Lest we forget.
Team news
[AZ Central] Diamondbacks extend qualifying offer to Christian Walker – Walker has to choose whether to accept or decline the qualifying offer, which amounts to a one-year, $21.05 million deal. If he takes it, he would lock in a hefty salary and would be prohibited from receiving such an offer in the future. However, he would then be tackling free agency one year older. If he declines, he would enter the market somewhat encumbered: Teams that sign a player who turns down a qualifying offer are subject to penalties in the form of forfeiting a draft pick or the loss of international bonus pool money. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, would stand to receive an extra draft pick if he were to turn down the offer and sign elsewhere.
[SI] Proposing a Simple, Realistic Plan for the Diamondbacks’ Offseason – This outline returns two major pieces of the league’s best offense, creates one of the top bullpens in the league, and allows some flexibility to replace Walker’s production with a platoon at first base. The payroll comes in at $170-173 million under this plan, right in range or close to 2024. The key, as has been since the beginning of the offseason, is getting out from under at least a portion of Jordan Montgomery’s contract and moving on. Failure to do that will continue to hamstring Mike Hazen’s baseball operations budget.
[PHNX Sports, free article] 5 potential trade targets for the Diamondbacks at first base – Of the five names on this list, Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor is perhaps the most likely to be traded… As for what the Guardians would want in return, outfield and starting pitching appear to be areas of need. The Diamondbacks have depth from which to deal in both areas. On paper, the price tag for Naylor figures to be relatively low; he only has one year of control left, and he does not figure to produce much surplus value above his projected $12 million salary in 2025. Nonetheless, Naylor is a key component of a fairly shaky Guardians’ lineup, and Cleveland might prefer to keep him.
[Sporting News] Diamondbacks reportedly receiving ‘significant interest’ in tradable assets – It is not likely to be Rodriguez or Montgomery. Both hurlers feature onerous contracts with little reason from 2024 results to merit interest from other MLB clubs. Teams may be more intrigued by younger Arizona starters Brandon Pfaadt, Yilber Diaz, and Ryne Nelson, who filled in for their more well-known rotation mates during the season. This trio all have promise, cost less, and are under team control for longer periods. With Arizona at risk of losing offensive standouts Christian Walker, Joc Pederson, and Randall Grichuk through free agency, the Diamondbacks may be inclined to deal from a position of pitching strength in order to fill their prospective offensive gaps.
[Dbacks.com] Suárez ‘very excited’ to stay with D-backs after option picked up – “It was really good news for me,” Suárez said. “Me and my family were very excited to hear that I will have at least one more year with the D-backs. I was really hoping they would pick it up.” For Suárez, it wasn’t about the money, as he almost certainly could have gotten similar dollars out on the free-agent market following a season in which he hit 30 homers, drove in 101 runs and had 3.1 bWAR. “I had good relationship with the guys, not just on the field but also in the clubhouse,” Suárez said. “Me and my family were very happy there.”
[ESPN] D-backs’ Jordan Montgomery met with GM after owner’s comments – Mike Hazen said Wednesday he met with left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery in an effort to move past team owner Ken Kendrick’s harsh public criticism after the season. It remains to be seen whether Montgomery will be part of the club in 2025, though Hazen said he was open to the possibility. “I will say that he was extremely accountable to the season he had, and I respect that,” Hazen said at the general managers meetings. “I tried to be accountable toward some of the areas we could have maybe helped him a little better. The dynamic was the dynamic, it is what it is.”
[Cronkite News] Diamondbacks prospect Tommy Troy’s focus, trust translate to successful Fall League stint – Even Troy admits that at times, he may work himself a bit too hard while in the batting cages, something he says is negative. But that’s just how he is – he’s been extremely focused, detail-oriented and diligent about his approach for his entire playing career. “I feel like just as a guy of a little bit smaller stature, I need a little more room for error,” the 5-foot-9 Troy said. “So that’s kind of the way I work. I want to give myself the best opportunity to succeed. It’s all of the little things that add up.”
[Just Baseball] Arizona Diamondbacks Top 15 Prospects For 2025 – General Manager Mike Hazen has propelled the Diamondbacks to new heights by plucking effective veterans via the trade and free agent markets and by seeing prospects blossom in the big leagues under his watch. This crop of Diamondbacks prospects could account for the next wave, headlined by shortstop Jordan Lawlar, who unfortunately missed the majority of the 2024 season with injury. With Lawlar leading the charge, the Diamondbacks farm system could be one of the more under-appreciated crops in Minor League Baseball.
And, elsewhere…
[MLB Trade Rumors] NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines To Post Roki Sasaki For MLB Clubs – Sasaki, who turned 23 last week, is the best pitcher in Japan. He’s one of the most talented pitchers on the planet. It’s the second consecutive offseason in which MLB teams will compete for arguably NPB’s best pitcher. Unlike the Yoshinobu Yamamoto bidding, Sasaki’s earning power is capped at a few million dollars. MLB classifies players who sign out of a foreign league before they turn 25 as amateurs. Those players can only sign a minor league contract and are subject to a hard-capped bonus limit. Whichever team signs Sasaki is allowed to add him to the MLB roster by Opening Day — he isn’t going to start the season in Triple-A even though his first contract will be a minor league deal — but he won’t be able to sign for huge money.
[MLB] Experts answer 5 burning Hot Stove questions – Which team will have the splashiest offseason? 1. Mets (58%). 2. Yankees (19%). 3. Dodgers (12%). Signing Soto would be the splashiest move of the offseason for any team, and all of these clubs have been mentioned in Soto rumors. The Mets have spent lavishly under owner Steve Cohen and are expected to pull out all the stops to win the bidding war for the generational talent. These big-market contenders have also been linked to Sasaki and left-handed ace Blake Snell among other headline free agents.
[Reddit] Worst Single Game Offensive Performance Ever – Some interesting discussions here. By win probability, the worst recorded belongs to Jewel Ens in this 1922 game for the Pirates. 0-for-9, costing his team -83.2% of Win Probability. That included hitting into a double-play with the bases loaded in the 15th inning. But my favorite suggestion? Ron Wright: 0-3 with a strikeout, double play, and a triple play for the Seattle Mariners in 2002. That one game is his entire MLB career.
The Substance (2024)
Rating: B+
Dir: Coralie Fargeat
Star: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Gore Abrams
Fargeat has only made two features, but they are both stellar: and perhaps more impressive, are in radically different genres – unless “gory as hell” can be considered a genre. Her debut was Revenge, a blood-drenched rape-revenge film, where I said, “Much credit to Fargeat for this “take no prisoners” attitude, and delivering a thoroughly uncompromising piece of cinema.” Exactly the same phrase accurately describes her follow-up, the most unrelenting piece of body horror since those long-gone days when David Cronenberg was in his prime. If you have never seen someone vomit up an entire, mostly intact breast, here you go.