective, it’s not a huge deal in MLB terms, but it still pushes the Diamondbacks farther into uncharted waters. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the club ran an Opening Day payroll of $163MM, which was a franchise record by a significant margin. Thanks in large part to their shocking Corbin Burnes deal, RosterResource projects them to get to $198MM this year. That’s in spite of the club’s broadcast deal falling apart in 2023, leaving them to pivot to an MLB-run model which likely brings in less revenue.
Trading Jordan Montgomery and the $22.5MM he’s owed this year would bring those numbers down, but it’s possible the budget is getting a bit tight at the moment. That might explain why Grichuk’s option buyout is actually higher than his salary, as it allows the club to kick that payment down the road to the end of the season.
On the heels of his solid season, Grichuk got plenty of interest around the league. He was connected to the Orioles, Pirates and Giants throughout the winter. Anne Rogers of MLB.com relays today that the Royals were interested as well. When Jurickson Profar signed with Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, all the surefire everyday outfielders were off the board. That seems to have pushed clubs to pivot to the part-time role players. Austin Hays was signed last week, while Ramón Laureano and Grichuk put pen to paper today. For clubs still looking for outfield help, guys like Harrison Bader, Mark Canha, Jason Heyward and Alex Verdugo are still available.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported that the Diamondbacks were bringing back Grichuk with a $5MM guarantee and incentives that could take it to $5.5MM. Jon Heyman of The New York Post first provided the full breakdown.
Giants Have Had Recent Talks With Randal Grichuk
The Giants have had recent talks with free agent outfielder Randal Grichuk and his representatives at Excel Sports, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Giants have been looking for ways to upgrade the offense, and the veteran Grichuk would give them a right-handed bat to pair with lefty-swinging outfielders Jung Hoo Lee and Mike Yastrzemski.
Grichuk, 33, was outstanding at the plate for the division-rival Diamondbacks in 2024, batting .291/.348/.528 with a dozen homers, 20 doubles, a pair of triples, a career-best 7.2% walk rate (still below league-average) and a career-low 16.5% strikeout rate. As is typically the case, he was used selectively, with 184 of his 279 plate appearances coming versus left-handed pitching.
Grichuk, as he tends to do, absolutely torched southpaw opponents. He slashed .319/.386/.528 against lefties — good for 51% better than league-average production, by measure of wRC+. He was more strikeout-prone and less likely to walk against righties, but Grichuk maintained his power output even against same-handed opponents; in 94 plate appearances against right-handers, he hit .242/.274/.527.
Also by measure of wRC+, the Giants were one of the ten best teams against lefties in 2024. That’s largely due to the preposterous production of young righty-swinging outfielder Heliot Ramos in such situations (.370/.439/.750). Any player would be hard-pressed to replicate stats that outrageous, however, and San Francisco also lost two of its better hitters against southpaws from last season; Jorge Soler (.277/.387/.500) was traded to the Braves at the deadline, and Michael Conforto (.284/.349/.537) signed with the Dodgers.
Shortstop Willy Adames, who signed a seven-year deal with the Giants earlier this winter, also hits right-handed but has been far more productive against righties than lefties in his career (and in 2024). A signing of Grichuk would help to deepen the lineup against lefties and offset some of the production lost to the departures of Soler/Conforto and some likely regression from Ramos.
As things stand, RosterResource projects the Giants’ payroll just shy of $182MM. That’s not particularly close to the franchise-record $200MM. Their CBT ledger sits at $222MM, leaving them $19MM from the point at which they’d have to pay the luxury tax for what would be a second straight season. Impressive as Grichuk’s 2024 season was, he won’t command anywhere near the type of guarantee that’d push the Giants close to that tax threshold, so he’d be an affordable add that also leaves room for some additional spending, even if the aim is to reset their CBT penalty level.
Pirates Interested In Randal Grichuk
The Pirates are known to be looking for corner infield help and free agent Randal Grichuk is one player they are interested in, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. They were also connected to Alex Verdugo in rumors this week.
Grichuk, 33, is coming off a strong season. He signed with the Diamondbacks for a modest $2MM guarantee, one of several veteran players left out in the cold during last winter’s frosty market. The Snakes mostly used him in a short-side platoon capacity, so Grichuk only got 279 plate appearances, but he made the most of them. He hit 12 home runs and slashed .291/.348/.528 overall for a 139 wRC+.
In his career, Grichuk has been better against lefties but also held his own against righties in 2024, in a limited sample. The D’Backs only sent him to the plate against a righty 95 times on the year but he slashed .242/.274/.527 in those for a 116 wRC+. His career line in that split is .242/.288/.449 for a wRC+ of 93. Against southpaws, he hit .319/.386/.528 for a 159 wRC+ in 2024, with a career line of .273/.324/.509 and a 121 wRC+.
