Zac Gallen, 3 Other Arbitration Eligible D-backs Reach Agreement

Christian Walker, Carson Kelly and Kyle Lewis also reach deals, Josh Rojas still pending

Four Diamondbacks players, Zac Gallen, Christian Walker, Carson Kelly and Kyle Lewis, reached contract agreement for the 2023 season today, thus avoiding arbitration.  Today was the last day for clubs to reach agreement with players or each side would need to submit figures. A hearing is then scheduled, usually for some time in February.  

Josh Rojas and the team were not able to reach agreement as of this writing. A hearing can still be avoided as the team and player can negotiate up until the hearing date.  Cole Sulser, also arbitration eligible, reached agreement with the club back in November. 

When we last ran the numbers we included estimates for the arbitration eligible players.  For the players signed to date, the amount they received was approximately $680,000 dollars higher than the projected amount.  Christian Walker received $1,000,000 less than projected, while the other three players all got more, notably Zac Gallen received $1,100,000 more than projected

With these changes, plus the additions of Evan Longoria and Zach Davies, the total of the publicly available numbers add up to $115.58 million payroll. (I  also include estimates for 40-man roster players)  In a recent interview Mike Hazen said that the current payroll was a "a little north of that" by the team's accounting.  Part of that difference may be due to the fact that both Longoria and Davies have bonuses included in their deals likely tied to playing time that the team must budget for. However the overall picture is consistent with what one team official told me earlier in the off season when he indicated payroll should end up little over $120 million.

The team's year end payroll for 2022 ended up  just under $100 million, so the team has already increased payroll by at least $16 million so far this off season.  The Diamondbacks are still in the market for more bullpen help. According to Hazen that help may end up coming via trade, rather than free agency. If a trade for a reliever entailed the team trading a prospect they may have to absorb a major league salary.  But Hazen said that prospect trades are increasingly difficult to make as most teams are trying to win and have moved away from a "tanking" model. 

Here is the summary breakout and player salary details to date. We will update this from time to time as appropriate.