The Diamondbacks announced that outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has been designated for assignment. Arizona now has an open spot on its 40-man roster, and infielder Jose Fernandez was called up from Triple-A Reno to take Gurriel’s place on the active roster.
The move all but officially ends Gurriel’s run with the D’Backs just shy of four full seasons. Acquired along with Gabriel Moreno as part of the deal that sent Daulton Varsho to the Blue Jays in December 2022, Gurriel and Moreno were both huge factors in Arizona’s run to the NL pennant in 2023. Gurriel’s performance earned him a three-year, $42MM free agent deal, as the D’Backs re-signed the outfielder in a nod to his work on the field and in the clubhouse.
After a solid 2024 season that was basically a duplicate of his 2023 campaign, Gurriel’s production dipped to a 95 wRC+ in 2025 from a slash line of .248/.295/.418 over 546 plate appearances. The underwhelming season ended in painful fashion last September when Gurriel tore his right ACL while avoiding an outfield collision with then-teammate Blaze Alexander.
Expected to miss the usual 9-10 months for ACL recovery, Gurriel instead surprised many by returning to action on April 18. Given how the 2026 campaign has played out, a case can certainly be made that Gurriel came back too soon, as has batted only .210/.254/.290 with two homers over 210 PA. More health issues arose in the form of a left hamstring strain and a right adductor strain that combined to sideline Gurriel for just under 2.5 months over two IL 10-day IL stints.
The D’backs are locked in a tight race for an NL wild card spot, and with Gurriel simply not producing, the Snakes have decided to move on entirely. Gurriel’s contract includes a $14MM club option for 2027 that will surely be bought out for $5MM. Since claiming Gurriel would mean that a new team would have to assume that buyout plus the roughly $1MM left of Gurriel’s $13MM salary for 2026, there is virtually no chance Gurriel will head elsewhere on the waiver wire. The most probable scenario is that Gurriel clears waivers and is then released, and it’s probably unlikely that another club would sign Gurriel to a minors contract for what remains of the 2026 season.
Gurriel turns 33 in October, and he’ll likely be looking at a minor league deal (or a low-cost one-year guarantee) in free agency this offseason. Interested teams may view Gurriel as a bounce-back candidate once he is more removed from his ACL rehab, but as a left field-only player with a significant recent injury and now two years of declining numbers, Gurriel faces a limited market.
With Max Kepler also released this week, the Diamondbacks are making some cuts within what has been a pretty shaky outfield mix, apart from star right fielder Corbin Carroll. Lars Nootbaar figures to get most of the time in left field and Jordan Lawlar will likely get most of the center field playing time, with Ryan Waldschmidt and Tommy Troy also seeing time at both positions (particularly as a platoon for Nootbaar).