Arizona

Diamondbacks

Gambadoro notes that all is quiet on the free agent market for Gallen at the moment, which is a bit surprising considering how quickly the rest of the remaining starting pitchers have signed deals with spring camps opening around the league. The Cubs were linked to him in mid-January, but those talks seem to have fizzled. The 30-year-old hurler is the top remaining pitcher out there on the open market, so any team still looking to make a splash addition to their rotation should be interested.

The 35-year-old hurler previously pitched for the Diamondbacks in 2023 and 2024. He split his 2025 campaign between the Guardians and the Tigers where he registered a 4.58 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and a 20/6 K/BB ratio over 19 2/3 innings in his 22 appearances. He’ll give the Diamondbacks another capable high-leverage arm to work at the back end of their bullpen.

We are begging good hitters to stop breaking their hamate bones. Carroll is set to undergo surgery on the hamate bone today. Gilbert says Carroll will miss “significant time” this spring. It sounds like he’s potentially in line to start the season on the injured list, and he will certainly miss the World Baseball Classic. Jorge Barrosa figures to be more involved in the early-season outfield plan if Carroll misses enough time to push his return past the start of the season. Given the D-backs’ lack of outfield depth, they team might want to consider bringing back Randal Grichuk or adding a different free agent from a group that still includes Michael Conforto, Tommy Pham, Starling Marte and Mike Tauchman.

Burnes was saying the same at the end of last season, so he’s apparently made steady progress since. Burnes underwent Tommy John surgery in June, so a July return is fairly aggressive, though hardly unprecedented. The 31-year-old is entering the second season of a six-year, $210 million contract.

The Diamondbacks announced the unfortunate news on Tuesday that Saalfrank had to undergo shoulder surgery and would miss the entire 2026 season. Placing him on the 60-day injured list now frees up a roster spot for the club to make the signing of Carlos Santana official. Saalfrank should be fully recovered and ready to go for the start of spring training in 2027.

The deal which was agreed to last week, is official now that Santana has passed his physical. The 39-year-old hit just .219/.308/.325 with 11 homers and seven stolen bases during his time with the Guardians and Cubs in 2025, so it’s difficult to envision a career renaissance in 2026. He’ll share time at first base and designated hitter with Pavin Smith and Tyler Locklear.

The 30-year-old southpaw underwent his Tommy John surgery in June, so a return in June, or even July, puts him on the earliest possible end of his timeline. He’s on track to start throwing off of a mound in March, so it sounds like he may be ahead of schedule, but June still seems like an optimistic estimate. Either way though, the Diamondbacks should be expecting to get a major boost to their bullpen for the second half of the season.

The 24-year-old hurler underwent Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery last June. It’s possible that he’s being a bit optimistic with that return date, but it sounds like everything has gone smoothly in his recovery to this stage. Getting him back at all in 2026 would provide a welcomed late-season boost to the Diamondbacks’ bullpen.

Marte said he recently talked to GM Mike Hazen, who apologized over how public the rumors became. “We talked a lot and hashed some things out, talked it all through and everything is great,” Marte said. “Mike knows I love the D-backs, I love my teammates. Everyone knows what type of player I am, and I’m just happy it all worked out and I’m here.”

Ouch. No word yet from the team on what exactly the procedure was or when the injury occurred, but it’ll cost the 28-year-old southpaw an entire season. It’s another tough break for the Diamondbacks who were already struggling for quality bullpen depth.