Ketel Marte is officially off the market, but even if the Diamondbacks don’t make a big trade this winter they still have a lot of work to do. The team’s biggest move of the offseason is meeting them Merrill Kelly in free agency. They signed with the right hand Michael Soroka and the hunter James McCann on one-year deals while shipping left Kyle Backhus and foreign player Jake McCarthy except for trade.
Those minor moves aren’t the end of the team’s offseason, as general manager Mike Hazen has told reports (including Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports) that he’d like to strengthen the pitching staff and make additions. “a few bats” for the case. Specifically, Hazen said he was “We are still in the process of adding to our pitching staff.” The bullpen, starting, whether it’s deep, whether it’s jumping into the rotation is still the focus.” Those comments are obviously broad, and leave open many ways to improve the system.
Arizona’s 2025 rotation has been below average amid the severity of injuries and almost underperforming across the board. Despite pitching the third innings of any rotation, the team’s 9.0 fWAR ranks 21st in the league. The staff asked Corbin Burns had a 2.66 ERA in 64 1/3 innings before Tommy John surgery in June. He will miss most, if not all, of the 2026 season but remains under contract through 2030. Losing Burnes would not have been so catastrophic. Zac Gallen remained a top-ranked arm after being demoted to #2 behind Burnes, but that didn’t happen. 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 is now a free agent, and a reunion between the sides seems unlikely.
Brandon Pfaadt again Eduardo Rodriguezon the other hand, both were still controlled by the club but had similar problems preventing runs 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 with a 2027 cooperative option), while Pfaadt is entering the first year of his five-year, $45MM extension with the team. Ryne Nelson looked good after being traded in May and is arbitration controlled in 2028. Kelly actually led the rotation with 2.3 fWAR, despite spending the back half of the season with the Rangers after the deadline trade. Even after being re-signed to a two-year contract, the move from Gallen to Soroka and the uncertain status of Burnes combine to leave the rotation looking much smaller than last year.
As unclear as Hazen was about his specific plans for the pitching staff, adding another starter seems like a worthwhile endeavor. Kelly and Nelson currently play as the top two starters in the rotation, but on most contending teams they would certainly fit in the middle of the rotation. Pfadt and Rodriguez are both coming off the kind of brutal seasons from a performance standpoint that make it hard to trust them with more than innings, while Soroka was signed to start but has fared better out of the bullpen and ended up throwing more than 100 innings in 2019.
The biggest obstacle to another signing is in exchange for salary. 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 not clear what the team’s exact salary cap is, but it’s hard to imagine a team finding room in the budget for a rookie free agent. Guard Suarez (or reuniting with Gallen) without raising them. Maybe it’s the trade market, where the players like it Freddy Peralta again Kodai Senga could be, it would make a better way to bring 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 would make more sense. Just as the circulation became difficult in all parts of 2025, things were worse for the relief force. The team’s 4.82 bullpen ERA was the fourth worst in all of baseball last year. Many of those struggles can be attributed to the loss of top pills Justin Martinez again AJ Puk most of the season, but both had Tommy John surgery in June and will join Burnes in missing at least the first half of the season and possibly all of it. That leaves the team without much continuity or reliability in the bullpen heading into 2026. Ryan Thompson again Kevin Ginkel will return, with the former coming off a decent season while the latter struggled badly but has a history of rebounding. The top return cutter is on the left Andrew Saalfrankwho posted an impressive 1.24 ERA in 29 innings last year but is unlikely to repeat that performance considering his paltry 16.8% strikeout rate.
There are a number of interesting young arms on the 40-man roster, but the Diamondbacks bullpen could use a designated inning arm to help stabilize things while Martinez and Puk are on the shelf. Hazen didn’t specify specific goals in his recent comments, but it appears that Arizona likes that type of player if the club is serious about him. Pete Fairbanks before he arrived in Miami last month. Seranthony Dominguez A top relief arm is still available in free agency and would make a lot of sense in the desert. If his contract ends up being too rich for their liking, other options such as Pierce Johnson, Michael Kopechagain Danny Coulombe and it is always available in the help market which is characterized by the majority of the top options selected in the first months of winter.
Turning to the offense, Weiner suggests that the Diamondbacks’ pursuit of help on offense may be more focused on adding platoon players than the everyday routine. Between teams’ limited financial flexibility and players already available on the roster, that’s an understandable course to take. Pavin Smith he has spent most of his career as a platoon bat, and getting a right-handed complement initially seems like an obvious addition. Diamondbacks legend and future Hall of Famer Paul Goldschmidt is on the market and would fit that bill, as it were Rhys Hoskins. Low-level options for that role in free agency include Connor Joe again France. A right-handed batsman to play with Alex Thomas and taking occasional reps for DH can also be important. Someone who likes Miguel Andujar, Chas McCormickor maybe an old friend Randal Grichuk it would make sense in that role. Another interesting option would be to hit the super utility man Willi Castrowho can serve as a set field option while supporting the youngster Jordan Lawler on third base.
