Arizona Diamondbacks

The Boston Red Sox may be simmering on the free agent market after failing to sign their top targets, Juan Soto and Max Fried. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow pivoted and completed a trade with the Chicago White Sox for lefty Garrett Crochet. Acquiring Corbin Burnes seems unlikely following the Patrick Sandoval signing, and based on the latest news, management might be bracing itself to miss out on another high-level talent. Teoscar Hernandez has been linked to the Sox for much of the offseason, but Boston is considering another former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder.

Walker became a free agent this offseason after eight years with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a minor league contract with strong defensive outfielder Cristian Pache, who received an invitation to major league spring training. Pache recently turned 26 years old and was once considered a top 15 prospect in baseball while in the Atlanta Braves' farm system. Baseball America ranked him the No. 7 prospect in the league before the 2021 season, as he drew lofty Andruw Jones comparisons.

Just 15 minutes south of downtown Tucson lies the Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, an 11,000-seat venue built in 1998 and kept in pristine condition within the Kino Sports Complex. As of July 2023, Tucson's population exceeds 547,000. To outsiders, it might come as a surprise that a city of this size and once a well-known baseball hub, now lacks MLB-affiliated teams – but that wasn't always the case. On March 8, 1946, Tucson hosted the first MLB spring training game in Arizona at Hi Corbett Field, featuring the Cleveland Indians and New York Giants.

This article is part of a series evaluating potential free agent and trade acquisitions for the Arizona Diamondbacks entering the 2025 season. The Arizona Diamondbacks are in need of a utility man this winter. Kevin Newman filled the role beautifully for the club in 2024, but with his recent signing with the Angels, the D-backs will need to turn to other places to find a replacement. Josh Rojas is someone Diamondbacks fans are very familiar with.

For a team like the Arizona Diamondbacks, payroll limitations can severely hinder their ability to build and add high-impact pieces to the team, especially in free agency. One way to get ahead of this limitation however is to sign contract extensions to key players early enough in their careers (even prior to arbitration), thus controlling costs and giving the team a chance to retain their best talent through at least some of the player's free agent years. During the winter meetings in Dallas earlier this month, I asked Hazen if he was looking at extensions for some of his younger players. Hazen indicated that they have extension talks with players every year, but he also seemed to be hinting that there might not be any such deals coming in the short term.

The New York Yankees suffered a devastating blow when Juan Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with their crosstown rivals the New York Mets. First base is an area of need for the Bronx Bombers, and there are plenty of options available in trades and in free agency. Pete Caldera of NorthJersey.com listed Walker as somebody they could sign in free agency to bolster their lineup.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly signed veteran utility infielder Ildemaro Vargas to a minor league deal, with an invite to Spring Training, according to a tweet from Just Baseball's Aram Leighton. Vargas, a 33-year-old veteran, made his major league debut with the D-backs back in 2017, and was a member of Arizona's big league club from 2017-2020, though he only played in 126 games over his three seasons with the D-backs.

The St. Louis Cardinals improved drastically in 2024 after losing 91 games in 2023 and finishing in last place in the National League Central. Now, the Cardinals will look to do a soft rebuild, which will include them cutting costs and not pursuing free agents this winter. This means that slugger and former NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt will not be back in 2025. Aaron Hughes of Sports Illustrated proposed the idea of Goldschmidt leaving St. Louis and returning to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team the Cardinals acquired him from before the 2019 season.

The Milwaukee Brewers are going to look different in 2025. Milwaukee already has lost two of its top players and there's still a lot of offseason left. Star shortstop Willy Adames signed with the San Francisco Giants and the Brewers traded All-Star closer Devin Williams to the New York Yankees for Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly signed another young ballplayer from Taiwan, their latest signing following in the footsteps of Yu-Min Lin who was signed from there as well and is a top prospect for Arizona. The player's name is Chung-Hsiang Huang. The reported bonus for the right-handed pitcher is $500,000. According to a source, the deal with Arizona is pending a medical examination.

Arizona Diamondbacks executive Cory Hahn was honored as Baseball America's Trailblazer of the Year for his unwavering commitment to positively impact those around him, the baseball outlet announced Thursday. The 33-year-old (who recently celebrated his birthday on Wednesday) had his baseball career abruptly ended in 2011 as a freshman at Arizona State University.

Starting in 2022, Major League Baseball instituted a pre-arbitration bonus pool of $50 million dollars as a means to direct more money to those players not yet eligible for salary arbitration. The bonus pool was set up as a result of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the Players Association that runs from 2022-2026. Eligible, pre arbitration players are awarded first based on how they place in the various awards.

While many are clamoring for the New York Yankees to raid the New York Mets for Pete Alonso as revenge for Juan Soto, lurking elsewhere in the National League is a better option. In most eyes, Alonso leads the free agent class at first base and will almost certainly garner the biggest paycheck of those available at the position heading into next season. The revenge factor of the Yankees signing him would be delicious for New Yorkers — you steal our top free agent, we'll steal yours.

While the Dodgers are adding and re-signing key players, the Padres and Diamondbacks haven't done much this offseason. San Diego is reportedly fielding offers for Xander Boegarts.

The Los Angeles Angels have "checked in on trades" for St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado, Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez, the Orange County Register's Jeff Fletcher reported Wednesday. That interest comes despite the Angels having third baseman Anthony Rendon under contract for $77.1 million over the next two seasons.

He spent the past three seasons as the pitching coach in Arizona.

A former college softball star at Sacramento State, Nakken joined the Giants in 2014 and was promoted to a spot on manager Gabe Kapler’s staff in 2020.

Arizona Diamondbacks star second baseman Ketel Marte finished third in National League Most Valuable Player voting on Thursday.