Diamondbacks Send Merrill Kelly To Texas At The MLB Trade Deadline

Forbes

2 days ago

An Arizona Diamondbacks' season that began with playoff visions and a franchise-record payroll concluded with another trade deadline dump Thursday.
The built-for-2025 Diamondbacks finalized a tear-down they could not have foreseen when they sent their best pitcher, Merrill Kelly, to the Texas Rangers for three minor leaguers hours before the deadline.
The D-Backs made a big play in the offseason when they signed free agent right-hander Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million deal that swelled the payroll to a franchise record $187 million.
Burnes' season-ending elbow injury in June combined with the loss of closers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez seemed to begin a slow trickle-down from which the D-Backs never recovered. Sloppy defense did not help.
Kelly was the fourth of the D-Backs' five key 'walk year' players to be traded in the last eight days, dispatched one day after big chip Eugenio Suarez went to the Seattle Mariners. Josh Naylor and Randal Grichuk were traded last week, and the D-Backs completed the job by sending potential free agents Shelby Miller and Jordan Montgomery to Milwaukee for cash or a player to be named.
The move were precipitated by a recent dry spell that all but doomed their playoff chances.
The D-backs have lost eight of their last nine games and are nine games behind big deadline mover San Diego for the final NL wild card spot. They have a 1.6 percent chance of making the postseason, according to FanGraphs, and the sheer weight of the math forced general manager Mike Hazen's hand.
Starter Zac Gallen is their lone remaining veteran on an expiring contract. The D-Backs could ensure his return by tendering him a one-year qualifying offer next winter. If he accepts the D-Backs would owe him about $22 million. If he does not, the D-Backs would get a compensatory draft pick.
Gallen, represented by super agent Scott Boras, sounded bullish on testing the free agent market this offseason when asked about it during spring training, but he is 7-12 with a 5.60 ERA this season, the worst numbers of his career. Is is likely the D-Backs could not find a trading partner willing to take that on.
Diamondbacks Reshaping the AL West
Hitters to the Mariners. A starter to the Rangers.
The Diamondbacks' unwanted legacy this season is that they may have a big say in the AL West race by bulking up division contenders Seattle and Texas. The teams were tied for the third and final AL wild card spot and were five games behind the division-leading Houston Astros entering their game Thursday.
The Mariners were 12th in the majors in offense before adding Suarez and Naylor, who will hit in the middle of the order. Suarez has 36 homers and 87 RBIs, tied with Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh for the major league lead. Raleigh leads with 41 homers.
Kelly was the D-Backs' best pitcher this season, going 9-6 with a 3.22 ERA, and the Rangers swooped in the final hours to add another piece to their already high-functioning rotation.
Veterans Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi lead a starting group that has a 3.16 ERA and a .222 batting average against, both tops in the AL. DeGrom is 10-3 with a 2.55 ERA in his first healthy season since 2020 and Eovaldi is 9-3, 1.59.
Kelly should slot in closely behind them in a rotation includes Patrick Corbin (6-7, 3.78), Jack Leiter (7-6, 4.09) and Kumar Rocker (4-4, 5.73), likely the odd man out. Tyler Mahle also could return from an injury in August.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has leaned on veterans on his four World Series-winning teams, and he got a first-hand look at Kelly in the 2023 Series. Kelly was the only the player to beat the Rangers then, in a 9-1 victory in Game 2 of a series the Rangers won in five. Kelly was 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in four postseason starts that year.
What Did the Diamondbacks get?
'Walk-year' players offer little leverage to the seller, and the D-Backs' moves brought back only one player who profiles as a starter in 2026 — first baseman Tyler Locklear, acquired in the Suarez trade.
At the same time, the D-Backs are getting Bs and Cs for their work in adding eight arms to a battered pitching staff, which was Hazen's goal.
Minor leaguers Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and David Hagaman were acquired from Texas; Andrew Hoffman from Kansas City; and Brandyn Garcia, Ashton Izzi (the Naylor deal) and Hunter Cranton and Juan Burgos (the Suarez deal) from Seattle.
Left-handers Drake (No. 5) and Bratt (No. 9) were ranked among the Rangers' top 10 prospects by MLB Pipeline, which profiled them as potential back-of-the-rotation major league starters. Hagaman (13th) was a fourth-round pick in 2024.
Roster spots will be available next spring. Burnes and Martinez are expected to miss most if not all of the 2026 season, and Puk's availability is uncertain. Top level minor league starters Tommy Henry, Blake Walston and Cristian Mena are were lost to significant this season.