Goal is to keep team intact
Martinez will be difficult to re-sign
General Manager Mike Hazen didn’t have many answers in terms of how the Diamondbacks’ offseason roster construction might play out, but he did say he didn’t envision many financial impediments if the club chose to bring the team back intact.
That is, minus slugger J.D. Martinez, an impending free agent who figures to command big dollars on the open market this winter.
Hazen was noncommittal on Martinez’s future, stopping short of calling him an offseason “priority” for the Diamondbacks, whose season came to an end on Monday night when they were swept in the division series by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Still, the idea of the team remaining largely intact is encouraging news given the expected rising costs on the roster.
“I’m not anticipating a lot of challenges with being able to bring the group back as constituted if, in fact, that’s what we chose to do,” Hazen said on Tuesday, at an end-of-season news conference at Chase Field. “I’m assuming, just organically, I would anticipate there would be some changes. We’re going to have needs in various areas. I don’t think a large majority of that will be driven by (finances) specifically.”
The Diamondbacks have four play-
ers on guaranteed contracts heading into next season: right-hander Zack Greinke ($34 million), first baseman Paul Goldschmidt ($11 million), outfielder Yasmany Tomas ($10 million, plus about $3.5 million in a deferred signing bonus) and catcher Jeff Mathis ($2 million). Second baseman Daniel Descalso has a club option worth $2 million that seems likely to be picked up.
They have another 14 players who will be eligible for salary arbitration. Their total projected costs, according to estimates from MLB Trade Rumors: $52 million. There could be non-tender candidates in that group – reliever J.J. Hoover ($1.6 million) and catcher Chris Herrmann ($1.4 million), for example – but even without them the Diamondbacks’ payroll would be north of $110 million.
That’s without factoring in players set to make at, or slightly above, the league minimum of $545,000, several of whom would be needed to round out the roster. The Diamondbacks’ payroll this year was a little more than $105 million, so going into the $120 million range would be a sizable increase.
“We’ll see,” Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall said of where next year’s payroll could land. “We have to get creative in a few spots financially if we’re going to get aggressive in certain areas.”
But what Hall doesn’t want the Diamondbacks to do is repeat a mistake they’ve made in years past by getting too aggressive after a successful season.
“I think the goal hasn’t changed at all from when we hired (Hazen and his assistants) and their desire to make this thing sustainable,” Hall said.
“But we have to do what makes sense now and hopefully improve but make sure it addresses the need for sustainability.
“Can we repeat 93 wins? I don’t know. I think in the past we’ve made the mistake of almost chasing it. After we had a successful 2007, we really went for it in 2008. Then we had a successful 2011 and went for it in 2012. We just have to be careful. These guys are fully aware of that. They’re disciplined.”
Martinez was viewed as a strict rental when the Diamondbacks acquired him in July, but his impact over the season’s final 2 1/2 months was so enormous – and Martinez seemed to enjoy his time with the team so much – that fans are clamoring for the club to make a push to re-sign him.
But finding a way to fit him in the budget would appear to be a significant challenge. Rival executives are expecting Martinez to fetch $100 million or more on the free-agent market.
“He’s a fantastic player,” Hazen said. “We wouldn’t be where we got to without him. He changed the middle of our lineup significantly, in a way that we’ve obviously recognized. We’ll see, and meet with J.D. We’ll certainly stay engaged with him. We obviously know the type of season he’s had and good for him on that. Where that takes us, I’m not exactly sure just yet.”