D-Backs Offseason Recap (So Far)

Recapping the thrilling Diamondbacks offseason so far

So the Winter Meetings last week wasn’t too exciting for the Diamondbacks. There continues to be rumors about trading Jordan Montgomery, re-signing Christian Walker and/or Joc Pederson and shopping Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas, but so far nothing major has happened for the Diamondbacks.

I believe this is due to Christian Walker still being a free agent. The Yankees being in on Bellinger and just giving Max Fried $200M+ gives me some renewed hope that he could return. As I wrote about in my Cody Bellinger article and offseason preview article, I think C Walk turning 34 and being tied to qualifying offer penalties is a big deal for other teams. If a team signs C Walk to $50M+, they lose a high draft pick and potentially international pool bonus. If the Diamondbacks are willing to go over $50M, they may have an advantage here as they avoid any penalties if re-signed.

While the Diamondbacks wait out the market on Christian Walker, this directly effects Joc Pederson, who if you follow his instagram he clearly wants to come back to AZ with all his snake and desert emojis and highlights he’s been posting. The issue is affording both C Walk & Joc, and in my opinion the bigger problem is the DH only-ness of Joc. When Ketel got banged up late in the season, he needed to DH more which bumped Joc to the bench even vs RHP some games.

Also, if Joc wants multiple years at $20M+ per year…. why aren’t we discussing Randal Grichuk more? Michael Conforto just got 1 year, $17M, while he hit nowhere as well as Joc in 2024, he can still play the field.

My dream is C Walk 3/51 maybe a year 4 team option and bringing back Randal Grichuk for a fraction of Joc’s future contract. And let’s add one more thing to that dream:

Please trade Jordan Montgomery. If you can only get $1 for him, take it. He’s a long reliever on this team (Gallen, Kelly, Nelson, Pfaadt, E-Rod + I love some Yilber Diaz), which means he’ll continue to have his terrible attitude eating up innings in relief. The owner & front office hate Montgomery as he simply is going to continue to pout and feel sorry for himself until we trade him away and get him a fresh start somewhere new.

So while the Diamondbacks still haven’t made any substantial moves yet, there have been a couple small ones I would like to recap.

Still free agents: 1B Christian Walker, 1B Josh Bell, RHP Paul Sewald, OF Randal Grichuk, LHP Brandon Hughes, DH Joc Pederson, RHp Scott McGough

Signed elsewhere: INF Kevin Newman (Angels, $2.5M in 2025, $2.5M in 2026 or $250k buyout)

Waiver claims: RHP Seth Martinez

I really hope with the Diamondbacks hiring Brian Kaplan from the Phillies as heir new pitching coach and Owen Dew from the Guardians as his assistant, I’m hoping there’s a higher priority on high velocity, nasty stuff over the low 90’s command Madison Bumgarner, Jordan Montgomery, Dylan Floro types that have failed miserably here. Seth Martinez unfortunately doesn’t throw hard, have elite stuff or strike a lot of people out, but he was a free waiver claim and did get results last year.

An average fastball of velocity of 90.4 is in the 7th percentile and 36 K’s in 52.2 IP leaves a lot to be desired, but Seth Martinez has had success at the MLB level. An issue will be that Martinez doesn’t have any options left (according to Fangraphs, and this is probably why the Astros waived him off a good season). So Seth is probably rooting for Jordan Montgomery to get traded too as Martinez could be a Bryce Jarvis mini-long-reliever multi-inning guy in 2025.

While we are here, let’s take a quick look at the Diamondback projected bullpen on Fangraphs Roster Resource.

I’m confident in the “Core Four” in Thompson, Ginkel, Puk, J-Mart. The issue last year was the other half of the bullpen was quite literally the worst in baseball. Despite having okay end of the year stats, soft tossing Joe Mantiply wasn’t good last year, Bryce Jarvis was pretty good but he’s coming off an elbow strain, then Martinez & Monty are low leverage depth guys that are more likely to NOT be on the roster on Opening Day then on it right now.

Added note on Seth Martinez… Sunrise Mountain HS & ASU alum!

Yilber Diaz could definitely be an awesome RP with his fastball/curveball mix, but as the top pitching prospect in my rankings at least, he should be the next SP up. Christian Mena’s 2024 was cut short after an elbow/forearm strain, so he’ll need to get healthy. I’m out on the soft tossing batting practice Henry & Walston duo.

I’m still convinced Slade Cecconi could be an awesome RP. He has hit 98+ consistently in the first inning and falls off quickly to 94/95 range almost every start. Let him air it out in a 1 inning role and I think Slade could be a legit good RP. Just take a look at his 1st and 2nd inning splits!!

