Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks failed to make the postseason after getting to baseball’s biggest stage in 2023. They played in a very tough division, winning 89 games, falling short of the Wild Card, and then relying on a doubleheader between the NY Mets and Atlanta Braves to decide their fate. That was after they got off to an ice cold start to the year.
By July, they had figured things out. On the surface, their pitching struggled with a 4.59 ERA and 1.34 WHIP in the second half, but they were one of the most unluckiest staffs in all of baseball. The metrics xFIP, SIERA, and FIP all had them below 4.00. Still, there were certainly bumps in the road, and the D-Backs’ long-term rotation has some question marks.
Both Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez fell well short of expectations, the former posting an ERA over 6.00 and the latter posting an ERA over 5.00. Merrill Kelly was injured but decent when healthy, and Zac Gallen turned in another quality campaign, but both are also free agents at the end of 2025. Montgomery, of course, picked up his hefty '25 option this week.
The D-Backs have limited pitching talent to replace such losses right now. Only Yilber Diaz and Yu-Min Lin are among their top 10 prospects on BA and Pipeline. Both are coming off good 2024 campaigns, but that’s about all the D-Backs have in the way of near-MLB-ready pitching talent.
But the Snakes could look to trade some of their outfield talent. Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and Jake McCarthy are each under control for at least three more seasons, if not more. Three of their top 10 prospects on Pipeline and BA are outfield prospects. Plus, they have two more young outfielders, Alek Thomas, and Jorge Barrosa, on their 40-man roster.