Diamondbacks Enter Winter Meetings Eyeing Starting Pitching, Left Field

The National League-champion Arizona Diamondbacks entered major league baseball’s annual winter meetings this week with a big part of their heavy lifting out of the way.

New third baseman Eugenio Suarez, acquired in a trade with Seattle, addressed two of general manager Mike Hazen’s stated needs. Suarez fills the vacancy at third base left after the departure of free agent Evan Longoria, and also he adds a power bat to pair with right-handed hitting first baseman Christian Walker for a lineup that skews left-handed.

The Diamondbacks will use their time in and around Nashville’s vast Opryland Hotel to entertain options for the back end of the starting rotation and the hole in left field created by the loss of free agents Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Tommy Pham. It would not be surprising if the meetings concluded with them still in the talking phase.

As a mid-market team that recently lost its local television contract when Bally Sports Arizona filed for bankruptcy, the Diamondbacks are very unlikely to be players at the top end of the free agent market despite carrying about $64 million in 2024 payroll at this point.

They simply do not have the money for that, even after the windfall of the 2023 postseason run that included series victories over Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia before losing the World Series to Texas in five games.

Mid-range free agents are more likely, but the compensation for those players often takes longer to shake out because the prime free agents set the market.

The Diamondbacks made a franchise-changing trade last offseason when they added catcher Gabriel Moreno and Gurriel Jr. from Toronto for left-handed hitting outfielder Daulton Varsho, and their roster still includes three left-handed hitting outfielders — Thomas, National League Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll and 2023 fourth outfielder Jake McCarthy. All seem to figure in the Diamondbacks’ future.

Hazen opted not to trade from the core of the 2023 championship team at the Aug. 1 trade deadline a year ago, at a time when making the postseason was hardly a sure thing.

Center fielder Alex Thomas, Moreno and right-hander Brandon Pfaadt were asked about the most, but Hazen held fast. There is no reason to believe he will budge now, although the depth of left-handed hitting outfielders does crack the door a bit.

The Suarez trade is an indicator of any move the Diamondbacks are likely to make in Nashville and into the holidays. In that deal, Arizona traded two players who did not figure to help in 2024 in order to fill an immediate need, a model they are likely to follow.

Suarez is scheduled to make about $11.29 million in 2024 — $11 million in salary plus a prorated portion of the signing bonus he received when he and Cincinnati agreed to a six-year, $66 million contract extension during spring training in 2018. Arizona has a $15 million team option for 2025 that includes a $2 million buyout.

The cost was back-up catcher Seby Zavala and right-handed prospect Carlos Vargas, whose fastball has been touched 99 mph in the minor leagues. Zavala was not on the playoff roster, but his inclusion in the deal is a prime example of how excess inventory can help a team in other ways.

Suarez, 32, dipped to 22 home runs in his second season in Seattle in 2023 after hitting 31 homers in each of the previous two years. He struck out a career-high 214 times a year ago, but the Diamondbacks are more able than most to abide that because they otherwise put the ball in play. Arizona struck out 1,237 times last season, fourth-lowest in the majors.

Arizona’s third baseman — Longoria, Emmanuel Rivera and Josh Rojas — hit 10 homers a year ago and were 27th in the majors in OPS. Rojas was traded to Seattle in the trade that bought closer Paul Sewald to the Diamondbacks at the trade deadline.

Suarez, because of his contract, could be considered a one- or two-year experiment. If he hits, all the better. If not, the Diamondbacks are at worst out $13.29 million for this season and his 2024 option. Prospects Deyvison De Los Santos and Ivan Melendez play third, and both have shown power at the Double-A minor league level.

De Los Santos, a free agent signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2020, had 20 homers at Double-A Amarillo last season and has 42 homers the last two seasons. Melendez, a second round draft pick from the University of Texas in 2022, had 30 homers in 96 games at three stops last season, the final at Amarillo. He hit 32 in 67 games in his final season at Texas.

Shortstop and top prospect Jordan Lawlar, the sixth player taken in the 2021 draft, also is a candidate to force his way into the lineup at an infield spot.

For the young, upwardly mobile Diamondbacks, the price for Suarez was right. All it cost them was a relatively small amount of money. With him, Arizona became several degrees better without having to sacrifice building blocks.