Whether or not those improved results against righties are sustainable, it was a solid campaign on the whole and one that will likely earn Grichuk a raise. In addition to his offensive contributions, he’s also been a solid defender in his career. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average have him an above average fielder, though they were split on his 2024 season, with Grichuk producing +3 DRS and -2 OAA.
For the Bucs, their search for outfield help is understandable. Bryan Reynolds is likely to be in left field and Oneil Cruz in center, but right field is wide open. Including Reynolds, eight different guys played at least 27 innings for Pittsburgh in 2024, the other seven being Bryan De La Cruz, Edward Olivares, Connor Joe, Joshua Palacios, Ji Hwan Bae, Jack Suwinski and Billy Cook. None of them took hold of the position and many of them have been expunged from the roster.
It was reported last month that they would be looking for corner outfield upgrades, though it seemed fair to expect them to keep the investment fairly modest. They have never been a big-spending club and RosterResource projects them for a $79MM payroll next year. That’s already pretty close to the $86MM figure they had to open last year, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
Despite his strong season, Grichuk’s market has been pretty quiet so far. It was reported last month that the Orioles had some interest in him, though that came out after they had already signed Tyler O’Neill and thus reduced or perhaps eliminated their need for Grichuk.
The outfield free agent market has seen some movement but there’s still more to come. Juan Soto, Teoscar Hernández, O’Neill and others have signed but Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar are still out there, with those two looking for multi-year deals. Guys like Grichuk, Verdugo, Jesse Winker, Mark Canha and others are also available and likely to end up with one-year deals.
Given the Pirates’ history, they are probably going to end up with someone in the latter group. If it’s Grichuk, he could perhaps find a platoon partner already on the roster, as Palacios, Suwinski and Bae are still there and each of them hits left-handed. Palacios and Bae have been subpar against both lefties and righties in their respective big league careers but Suwinski has been solid against righties. He has a brutal .173/.264/.306 slash and 58 wRC+ against southpaws but a .218/.323/.442 line and 107 wRC+ the rest of the time.
AL East Notes: O’Neill, Grichuk, Holmes, Rays
At the end of last season, both Tyler O’Neill and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow expressed interest in the possibility of O’Neill returning to Boston on a new contract. That possibility is now officially off the board after O’Neill signed a three-year, $49.5MM deal with the Orioles yesterday, and as per WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (Bluesky link), the Sox “were not very aggressive” in their attempts to re-sign the outfielder. Boston’s pursuit of Juan Soto simply took precedence, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier writes, as since the Red Sox are one of the teams still waiting on Soto to make his decision, the Sox didn’t make O’Neill any offers.
More from around the AL East…
- Speaking of the O’Neill signing, the move likely closes the door on the possibility of Randal Grichuk landing in Baltimore, as MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (X link) writes that the Orioles had interest in Grichuk’s services. Grichuk would’ve been more of a clear-cut platoon player, but like O’Neill, is a right-handed bat who crushes left-handed pitching. This skillset was on full display with the Diamondbacks in 2024, when Grichuk hit .319/.386/.528 in 184 PA against southpaws. Grichuk turned down a $6MM mutual option for 2025 to enter free agency, and he figures to score a solid contract based on his lefty-mashing offense and his ability to at least passably play all three outfield positions.
- The Blue Jays had interest in Clay Holmes before Holmes signed with the Mets earlier this week, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon. Toronto was looking at Holmes just as a reliever, which isn’t surprising given how fixing the bullpen is one of the Jays’ top offseason priorities. Holmes hasn’t started a game since his rookie year in 2018, but he’ll move back into a starting role with the Mets on his new three-year, $38MM contract.
- By a 4-3 vote on Thursday, the St. Petersburg city council approved a deal to issue bonds to help cover some of the city’s contribution to the Rays‘ new ballpark project. Colleen Wright of the Tampa Bay Times (separate links) looks at both Thursday’s decision and the next step in the process, which is a Pinellas County Commission meeting on December 17 to approve the bonds and $312.5MM in tourism taxes towards the ballpark project. It isn’t yet clear how the county commission will vote, and even in the event of a yes vote, the delays in these votes have already led the Rays to threaten to abandon the deal altogether and leave the Tampa/St. Pete area, as the team says it isn’t feasible for the ballpark’s opening to be put off until 2029. The initial plan saw the new ballpark set to be ready by Opening Day 2028, but Hurricane Milton’s destruction of the Tropicana Field roof has left the Rays in a temporary home of George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa in 2025, and uncertain about their location for at least the 2026-27 seasons.
