News Diamondbacks Team Notes

The big question of the D-Backs offseason has been whether to trade Ketel Marte. They’ve reportedly fielded calls from upwards of a third of the league with teams like the Mariners, Red Sox and Reds most prominently linked. Although general manager Mike Hazen called a trade of a star hitter “mostly unlikely” at the GM Meetings in early November, they’ve kept the line of communication open given their needs around the roster.

According to Hazen, they’re not going to maintain that posture for the entire offseason. “We’re very likely to put an end to (Marte trade talks) shortly,” the GM told Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. When pressed for specifics on the timeline, Hazen said that he “(hasn’t) figured that out yet” but said they can’t afford to remain in a holding pattern for much longer. He implied they were likelier to take Marte firmly off the table rather than nearing agreement on a deal.

“We need to focus our offseason. Again, my gut this whole time was that (a trade) wasn’t going to happen, and I think it seems likely that that’s the case and we want to focus on other things we need to do,” Hazen said. The GM added that talks to date haven’t gotten “anywhere near” the significant asking price they’ve set to move their star second baseman.

On one hand, it’s easy enough to write this off as a general manager trying to pressure interested clubs to raise their offers. Even if Hazen isn’t setting a public deadline, the Snakes could do so internally to get teams to make their best and final trade proposals. At the same time, this generally aligns with the GM’s stance on Marte trade rumors dating back to the summer. Speculation has abounded since August when multiple reports emerged about some of Marte’s teammates being frustrated with the number of off days that he took.

Hazen spoke with Wolf & Luke of Arizona Sports at the time and was naturally asked about the possibility of a trade. “Ketel is one of, if not our best player,” the GM said then. “He’s a superstar in this league. You win with superstars in this league. Yes, I do know it’s a team game and putting a team together to win baseball games is also equally important. That’s on us to figure out what the right mix of players is.

We went to the World Series with this player on our team (in 2023). … So this mindset of where he is on our team and his inability or ability to help us win is hard for me to just take that. … Where this lays down at his feet and where it’s coming from now is a little bizarre to me. I’m not ignoring the inconsistencies with some of the things that have happened. He’s addressed those things. We’ve addressed those things with him.

We’re not blind to having an imperfect clubhouse and an imperfect roster. … I’m also in a job and position to put players on the field that can win you baseball games, because ultimately that’s what this comes down to. We are going to put the best team on the field every single day we can.”

The D-Backs have nevertheless heard teams out as the clearest way to acquire controllable starting pitching. They’re expected to scale back payroll from this past season’s franchise-record $195MM mark. RosterResource currently projects them for $168MM in spending. Marte is set for a $15MM salary next season, but $6MM of that is deferred until 2036. They’re not under any financial pressure to move him, nor are they entering even a soft rebuild. The goal in trade talks would be to acquire multiple MLB or near-ready pieces who could deepen the overall roster.

Despite the payroll limitations, Arizona has addressed the rotation with a pair of free agent pickups. They brought back Merrill Kelly on a two-year, $40MM deal and added swingman Michael Soroka for a $7.5MM guarantee. They could certainly still upgrade a rotation comprising Kelly, Ryne Nelson, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Soroka. It’s not as pressing a need as it was two months ago, however.

The bigger focus now should be the bullpen, which was decimated by injuries last summer and is still without top two arms Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk. The Snakes also need to decide whether they’re content with Jordan Lawlar as an everyday player (either at third base or in the outfield) and could upgrade in center field or at first base. The Marte trade rumors have come alongside reporting that the Snakes could make a surprise run at Alex Bregman.

“We’re going to need to start focusing on our position player group at some point a little more specifically,” Hazen noted to Gilbert. “That’s the other reason to finalize what we’re doing with other players, so we have a little more direction on what we can do and what it might look like.” Readers are encouraged to check out the MLB.com column for the full scope of Hazen’s comments.
 
