Veteran reliever Derek Law is back on the open market after electing free agency, according to his MiLB.com transaction tracker.
The Diamondbacks had designated the right-hander for assignment in mid-September, and Law cleared waivers before being outrighted to Triple-A. Now he’s free to sign elsewhere.
Arizona brought Law in on a minor league deal in January while he was recovering from flexor tendon surgery. He wasn’t ready for Opening Day, and a setback during his rehab assignment pushed his Diamondbacks debut all the way to late August. When he finally got into games, the results were encouraging: Law gave up a run in his first outing, then followed it with six straight scoreless appearances.
The 36-year-old has long been a strike-thrower more than a bat-misser, but that profile still played in Arizona. He works with command and keeps the ball in the yard. Last season with the Nationals, he logged 90 innings with a 2.60 ERA, and he was slated to be a major bullpen piece before arm injuries wrecked the year.
There were signs of decline in Arizona, though, and the biggest one was velocity. Law’s fastball sat at a career-low 93.2 mph, down from 95.1 mph with Washington. His cutter, usually his go-to pitch, was also down about two ticks.
The Diamondbacks spent much of the season patching together their bullpen because the injuries kept piling up. Closer Justin Martinez didn’t return until mid-August, left-handers A.J. Puk and Andrew Saalfrank missed the entire season, and Paul Sewald took over before getting designated for assignment after allowing a dozen homers in 39 innings.
Martinez is expected back atop the depth chart in 2027, but Arizona still has work to do behind him. Kevin Ginkel, Taylor Clarke, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Ryan Thompson are all free agents, and that quartet ranked first, second, fourth, and sixth on the club in appearances, respectively.
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There is at least some clarity at the top, with Torey Lovullo back on a two-year deal and general manager Mike Hazen already under contract through 2028. The more immediate question is how Arizona will rework the staff around them, and the pitching department appears to be where the first change is coming into focus as the organization resets for another run. [Read more 🡒]
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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 🡒]
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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 🡒]