I worry a really smart team like the Rays for example take a look at Slade’s stuff and his splits and snag him from the Diamondbacks. Hopefully this revamped pitching coaching staff and figure this out.

Minor League Free Agent Signings: RHP Juan Morillo, C Ramy Peralta, SS Connor Kaiser, C Aramis Garcia, RHP Jeff Brigham, RHP Francis Aquino, 2B Andy Weber, RHP Chung-Hsiang Huang

RHP Juan Morillo - Was with the Dodgers AA squad in 2024 where he had a 4.76 ERA over 51 IP, 29 BB, 50K but I finally get my wish as Juan Morillo throws GAS. Fangraphs has a 70 grade fastball attached to Morillo on the 80 grade scale, which is legit.

SS Connor Kaiser - Former 3rd round pick by the Pirates, got a cup of coffee in 2023 with 4 hitless AB’s with the Rockies, hit a brutal .221 in the AAA PCL last year so Kaiser is strictly SS depth as a glove only guy.

C Aramis Garcia - There’s no coincidence that the Diamondbacks hired their pitching coach from the Phillies and days later Garcia (who was with the Phillies last year) signs here. Garcia has 308 career MLB AB’s over 5 seasons, and will be depth behind Moreno, De Castillo and likely competing with Herrera for organizational C3 job in Reno. With a career .573 MLB OPS and .495 OPS in AAA last year, hopefully we don’t see Garcia at Chase Field this year.

2B Andy Weber - Minor League Rule 5 pick last year had a solid season with .305 AVG .356 OBP .858 OPS in 200+ AB’s between AA/AAA with 7 HR & 3 SB. He became a MiLB FA but quickly re-signed this offseson and has been assigned to AAA Reno. He’s definitely someone to keep an eye out on during Spring Training as he has a smooth LH swing, can play SS & OF too and is still just 27.

RHP Jeff Brigham - This might be the most recognizable name on this list. Brigham will be 33 this season and has appeared in 90 career games between stints with the Marlins 2018-22 and 2023 Mets. Brigham didn’t make it to the majors last year but had 59 K’s in 42.2 IP. The sweeper is legit, just need to improve around it.

C Ramy Peralta - 18 year old international signing, 6’1 catcher, he’s been assigned to the Dominican Summer League team in Rookie ball.

RHP Francis Aquino - 17 year old international signing, 6’2 RHP, he’s been assigned to the Dominican Summer League team in Rookie ball.

RHP Chung-Hsiang Huang - Last but certainly not least, the final member of the 2024 international signing class, Chung-Hsiang Huang! Signing for $500k officially on 12/16, Chung-Hsiang has a huge arm.

Lastly, I want to note the 2 players the Diamondbacks decided to add to the 40 man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft in RHP Joe Elbis and 2B Tim Tawa. I rated Joe Elbis #15 and Tim Tawa #23 in my latest prospect ranking (find them here). I wrote:

15 Joe Elbis - SP (Unranked Last Year)

Joe Elbis was added to the 40 man roster this offseason to avoid the Rule 5 Draft. Elbis broke out in 2024 with 3.79 ERA, 1.19 WHIP in 24 GS over 135.1 IP between A/AA. Elbis sits low 90’s with a slider as his secondary pitch and AAA Reno will obviously be a big test, but Elbis was fantastic in 2024 and being protected by the Diamondbacks this offseason means he’s firmly on their radar too.

23 Tim Tawa - INF/OF (Unranked Last Year)

The Diamondbacks sent out a positive indication for Tim Tawa this offseason by adding him to the 40 man roster protecting him the Rule 5 Draft next week. An 11th round pick in 2021 after a breakout 2021 season at Stanford, Tawa has been solid 2021-23 until breaking out in 2024 to 31 HR, 14 SB between AA/AAA while playing 1B, 2B, 3B, OF. I’m being a little aggressive in my ranking because of the 40 man roster add. Tim Tawa can play multiple positions but is average to below average at all of them. Blaze Alexander fumbling the utility spot last year opens a door for Tawa to win a spot and be a perfect guy to fill in for injuries.

Closing with the Rule 5 Draft results from the Winter Meetings, the Diamondbacks amazingly did not lose a single player (93 players in total were selected between MLB and AAA Rule 5 Drafts). The Diamondbacks did make one selection, taking C Drake Osborn, who is just MiLB depth and I wouldn’t put him in my top 50 prospects. Osborn slashed .209/.295/.382 good for (or bad for) an .677 OPS in 87 AA games with the Brooklyn Cyclones between 2023 and 2024.

So there you have it, no major moves but plenty of small Diamondbacks moves this offseason so far. Stay patient, once Christian Walker signs somewhere (hopefully back in AZ) I think moves will start to happen quick.

-Goldy Happens