Star Diamondbacks infielder Ketel Marte has dominated trade rumblings over the past month-plus. Despite frequently stating that he doesn't consider a trade likely, general manager Mike Hazen has been hammered by calls from opposing teams hoping to pry the All-Star slugger away from Arizona.

Marte is enough of a known commodity that we needn't run through an extensive breakdown of his résumé here, but it bears spelling out some of the basics. The three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner has steadily produced anywhere from above-average to elite offense dating back to 2018. He's a switch-hitter who touts a massive .283/.368/.519 slash (140 wRC+) over the past three seasons. Marte is a superstar talent who's signed to a contract more commensurate with a freshly extended arbitration player. He's owed $102.5MM over the next six seasons, with the final year of that being an $11.5MM player option. He'll be paid $15MM in 2026, $12MM in 2027, $20MM in 2028 and $22MM in 2029-30.

Arizona has reportedly been seeking multiple major league-ready starting pitchers to even consider parting with Marte. Specifically, they're targeting controllable arms who can be long-term cogs in the starting staff. They reportedly talked with the Rays about a deal including both Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz before the latter was traded to Baltimore, for instance.

Hazen has been relatively open about listening to offers and his reluctance to actually move Marte throughout the winter. He indicated last week that one way or another, he'd like to wrap up this situation soon. That was understandably viewed by many as something of a call for best and final offers.

With resolution on the situation seemingly nigh, one way or another, it feels worth running through the league to find the best fits for Marte, some viable dark-horse spots, and also lay out the clubs that don't feel like they'll be much of a factor at all. Let's run through it all.

landing-logo.png

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription​

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
 
Alex Bregman’s market appears more muddled after the Blue Jays signed NPB third baseman Kazuma Okamoto. Toronto had been tied to the three-time All-Star but no longer seems to have room for an infielder (barring a reunion with Bo Bichette).

The Red Sox, Diamondbacks, Cubs and Tigers have been the remaining most frequently speculated landing spots. ESPN’s Buster Olney suggested last week that Boston has an offer on the table. In a column at ESPN this morning, Olney floated the possibility that the Red Sox might be willing to do something similar to the six-year, $171.5MM offer which the Tigers reportedly made to Bregman last winter. There’s no firm reporting about what the Red Sox have put on the table, to be clear, so the notion that the Red Sox could go long term seems mostly to be informed speculation on Olney’s part.

Boston landed Bregman on a three-year deal with opt-outs last winter. They juiced the average annual value to $40MM, albeit with significant deferrals that dropped the actual value closer to $30MM annually. Bregman is no longer attached to a qualifying offer and coming off a better season on a rate basis than he had in 2024. He’s also entering his age-32 season, so he may be more incentivized to secure the longest deal and maximum guarantee. The upside of taking short-term deals with opt-outs decreases as a player approaches his mid-30s.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com each wrote on Tuesday that many within the industry considered Arizona and Toronto the top threats to a Boston reunion before the Jays added Okamoto. That’d naturally point to the Diamondbacks as the strongest challengers now, yet most chatter on the Bregman/Arizona tie has been connected to a potential Ketel Marte trade. With D-Backs general manager Mike Hazen implying they could soon pull Marte from the market entirely, that could have a trickle-down impact on Bregman.

Arizona could certainly fit Marte and Bregman on the roster. The latter would step in as the everyday third baseman. The bigger question is whether ownership would sign off on another nine-figure infield investment after extending Marte for $102.5MM last spring. The long-term payroll would be a bigger stumbling block than this year’s outlook. Marte agreed to defer $6MM of his $15MM salary in 2026, so trading him would only free up a fraction of the first-year salary that Bregman would command.

Meanwhile, two of last year’s finalists appear to be less involved this time around. Detroit has reportedly thus far shied away from making another long-term offer. Top shortstop prospect Kevin McGonigle is on the doorstep of the majors. Bregman would be a significant upgrade over the current third base grouping of Colt Keith, Zach McKinstry and potentially Javier Báez once McGonigle arrives.