Randal Grichuk Declines Mutual Option With Diamondbacks
Outfielder Randal Grichuk has turned down his end of a $6MM mutual option with the Diamondbacks, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. As Ethan Hullihen noted on X, Grichuk will receive a $1.75MM buyout. It’s unclear if the Diamondbacks exercised their half of the option, although it’s now a moot point.
It’s hardly a surprise that Grichuk is electing free agency after the strong 2024 season he put together. The veteran shone as a right-handed platoon bat, producing his best offensive numbers since his rookie campaign in 2015. Over 279 plate appearances, he hit 20 doubles, two triples, and 12 home runs, good for an .875 OPS and a 139 wRC+. And while he excelled against left-handed pitchers, whom he faced in two-thirds of his plate appearances, it helped that he held his own without the platoon advantage. He put up a .913 OPS and 151 wRC+ against lefties and an .801 OPS and 116 wRC+ against righties. It was the first time since 2018 that he produced above-average numbers against same-handed pitchers.
Grichuk did all that on just a $1.5MM salary in 2024. He was also guaranteed a $500K buyout at the end of the season if either he or the Diamondbacks declined his mutual option. He was able to increase that buyout to $1.75MM by reaching 250 plate appearances in 2024, meaning he will need up earning $3.25MM on this deal. Needless to say, the D-backs got a tremendous bargain, and it will most likely take a good deal more money, and perhaps even multiple years, for a team to secure his services this winter. Grichuk could have his sights on something close to the two-year, $13MM deal Hunter Renfroe signed with the Royals last offseason.
To be clear, Grichuk is still a part-time player in his mid-thirties without a particularly strong track record of success. He’s not going to be one of the top free agent bats on the market. Still, there will always be a robust market for productive role players, and there are good reasons to believe Grichuk can maintain his newfound success. For one thing, he drastically improved his plate discipline in 2024, putting up the lowest strikeout rate and highest walk rate of his career. His 47.6% hard-hit rate was also a career-high. Those numbers should be able to convince plenty of teams that Grichuk can be a valuable contributor in 2025.
The Diamondbacks had one of the most productive lineups in the majors this past year, but they’ll surely be in the market for bats again this winter as they look to get back to the playoffs in 2025. In addition to Grichuk, they are going to lose first baseman Christian Walker to free agency. They could also be without Joc Pederson, who has a $14MM mutual option for 2025, and Eugenio Suárez, if they choose not to exercise his $15MM team option.
Diamondbacks Activate Randal Grichuk
April 5: The Diamondbacks have made it official, announcing that they have reinstated Grichuk and optioned Barrosa.
April 4: Randal Grichuk appears to be on the verge of his Diamondbacks debut, as John Gambadoro of 98.7FM Phoenix (X link) reports that the outfielder is expected to be activated from the 10-day injured list prior to Friday’s game with the Braves. Outfielder Jorge Barrosa was already optioned to Triple-A today to create room on the active roster.
Due to a January surgery that removed bone spurs from Grichuk’s ankle, he missed some of his usual offseason prep work, and thus was additional ramp-up time was likely to be required at the start of the season. A firmer timeline was put in place as Grichuk landed with the D’Backs on a one-year contract worth $2MM in guaranteed money (with a mutual option for 2025), and Arizona indeed put him on the 10-day IL so Grichuk could get some more outfield work in via a rehab assignment at Triple-A Reno. His IL placement was retroactive to March 25, so Grichuk’s stint lasted beyond the minimum 10 days only due to the fact that the D’Backs didn’t have a game today.
The 32-year-old veteran is expected to primarily face left-handed pitching this year, serving as a right-handed hitting counterpoint to the lefty-swinging group of DH Joc Pederson, utilityman Jace Peterson, and outfielders Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas. Corbin Carroll will naturally play every day in the outfield, and Thomas was himself sent to the 10-day IL earlier this week due to a hamstring strain. Since it appears as though Thomas’ injury is moderately serious, it could open up more playing time for Grichuk right away.
Grichuk delivered a league-average 100 wRC+ over 471 plate appearances with the Rockies and Angels in 2023, hitting .267/.321/.459 with 16 home runs. Grichuk’s splits have become increasingly slanted in recent years, and last season saw him hit .244/.294/.401 over 337 PA against righties and a far superior .328/.388/.607 slash line in 134 PA against southpaws. A platoon role seems like the best use of Grichuk at this point in his career, and he’ll now get a chance to contribute for a Diamondbacks team that is clearly in win-now mode.