In little more than six weeks, pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Salt River Fields, as spring training gets under way before the 2026 season. It has, so far, been a quiet winter for the Arizona
Diamondbacks. The only real additions to the roster, compared to this time last year, have been the relatively low-profile additions of a #5 starter, Mike Soroka, and backup catcher James McCann – the latter being a re-signing. Of course, the team did also bring back starting pitcher Merrill Kelly. But most of the questions which could be asked of the D-backs at the end of last season, still appear to have no firm answer. Here’s a look at the areas where we could still see action, now the calendar has turned.
Fixing the bullpen
It’s safe to say that any hopes the team would sign a big-budget closer are now dead, with all the big names in that area off the board. The market for relieves has been incandescent, with ten men signing contracts with an average annual value (AAV) in eight digits, all the way up to Edwin Diaz’s $69 million, three-year deal with (who else?) the Dodgers. I’m fine with Arizona staying away from that kind of signing, actually. As previously noted, spending big is no guarantee of success. It’s basically a big-ticket gamble, and I’d rather the team devoted its limited resources to other areas which are less risky. But I’d still like to see Arizona adding some lower-tier arms.
That’s something that still may happen, with the team considering adding a “bridge closer”. That’s someone who can keep the seat warm for a few months until Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk come back. This idea was floated by Arizona Sports pundit John Gambadoro a week ago. As yet, no indication of such a signing, but there are some mid-level names who could potentially occupy such a role at a reasonable cost. It seems like Shelby Miller kinda backed into that role in 2025, after everyone else fell apart. Shame he couldn’t dodge the TJ Reaper forever, and will not be taking any part in the 2026 baseball season. He might have been a candidate for the team to re-sign.
Ketel Marte: to deal or not to deal, that is the question
This has been the biggest uncertainty hanging over the team. There have been persistent rumors that the team has been fielding offers for their star second baseman. He is on a team-friendly contract, but if he takes the field on Opening Day as a Diamondbacks, he will gain full 10/5 trade protection, effectively allowing him to veto any trade. While his contract does seem team-friendly, based on current production, his value might never be higher, and I can see the appeal of using that, to fill multiple holes elsewhere on the roster for the long-term. Young, controllable starting pitching would appear the most likely target as a return for Mike Hazen.
However, the lack of motion on this front, suggests potential partners have not been willing to meet Hazen’s price. Teams value the best pitching prospects extremely highly, and may be reluctant to deal for a player on the far side of the aging curve, even one 1as productive as Marte. There are now indications Hazen wants to pull the plug on trade talks, not have them drag on all winter. He told Steve Gilbert last week, “This isn’t going to continue to linger. 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.”
Strengthening the corner infield
This is dominoed off the previous point. While Arizona has been linked to 3B free agent Alex Bregman, insiders like Gambadoro say the team would first need to deal Marte, to free up enough cash – and even then, “They’d have to get very creative”. Right now, the team is looking to go young and cheap on both sides of the corner infield. Of the four players currently likely to occupy those positions, only Pavin Smith will be older than their age 27 season this year, and is also the only one not pre-arbitration. A platoon of him and Tyler Locklear looks like the plan at first for now, with Blaze Alexander and Jordan Lawlar at third.
Personally, I tend to be a bit more concerned about the hot corner. The Alexander/Lawlar pairing are both right-handed hitters, so there’s no real platoon edge there. I’m not convinced about the offensive production in general. Last year, Alexander had an OPS+ of 95 and Lawlar 51. We would certainly want Lawlar to take a significant leap forward. While there were some signs of it late in 2025, with a .918 OPS over his final 17 games, we would want to know that’s genuine – the .444 BABIP over that period is cause for pause. Right now, you have to squint very hard to see these positions being as good over a full season at the dish, as Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor proved to be.
What about the outfield?
This is an area which hasn’t been talked about perhaps as much as it should be. We have Corbin Carroll. But with Lourdes Gurriel out until well into next season, picking thereafter are light. The only other outfielders on the 40-man roster are Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy and Jorge Barrosa, who combined for -1.3 bWAR across 766 PA last year. Discussion has focused on Alexander and Tim Tawa perhaps being able to help out. But it feels like another area where improvement over 2024’s production could be possible, and not excessively expensive. Perhaps help will come from within, through the likes of Ryan Waldschmidt, or Kristian Robinson, who seems to have been around forever, but only turned 25 last month.
The rotation seems set
Finally. I would be quite surprised if we see any major action on the starting pitching front. The additions of Soroka and Kelly, joining Ryne Nelson, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt, seem to give the team the one through five to start the season, until Corbin Burnes returns in due course. If we were to add another arm, then that would likely push Soroka out of the rotation, and at $7.5 million, he’d be a very expensive long reliever. Depth will be provided by prospects: I’d expect to see Cristian Mena, Kohl Drake and Dylan Ray in the majors this year, with Yu-Min Lin, Mitch Bratt and Daniel Eagen, a little further down the pipeline.
What areas do you think are most in need of addressing? And which do you think are most likely to BE addressed? Fire away in the comments!
