If you could extend one player who would it be?
ISH95: I think the logical answer is Ryne Nelson. If Pfaadt earned one after last season, Nelson has blown away just about everything Pfaadt has done at this point so an extension seems logical.
Spencer: Yeah for me it’s Nelson. Maybe Moreno but it’s Ryne.
1AZfan1: Ryne and Gabi are great answers; I’d like to see extensions for both. I’d like to add AJ Puk to the list of extension candidates. He’s got one year left on his deal and he’ll be coming off TJ. If we could get him to agree to a 2 year deal to allow
him to (hopefully) build up his value before hitting FA again, I think it would be a win-win.
Ben: It’s almost Moreno or Ryne Nelson by default. After those two, the picture gets pretty bleak or includes players who haven’t had enough time to qualify like Adrian Del Castillo.
Makakilo: Although I’d like to extend both Ryne Nelson and Gabriel Moreno, I would first extend Gabriel Moreno for the following reasons.
- He is two years younger.
- When he catches, his skill makes a positive impact on the effectiveness of many pitchers.
- The timing is better because his bWAR fell the last two seasons, which contrasts with Nelson, whose bWAR increased the last two seasons
If you were Hazen and Kendrick is once again visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, who would be the one free agent you would target?
ISH95: Probably Cease. Closest to the right side of 30. Slightly inconsistent recently, but not as bad as Gallen. Honestly don’t personally love the free agent class this year though.
Spencer: Go big. Kyle Tucker. We have 66% of the outfield empty or placeholder currently, so make it work.
1AZfan1: Edwin Diaz. Get the baddest closer on the market.
Makakilo: My one target would be a pitcher for the top of the rotation. My choice is explained in this AZ Snake Pit article which is scheduled for 11 November.
Ben: I’ll go with Bellinger. He’s only 30 and has shown that a lot of his struggles in LA are behind him. The team desperately needs outfielders and he could be a real leader on a team that is still relatively young. Plus, I’m sure he’d relish the opportunity to play 13 games against the Dodgers every year.
Who is the realistic free agent you would target?
ISH95: Bring home Merrill.
Spencer: Merrill makes sense. Jack and Jesse discussed Woodruff – that’d be cool. But honestly I think given the salary constraints, McCann.
1AZfan1: Merrill and McCann are great options, but since I’ve gone with bullpen answers for the previous questions, I’ll keep going back to that and recommend Jalen Beeks. He’s not going to break the bank and we know him.
Makakilo: Merrill Kelly because he said he is open to returning to the Diamondbacks and because he will likely be offered short contracts, allowing the Diamondbacks to better compete.
Ben: I could see the team signing someone like Michael Soroka. He’ll clearly never reach the heights he had before his consecutive ankle injuries, but he can eat innings and can work in that very valuable “swingman” role that the team will definitely need next year as they await a bevy of pitchers returning from injury.
#1 trade target?
Spencer: I’ve long been sour on our 2026 chances. So I’d aim for someone ready to debut in 2026. Thomas White/Robby Snelling (MIA) or Noah Schultz (CWS) would be great. Neither is available though. So let’s go marginally more realistic and say offer Marte (paying at least a third of his contract), Waldschmidt, Luis and our 2026 Competitive Balance Pick for Bubba Chandler then hope Pittsburgh is willing to bite on a weak offer.
1AZfan1: Gotta be a pitcher, likely a starting pitcher, but to continue my bullpen theme, the best 2 relievers likely on the trade market would be Andres Munoz in Seattle and Pete Fairbanks with TB. Munoz has 3 years of team control remaining and will cost between $7-10m each of those 3 years. All of those years are club options, too, according Spotrac, so if he goes really south, you can always not pick up the option. I doubt he’ll drop performance very much because he just completed his Age-26 season so he will be on a team friendly deal through his Age-29 season. Fairbanks has only one year of team control remaining via a club option this winter, and that one year is going to cost $12.5m. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rays were very motivated to move off that deal, you know they don’t want to pay a reliever that much money.
Makakilo: I would target a young pitcher, with at least one season in the Majors but not two. It’s a big ask, but I would look for hidden potential that the Diamondbacks could help the pitcher realize.
Ben:
A small handful of very vocal, very stupid Dodgers bandwagon fans are calling for a change to the IBB rule following Ohtani’s nine time on base performance. What insane rule would you add to the game if you could?
ISH95: Allow the teams to eject umpires. If a supermajority of both teams agree, the umpire is ejected from the game and the umpiring crew runs short. Too many bad calls? You’re out. Particularly egregious call that results in the worst double play I’ve seen in 20 some odd years watching this sport. Pack your bags.
Spencer: I love ISH’s idea. But to be different, let’s allow each team one opportunity to redo an at bat. Ohtani struck out with bases loaded and 2 outs? Redo! Same pitcher, same batter, fresh count.
1AZfan1: Ejecting umpires is great! Along the same lines as a redo AB, I’ll just go the unimaginative route and say the Golden At Bat. Mismanaged the DH and now you have Scott McGough coming up to bat with the game on the line? Send up Domo for the Golden AB instead. Bottom of the 9th with 2 outs you need a homer to tie but Vargas is the scheduled hitter? Send Marte up instead.
Makakilo: The Bundle IBB. In a player’s first plate appearance of a game, the opposing team can declare a ‘Bundle IBB’ for that player. Bundle IBB means that player gets an IBB for all his plate appearances of that game AND that player’s first plate appearance is an out (instead of an IBB). It can only be done in the first five innings of each game.
Ben: What about adding a 10th fielder in certain situations? We have a ghost runner, why not include another fielder (infield or outfield) that can be used the same way? It would make it that much more difficult to hit and would look ridiculous, but if we’re really going for something insane, that would be one!
