Will Winter Meetings be Exciting for Diamondbacks?

Major League Baseball's annual winter meetings kickoff this Sunday, December 3rd at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville Tennessee. It is the marquee offseason event for the industry where team executives, agents, league officials, media, and in some cases players all gather for a series of meetings and events.

In years past the winter meetings were the best chance for executives to meet face to face with each other and player agents to strike deals. While there have been fewer deals announced during the winter meetings over the last decade compared to previous eras, it's still a hotbed of rumors and information, and deals still do get done.

The Diamondbacks are not typically a team that makes deals or signings at the meetings however. The only deal Mike Hazen has ever concluded during the winter meetings was the Fernando Rodney signing at the 2016 meetings. They've already addressed one major piece of their offseason to do list by acquiring third baseman Eugenio Suarez from the Seattle Mariners. While important, that is not their number one need however and there is still a lot of work left to do.

Starting pitching is at the very top of their shopping list of needs. As we discussed a few days ago, the pitching free agent market is proving to be quite expensive and the Diamondbacks may be getting priced out of the upper end of the market. With a payroll budget commit at the moment in the neighborhood of $115 million and a likely landing point between $130-$140 million, we calculate Mike Hazen still has roughly $20 million to spend. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic mentioned that his sources indicate the same figure as well. Pitchers such as Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all stand to earn in excess of $20 million average annual.

Besides starting pitching, the D-backs still need to add at least one more right-handed bat, preferably one capable of playing a corner outfield spot at least part of the time. They have been linked to trade rumors for Randy Arozarena, and are mentioned when right hand free agent hitters such as Jorge Soler or J.D. Martinez come up. They also require more catching depth behind Gabriel Moreno, as any injury to Moreno for any length of time would leave the club great exposed with Jose Herrera.

Considering this long list of needs, it stands to reason the D-backs are more likely to turn to the trade market if they are intent on acquiring an upper tier pitcher. Names such as Tyler Glasnow, Corbin Burnes, Dylan Cease, Shane Bieber, and Mitch Keller are often mentioned. The issue there is even those pitchers carry hefty salary for 2024, and would leave the D-backs little room to add a significant hitter via free agency even if they expend trade capital to acquire a pitcher.

Mike Hazen and his baseball operations team are known to be both patient and creative. Coming up with deals that fit such tight parameters is not easy, and they take time to put together. He typically uses the winter meetings to further establish groundwork for deals that come together later. That said, it's impossible to predict year to year what and when deals will take place. Inside the Diamondbacks will be onsite in Nashville to report on and analyze any moves that are made.

In the meantime, here are some of the other events that will be taking place.

On December 3rd MLB Network will be announcing the Hall of Fame Contemporary ERA Ballot results at 7:30 EST. According to the Networks press release "The eight candidates who comprise the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot – Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson, Jim Leyland, Ed Montague, Hank Peters, Lou Piniella, Joe West and Bill White – are managers, executives and umpires whose primary contribution to the game came from 1980 to the present. A 16-member committee will consider these candidates’ contributions to the game and any candidate receiving votes on at least 75 percent of all ballots cast will earn induction into the Hall of Fame Class of 2024."

The Draft Lottery will be held on December 5th at 5:30 P.M. EST. Owing to their finish in 2023 the D-backs are not part of the lottery this year.

The Rule 5 Draft of players that that were not put on the 40-man roster takes place the morning of December 6th. Draft eligible D-backs prospects of note that could be taken include Deyvison De Los Santos, Christian Robinson, Austin Pope, and Tristan English.

There is also a job fair, a trade show , and a luncheon with the manager for the media covering each team being held during the meetings.

D-backs Mike Hazen Playing Catchup at GM Meetings