Manager A.J. Hinch gave a vote of confidence to McKinstry in response to speculation about a third base acquisition. “I get asked about third base all the time. I’m like, ’Our guy made the All-Star team,'” Detroit’s skipper told Audacy’s 97.1 The Ticket (h/t to Evan Petzold of The Detroit Free Press).

McKinstry was indeed an All-Star behind an excellent first half, but he has been a career utility player and hit .213/.278/.378 after the Break. It’s hard to believe he’s truly standing in the way of the Tigers signing Bregman — though it’s understandable that Hinch would publicly defend his player. Detroit’s $165MM payroll projection is already more than $20MM above where they opened the 2025 season, which seems a bigger obstacle to a significant free agent move.

The Cubs proposed a four-year, $115MM deal last winter. They’ve been positioned on the periphery of the market this time around. Matt Shaw had an encouraging second half of his rookie season. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and GM Carter Hawkins spoke at the Winter Meetings about their confidence in the 24-year-old infielder. It doesn’t appear that much has changed in the past month on that end. Feinsand reports that while the Cubs continue to have some level of interest in Bregman, they’re not expected to make the highest offer.
 
The D-backs and free agent righty Thomas Hatch are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports MLBTR’s Anthony Franco. Hatch, a client of Moye Sports Associates, will be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.

Hatch turned 31 just a couple days after the season ended. He’s pitched in parts of five big league seasons between the Blue Jays, Pirates, Royals and Twins, ending the 2025 campaign with the latter of that quartet. In 103 MLB frames, the former third-round pick (Cubs, 2016) has a 5.24 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 10.8% walk rate and 46.3% ground-ball rate.

Though he hasn’t found much in the way of consistent big league success, Hatch has been a solid starter in four Triple-A campaigns. He’s pitched 334 innings at the top minor league level and logged a serviceable 4.42 earned run average while punching out 22.3% of his opponents against a tidy 7.5% walk rate. Hatch also has brief experience pitching overseas in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, though he only made five appearances for the Hiroshima Carp during that 2024 stint.

Hatch has split his time in pro ball fairly evenly between starting and relieving. He’ll compete for a job this spring but would presumably be ticketed for a swingman role even if he secured a roster spot. Arizona’s rotation currently includes Merrill Kelly, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Soroka. Kelly and Soroka signed as free agents this winter. Depth options beyond that group include Yilber Diaz, Cristian Mena, Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Dylan Ray. All five are 25 years old or younger, but no one from that quintet has proven himself in the big leagues yet; the latter three have yet to even make their major league debuts.
 
Second baseman Ketel Marte has been in trade rumors all winter but is going to stay in Arizona. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that Marte will not be traded. Marte will therefore open the season at the keystone with the Diamondbacks.

This always seemed to be the most likely outcome. Very early in the offseason, general manager Mike Hazen said that other teams would call about Marte and he would listen to their offers but he considered it unlikely that anything would come together.

It’s perfectly understandable why teams would try, as Marte is one of the better players in the game today. Over the past three years, he’s hit 89 home runs. His 11.2% walk rate and 16.7% strikeout rate are both strong figures. His combined line of .283/.368/.519 translates to a 140 wRC+, one of the ten best figures among qualified hitters for that span.

On top of the performance, his contract is team-friendly, relatively speaking. He is owed $102.5MM over the next six seasons, barely over $17MM per year. That’s a decent chunk of change but many other superstar players make between $30 to $50MM annually, which makes the Marte deal a bargain.

That makes him incredibly valuable for the Diamondbacks but there were still reasons to think they might be open to a deal. For one, Marte is on the cusp of ten-and-five rights. A player gets full no-trade protection when they have ten years of service time and have spent the past five seasons with the same club. Marte has been with the Diamondbacks for nine years and is just ten days away from hitting the ten-year service mark. His current deal only allows him to block deals to five clubs. If there was a time for the Snakes to trade Marte, it would be now, as it will be harder in the future.

