While the playoffs are still rolling, a few items on the Giants’ radar surfaced this week, and they touch both the NL West and the organization’s player pipeline. The biggest one: the Diamondbacks are preparing to tighten the purse strings.
Arizona owner Ken Kendrick made that plain on the Burns and Gambo Show of Arizona Sports, saying, "It’ll be a lower payroll than we had this year." That’s a notable shift for a club that has been more willing than most to spend in free agency in recent years.
The Diamondbacks reached the World Series in 2023, then tried to build on that momentum by investing in the roster with the idea of getting back to October. It hasn’t worked out.
Arizona has now missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, even after winning 86 games in 2026, a total that usually gets a team into the bracket. According to Cot’s, the Diamondbacks carried a $230 million commitment against the luxury tax in 2026, which left them about $14 million below the Competitive Balance Tax threshold.
There was also a coaching change involving a familiar name to Giants followers. The Marlins parted ways with Pedro Guerrero, the former Giants hitting coach.
Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix told Christina De Nicola of MLB.Com that the team wants a new voice in that spot. That kind of move is hardly unusual after a team falls short of the playoffs, especially at a job like hitting coach, where turnover tends to come fast.
Guerrero had been on Gabe Kapler’s staff as an assistant hitting coach starting in 2022, spent three seasons in that role, then moved on to become the Marlins’ hitting coach. His ties to Miami were strengthened by Kapler’s presence in the front office.
And out in the desert, the Arizona Fall League got going on Saturday. Dakota Jordan and Kaeden Kent were in the Scottsdale Scorpions’ lineup for the opener, but the group came up short in a 9-3 loss to the Surprise Saguaros.
Jordan finished without a hit in five at-bats, while Kent picked up one hit in three trips. Darian Smith also took the mound and allowed one earned run over two innings, with two walks and two strikeouts.
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Buster Posey Sees One Huge Giants Question Defining 2027
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Buster Posey is betting that 2027 looks different, and his optimism starts with the return of those core pieces. Chapman and Devers have both had successful core surgeries and are expected to be ready for next season, a development that could go a long way toward stabilizing a team that never found its rhythm this year. The bigger question now is whether the Giants can turn that health into the kind of production that finally matches the roster on paper. [Read more 🡒]