The Diamondbacks came up one game short of the playoffs, and now the winter has to answer the same question the final week of the season posed: what’s missing?
Arizona stayed in the Wild Card chase all the way to the last game, but an 86-76 finish still left the club outside the bracket for a third straight year. It was a solid season on paper, just not enough in a National League that offered little room for error.
Arizona actually finished with a better record than the Guardians, who claimed the No. 2 seed in the American League and a first-round bye, but that didn’t change the reality for the D-Backs. A few unfilled spots on the roster may have been the difference between playing in October and watching it.
The front office now enters the offseason with a tighter budget and some obvious holes, especially on the pitching staff and in the lower half of the lineup. There’s still plenty of money already committed, with future obligations stacking up around several core players and a few veteran arms.
Corbin Burnes is owed $140MM through 2030, including $44MM in deferrals, while Ketel Marte is on a $87.5MM deal through 2031 that includes $35MM in deferrals and gives him an opt-out after the 2030 season. Corbin Carroll’s contract runs through 2030 at $87MM, with a club option for 2031.
Brandon Pfaadt is locked in at $40MM through 2030, including the buyout of a 2031 club option. Geraldo Perdomo is signed for $35MM through 2029, including the buyout of a 2030 club option.
Eduardo Rodriguez is due $25MM through 2027, with a $6MM buyout on a vesting or mutual option for 2028. Merrill Kelly is on the books for $21MM through 2027, Nolan Arenado is owed $15MM through 2027 with the Cardinals paying $9MM at the end of the 2027 season as part of the trade condition, and Justin Martinez is signed for $12.5MM through 2029, with club options for 2030 and 2031.
In total, Arizona already has $127MM in 2027 guarantees, with $14MM deferred, and $460MM in future commitments overall.
The arbitration group gives the club another set of decisions to sort through: Lars Nootbaar projects at $6.3MM, Gabriel Moreno at $6.1MM, Ryne Nelson at $3.4MM, and Pavin Smith at $2.5MM.
The biggest takeaway from Arizona’s season may be less about what went wrong than what it convinced ownership to do next. General manager Mike Hazen remains under contract through 2028, and manager Torey Lovullo is back on a two-year deal that lines up with Hazen’s timeline.
Lovullo is entering his 11th season and stands as the third-longest tenured active manager in MLB, behind only Dave Roberts and Kevin Cash. He and Hazen have worked together for a decade, and Hazen made it clear the decision to keep Lovullo in Phoenix wasn’t about familiarity.
“Nobody cares about who knows who and where everybody comes from. It’s not the driving factor of why he’s still the manager of this baseball team,” Hazen said when announcing Lovullo’s return. “He’s the manager of this baseball team because he’s a good baseball manager.”
Lovullo has not yet announced changes to his coaching staff, though the club is reportedly set to part ways with pitching coach Brian Kaplan after two seasons. With the leadership structure staying in place, the focus shifts to the roster - and Arizona has work to do there, with ten impending free agents, eight of them pitchers.
In Other News...
Diamondbacks Suddenly Have A Bullpen Depth Problem To Solve
Arizonas bullpen has been in constant flux all season, and Derek Laws exit only adds another layer to a group that already had to absorb multiple injuries along the way. The veteran right-hander signed a minor league deal in January while rehabbing from flexor tendon surgery, finally made his Diamondbacks debut in late August, and then found himself off the 40-man roster after a late-season designation for assignment.
Law is now a free agent after clearing waivers and being outrighted to Triple-A, leaving the club with another arm to replace heading into the offseason. Arizona will need to sort through a deeper relief-market puzzle, too, with several other key bullpen pieces also eligible to test free agency, including Kevin Ginkel, Taylor Clarke, Jonathan Loaisiga and Ryan Thompson. [Read more 🡒]
D-Backs Could Regret Letting This Bullpen Breakout Get Away
A bullpen that spent much of the season fighting uphill can ill afford to let reliable arms slip through the cracks, and Jonathan Loaisiga is the kind of reliever who tends to look even more valuable once winter shopping begins. The right-hander spent 2026 in Arizonas bullpen and gave the Diamondbacks exactly the sort of steady presence teams spend all offseason trying to find, which is why his name is already circulating as a potential fit elsewhere.
For a club trying to navigate a shaky late-inning picture, the temptation to chase a proven arm is obvious. Loaisiga is now on the open market after his time in Arizona, and with the market for relief pitching always moving quickly, the Diamondbacks could wind up watching one of their more useful bullpen answers land in a place that needs him as much as they do. [Read more 🡒]
Ketel Marte's Dip Leaves The Diamondbacks Facing A Bigger Worry
Ketel Marte has been one of the most important bats in the lineup for years, so a dip in his overall production naturally lands as more than a one-player problem for Arizona. The bigger concern is how the decline has shown up across the board in 2026, not just in one noisy stretch, with the offense, defense and baserunning all offering reasons to wonder whether this is a short-term slump or the start of something more lasting.
There is still a path back to something closer to his usual impact if Marte sharpens his approach against certain pitch types and gets his body right again. But the comparison cases around players his age are not especially comforting, and the Diamondbacks have every reason to keep watching closely as the season moves along, because the line between a rebound and a continued slide may be thinner than it first looks. [Read more 🡒]