On top of that, Arizona needs pitching and appears to have a tight budget. There was also some reported clubhouse discord during the 2025 season, as some fellow Snakes appeared disgruntled at Marte’s penchant for missing games. Put it all together and it was at least possible to see the Diamondbacks going down a path where they traded Marte for pitching, while also freeing up some cash for other pursuits, such as their reported interest in Alex Bregman.

Regardless, Hazen would downplay the possibility whenever asked, highlighting that Marte is one of the club’s best players and a key part of their plans to contend. Though he dutifully listened to other clubs, he said a little over a week ago that the club would have to shut the door at some point in order to narrow their focus on building out the 2026 roster. It seems that they never got an offer they considered viable and have officially taken Marte off the market.

Though this is a story about the lack of a move, there are sure to be ripple effects regardless. Teams such as the Pirates, Giants, Mariners, Rays, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Phillies, and Tigers all reportedly showed some degree of interest in Marte this offseason. Those clubs will have pivot to other options, if they haven’t already. Bregman and Bo Bichette are prominent free agent infielders and some of those clubs have been connected to one or both of that duo. Others could perhaps intensify their pursuits of Brendan Donovan, who is still with the Cardinals.

It also likely removes one suitor from Bregman’s market, as Arizona’s interest in him seemed contingent on them also lining up a Marte trade. Rosenthal reports that it’s still somewhat possible for Arizona to pursue Bregman but not probable. That’s not great for Bregman but the flip side is that a team such as the the Red Sox, who were prominently tied to Marte, might now have to more seriously consider Bregman.

As for the Diamondbacks, they could still use some more pitching, some help in the outfield and/or at first base. With Marte staying put, they are presumably more likely to go after free agents in the coming weeks. RosterResource projects them for a payroll about $20MM below where they finished last year. They are expected to scale back a bit but it’s unclear exactly how much dry powder they have for making additions.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images
 
The Rockies have acquired outfielder Jake McCarthy from the Diamondbacks in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Josh Grosz. Both teams have officially announced the trade.

Selected 39th overall by the D’Backs in the 2018 draft, McCarthy’s tenure in Arizona has been marked by trade rumors and flashes of potential. McCarthy’s first full MLB season in 2022 saw him finish fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting, off a .283/.342/.427 slash line, eight homers, and 23 steals in 26 attempts over 354 trips to the plate. This translated to a 116 wRC+, but McCarthy’s production then drastically tailed off to a 78 wRC+ during the 2023 season, and he wasn’t involved in any of Arizona’s playoff rosters during the team’s run to the NL pennant.

The pendulum swung again in 2024 when McCarthy played in a career-high 142 games, and hit .285/.349/.400 with eight homers and 25 stolen bases over 495 PA. This past season, McCarthy had only a 60 wRC+ from a slash line of .204/.247/.345 over 222 PA, and he spent two months in Triple-A in a fruitless attempt to get his bat on track.

With a 431-game sample size to work with, McCarthy’s strengths and weaknesses are clear. He can play all three outfield positions at least passably well, and he is one of the very fastest players in baseball, ranking in no lower than the 98th percentile of speed since his debut in the Show. McCarthy makes a lot of contact, yet with very little hard contact or power, leaving him somewhat at the mercy of batted-ball luck.

Coming up as one of several left-handed hitting outfielders in the Diamondbacks farm system, McCarthy has been a trade candidate for years. During the 2023-24 offseason, the White Sox were reportedly given the option of acquiring either McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher in exchange for Cristian Mena, and Chicago opted to go with Fletcher. It is easy to second-guess the D’Backs by arguing that McCarthy could’ve garnered more of a return if they’d moved him much earlier than January 2026, though McCarthy’s up-and-down performance made him something of a difficult player for the Diamondbacks to gauge, let alone shop to trade suitors.

Even with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. set to miss most or all of the 2026 season recovering from a torn ACL, the Diamondbacks still felt comfortable moving McCarthy out of their outfield mix. McCarthy is out of minor league options, so sending him back to Triple-A again would’ve first required a trip through the waiver wire. Today’s trade allows the D’Backs to get something back in return for a player who simply no longer seemed to be in their plans.

