The Diamondbacks averted arbitration with right-hander Zac Gallen and first baseman Josh Naylor, in accordance with studies from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com and Robert Murray of FanSided. Gallen will earn $13.5MM, whereas Naylor will command $10.9MM. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Gallen at $14.1MM and Naylor at $10.9MM. It’s the ultimate 12 months of membership management for each gamers.
Gallen, 29, pitched 148 innings of three.65 ERA ball final season, representing his lowest innings whole and highest ERA of the previous three seasons. The best-hander missed roughly a month with a hamstring pressure, limiting his time on the mound and maybe additionally impacting his efficiency.
At his greatest, Gallen is an All-Star and Cy Younger-caliber arm. He completed within the high 5 of NL Cy Younger balloting in each 2022 and 2023, incomes his lone profession All-Star nod within the latter of these two seasons. Throughout these two years, Gallen pitched to a 3.04 ERA in 394 innings. Since making his large league debut with the Marlins in 2019 — Miami flipped him to Arizona that summer time for Jazz Chisholm Jr. — Gallen touts a 3.29 ERA, 26.6% strikeout price and seven.6% stroll price in 815 1/3 innings.
Gallen has lengthy been the ace of Arizona’s employees, however he’ll a minimum of nominally be ran into the No. 2 spot of a possible powerhouse rotation within the wake of the D-backs’ shock signing of Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210MM deal. Burnes, Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt and rebound hopeful/commerce candidate Jordan Montgomery give the Diamondbacks a wealth of rotation expertise to lean on within the coming season.
Naylor, 27, got here to Arizona final month in a commerce that despatched righty Slade Cecconi and a aggressive steadiness draft decide again to the Guardians. Cleveland instantly pivoted and signed Carlos Santana to a one-year, $12MM deal that mirrored the projection for Naylor. Cleveland will find yourself with the pricier of the 2 choices at first base ultimately, although additionally they added a controllable 25-year-old swingman and a decide within the excessive 60s of the 2025 draft.
The 2025 season will likely be Arizona’s lone 12 months of management over Naylor, who’s coming off a career-best 31 residence runs. He turned in a .243/.320/.456 batting line in 2024, clocking in about 18% higher than league-average, by measure of wRC+. His bat pale a bit within the season’s second half, however solely relative to the massive first-half numbers Naylor posted (significantly in April and in June). He was an above-average hitter in 5 of the season’s six months, per wRC+, with the lone exception being Might, when he was simply 3% below par.
Put extra succinctly, Naylor is a constant slugger who’ll bolster the center of the D-backs’ lineup rather than Christian Walker, who signed a three-year, $60MM deal in Houston as a free agent (netting the Snakes a compensatory draft decide after the primary spherical within the course of). Naylor walked at a career-best 9.2% clip in 2024 and fanned at a 16.6% tempo that’s significantly decrease than league common.
Each Gallen and Naylor are candidates to obtain a qualifying provide from the D-backs at season’s finish, positioning Arizona to internet compensation within the 2026 draft for his or her potential departure. Gallen, specifically, is a veritable lock as long as he’s wholesome. Naylor can be a really sturdy QO candidate as nicely if he replicates or approximates the .267/.330/.465 type he’s turned in over the previous three seasons, as he’d attain the market at simply 28 years of age.
