Arizona Diamondbacks are losing notable players due to free agency.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are looking more like a reload team rather than a team that is re-building. After ending the season at 89-73 in 2024 and things looking great the reason for the falling short at end of the 2025 season was due to injuries all across the board.
The D-Backs are facing a significantly large payroll, as well as roster pressure going into 2026. It is looking like a total of 11 arbitration-eligible players with an estimated $26.6 million in arbitration. The team cannot match last year's record high payroll.
This means some quality veteran players will be moved around to other teams.
The top free agents and non-tender candidates include starters and bullpen arms such as Zach Gallen, Merrill Kelly and relief pitchers A.J Puk and Kevin Ginkel.
Arizona does have outfield depth in which they are willing to trade off, Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas are the top two on the list of being traded from the outfield.
These tough decisions of who to keep, who to trade, who to release are all things the upper management team is discussing this offseason as they try and cut payroll.
Coming from the front office it sounds like we will most likely see the D-Backs in more forms of trades and internal development, coming from the minors than seeing any big free agency signings this offseason.
While the front office is facing this tough challenge to cut payroll while filling key roles. Understandable that this is not an easy task.
If not careful in replacing the key veteran loses, we could see regression in 2026 instead of a once was contender.
The positive thing for the Arizona Diamondbacks is they do have plenty of internal assets and trade chips if you must. Smart trading could plug the missing veteran gaps at a much lower cost.