Corbin Carroll is locked into right field and Alek Thomas will probably get the bulk of center field work. Any of Blaze Alexander, Jorge Barrosa, or utilityman Tim Tawa could be utilized in left field, plus former top prospect Jordan Lawlar played some center field in winter ball action and might also eventually get some looks in left field. The Diamondbacks could also explore adding another outfielder over the course of the offseason.

The 28-year-old McCarthy now heads to the Mile High City for a fresh start, though he’ll be joining another somewhat crowded outfield picture. If anything, there had been an expectation that the Rockies might deal from their outfield rather than add, given that it is perhaps the only real position of depth within the organization. That said, acquiring McCarthy could be the Rockies’ way of retaining their outfield depth in advance of another trade later this winter. For now, McCarthy joins Mickey Moniak, Brenton Doyle, Zac Veen, and Jordan Beck in Colorado’s outfield mix, with McCarthy probably lined up as the fifth outfielder.

Since being hired as the Rockies’ president of baseball operations in November, Paul DePodesta has swung two other trades, but this is the first that brought a brought a big league player back to Colorado in return. DePodesta has a long road ahead of him in trying to bring the Rox back to respectability, but adding a former well-regarded prospect like McCarthy is a way of both raising the talent floor, and seeing what McCarthy can perhaps do with a change of scenery. McCarthy is arbitration-controlled through the 2028 season, and is earning $1.525MM in 2026.

Grosz is on the move for the second time in less than six months, as the righty was one of the two pitching prospects the Yankees sent to the Rockies for Ryan McMahon at the last trade deadline. Grosz was an 11th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2023 draft, and he posted a 4.67 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, and 10.3% walk rate over 125 1/3 innings at the high-A level in 2025 (87 IP with the Yankees’ high-A affiliate, and the rest with the Rockies’ affiliate).

MLB Pipeline ranked Grosz as the 20th-best prospect in Colorado’s farm system, projecting him as a multi-inning reliever or perhaps a back-end starter. Grosz’s fastball (which sits 93-95mph with a good spin rate) is his best pitch but also “his lone better-than-average offering,” as per Pipeline’s scouting report. The 23-year-old is something of lottery ticket that the Diamondbacks can continue developing as a possible rotation piece.
 
Ketel Marte is officially off the market, but even if the Diamondbacks aren’t swinging a big trade this winter they still have plenty of work to do. The team’s biggest move of the offseason has been reuniting with Merrill Kelly in free agency. They’ve also signed right-hander Michael Soroka and catcher James McCann to one-year deals while shipping lefty Kyle Backhus and outfielder Jake McCarthy out in trades.

Those relatively small moves aren’t the end of the team’s offseason maneuvers, as general manager Mike Hazen told reports (including Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports) that he would like to bolster the pitching staff and also add “a couple of bats” to the offense. More specifically, Hazen said that he is “still in the process of trying to add to our pitching staff. Bullpen, starting, whether it’s depth, whether it’s jumping into the rotation is still the main area of focus.” Those comments are obviously broad, and leave open plenty of avenues for improving the roster.

Arizona’s 2025 rotation was below-average overall amid injury woes and nearly across-the-board underperformance. Despite pitching the third-most innings of any rotation, the group’s 9.0 fWAR ranked 21st in the league. Staff ace Corbin Burnes had a 2.66 ERA in 64 1/3 innings before undergoing Tommy John surgery in June. He’ll miss most, if not all, of the 2026 season but remains under contract through 2030. Losing Burnes wouldn’t have been quite so disastrous had righty Zac Gallen remained a top-of-the-rotation caliber arm after being demoted to the #2 spot behind Burnes, but that didn’t come to pass. Gallen was healthy all season but posted a 4.83 ERA and allowed the third-most home runs of any starter in the league with 31. He’s now a free agent, and a reunion between the sides seems unlikely.

Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez, meanwhile, both remain under club control but had similar struggles with run prevention and long balls, as both finished the year with ERAs north of 5.00. Rodriguez is guaranteed $46MM over the next two seasons (including a $6MM buyout on a 2027 mutual option), while Pfaadt is entering the first year of his five-year, $45MM extension with the team. Ryne Nelson looked good after moving into the rotation in May and is controlled via arbitration through 2028. Kelly actually led the rotation with 2.3 fWAR, despite spending the back half of the season with the Rangers after a deadline trade. Even with him re-installed on a two-year deal, the downgrade from Gallen to Soroka and Burnes’s uncertain status combine to leave the rotation looking much thinner than it did a year ago.

Vague as Hazen was about his specific plans for the pitching staff, adding another starter seems like a worthwhile endeavor. Kelly and Nelson currently project as the rotation’s top two starters, but on most contending teams would surely fit in closer to the middle of the rotation. Pfaadt and Rodriguez are both coming off the sort of brutal season from a results perspective that makes it hard to count on them for more than back-of-the-rotation innings eating, while Soroka was signed to be a starter but has long performed better when used out of the bullpen and last pitched more than 100 innings in 2019.

The main hurdle to another rotation signing is the payroll. RosterResource has the Diamondbacks at $166MM in payroll right now. That’s down from $188MM in 2025, but principal owner Ken Kendrick has indicated a desire to spend less on payroll this year. It’s unclear what the team’s exact payroll limitations are, but it’s hard to imagine the team finding room in the budget for an impact free agent starter like Ranger Suarez (or even a reunion with Gallen) without extending themselves. Perhaps the trade market, where players like Freddy Peralta and Kodai Senga could be available, would make for a better path towards bringing in pitching help if the team wants to pursue a starter.

If the team is going to focus on free agency, however adding to the bullpen might make more sense. As much as the rotation struggled throughout parts of 2025, things were even worse in the relief corps. The club’s 4.82 bullpen ERA was the fourth-worst figure in all of baseball last year. Much of those struggles can be attributed to losing top relievers Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk for most of the season, but both underwent Tommy John surgery in June and will join Burnes in missing at least the first half of the season and potentially all of it. That leaves the team without much continuity or reliability in the bullpen headed into 2026. Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel will return, with the former coming off a decent season while the latter struggled badly but has the track record to bounce back. The top returning reliever is lefty Andrew Saalfrank, who put up a dazzling 1.24 ERA in 29 innings last year but is unlikely to repeat that performance considering his meager 16.8% strikeout rate.

There’s a number of interesting young arms on the team’s 40-man roster, but the Diamondbacks bullpen could clearly use an established late-inning arm to help stabilize things while Martinez and Puk are on the shelf. Hazen didn’t name specific targets in his recent comments, but it seems Arizona is interested in just that sort of player given the club’s interest in Pete Fairbanks before he landed in Miami last month. Seranthony Dominguez is the top relief arm still available in free agency and would make plenty of sense in the desert. If his contract ends up being too rich for their tastes, other options like Pierce Johnson, Michael Kopech, and Danny Coulombe also remain available in a relief market that’s seen most of the high-leverage options picked over in the early months of the winter.

Turning to the offense, Weiner suggests that the Diamondbacks’ pursuit of help on offense could be focused more on adding platoon players rather than everyday regulars. Between the teams limited financial flexibility and the players already available on the roster, that’s an understandable course to take. Pavin Smith has spent most of his career as a platoon bat, and getting a right-handed complement at first base seems like an obvious addition. Diamondbacks legend and likely future Hall of Famer Paul Goldschmidt is on the market and would fit that bill, as would Rhys Hoskins. Lower level options for that role in free agency include Connor Joe and Ty France. A right-handed hitting outfielder to platoon with Alek Thomas and take occasional reps at DH could also be valuable. Someone like Miguel Andujar, Chas McCormick, or perhaps even old friend Randal Grichuk could make some sense in that role. One other intriguing option would be switch-hitting super utility man Willi Castro, who could serve as a reserve outfield option while also backing up youngster Jordan Lawlar at third base.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top