The Diamondbacks went into 2025 with an Opening Day payroll of just below $187MM, representing one more new excessive for a membership that had already bumped its payroll from roughly $116.1MM in 2023 to $163.3MM in 2024. Arizona’s try to try to capitalize on its shock NL pennant in 2023 hasn’t labored out, nevertheless, because the D’Backs fell in need of the playoffs in 2024 and are combating simply to try to salvage a profitable file this yr.
These struggles led to some promoting on the deadline, with such impending free brokers as Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Merrill Kelly, Randal Grichuk, Shelby Miller, and Jordan Montgomery all despatched elsewhere. The cash saved by getting these gamers off the books for the ultimate two months of 2025 will affect the 2026 payroll, as group president/CEO Derrick Corridor stated the D’Backs will “reinvest into the product for subsequent yr. We’re going to must as a result of we’re nonetheless going to have so many guys on the IL. We’re going to must do some work on the roster.”
By way of total spending, nevertheless, Corridor informed the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and different reporters that subsequent yr’s payroll is anticipated to be lowered to some extent. “Do I believe we have to have the payroll quantity the place it was this yr? In all probability not. However I believe we are able to have simply nearly as good a group as we constructed by reinvesting the cash that we have now (saved) after which some,” Corridor stated.
Corridor’s assertion isn’t shocking since 2025 was considered as one thing of an all-in season for the Diamondbacks, with possession okaying the payroll increase because the complete roster core was in place. With a number of notable gamers slated without spending a dime company this coming winter, a spending lower was just about inevitable simply due to all of the excessive salaries coming off the group’s books. Within the aftermath of the commerce deadline, the Diamondbacks have just below $107MM in assured salaries set for 2026 (hat tip to RosterResource), although that quantity doesn’t consider arbitration raises.
It doesn’t assist issues that Corbin Burnes (Arizona’s highest-paid participant) will miss most or all the 2026 season recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure. Between Burnes’ absence and Zac Gallen slated without spending a dime company, the D’Backs could have holes to fill within the rotation, plus they’ll be seeking to repair a bullpen that has been a weak hyperlink for the higher a part of two years. The Diamondbacks’ offense has once more been sturdy in 2025, however the absence of Suarez and Naylor implies that subsequent yr’s lineup wants much more energy.
Corridor stated he expects the D’Backs to nonetheless have the ability to make strikes in free company, and the CEO unsurprisingly didn’t give any specifics about how a lot GM Mike Hazen might or might not must spend this offseason. It’s doable the group doesn’t but know the reply to this query, as Corridor famous that attendance over the rest of the season will affect subsequent yr’s payroll.
Hypothetically talking, even when the Diamondbacks have been to cut back payroll to 2024 ranges, that also leaves Hazen with fairly a little bit of spending capability to deal with the roster’s many wants. Buying and selling a participant like Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (who drew curiosity previous to the deadline) who is barely beneath assured contract by way of 2026 is one other avenue the entrance workplace might pursue to unlock more cash, if essential.
With a lot invested in long-term contracts, there is no such thing as a sense that the Diamondbacks are planning a bigger selloff or contemplating a rebuild the least bit. As disappointing because the final two seasons have been for the Snakes and their followers, there may be nonetheless sufficient core expertise in place that it wouldn’t be a shock to see the D’Backs return to competition by subsequent yr, although Hazen will once more should be artistic.
