[Heavy] Trade For First Baseman Takes Boston Out Of Marte Sweepstakes – The Boston Red Sox traded for Cardinals’ first baseman Willson Contreras and cash Sunday night in exchange for pitcher Hunter Dobbins and minor league arms, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. It was reported that Contreras was one of the Red Sox’s top trade targets. Now, they’ve got him. But perhaps this was a pivot from their top target in Arizona Diamondbacks’ second baseman Ketel Marte. Bob Nightengale of USA Today affirms this, reporting that the Red Sox are now expected to end trade talks with the Diamondbacks for Marte.
[SI] Why Former Padre Could Perfectly Fill This D-backs Need – One player that could neatly fit the bill is 32-year-old Ryan O’Hearn. The left-handed hitter enjoyed a career year in 2025, batting .281/.366/.437, .803 OPS. That worked out to a 125 OPS+, well above average. It’s been a solid three year run for O’Hearn, as he posted a 122 OPS+ in 2023, and 119 in 2024… FanGraphs’ crowdsource contract estimates for O’Hearn come in at two years, $24 million, or $12 million average annual salary. If the D-backs were truly a potential suitor for Alex Bregman, they can certainly afford O’Hearn, who has similar projections to Bregman (.761 vs .788). Ryan O’Hearn could be a significant upgrade for the Diamondbacks at either DH or first base in 2025.
[Burn City Sports] Was Munetaka Murakami a missed opportunity for the Diamondbacks? – Murakami could have provided stability in Arizona’s infield, particularly at first base. With experience on both corners, he may have fit into a platoon role alongside Blaze Alexander and Jordan Lawlar. A young power hitter on a team-friendly contract appeared to align with Arizona’s roster-building needs. At $17 million per year, the deal could have fit in the Diamondbacks’ financial range and addressed a long-term need at first base. However, the signing also offers insight into why the Japanese star’s market developed slowly and why his deal came at a relative discount.
[Sportskeeda] Diamondbacks skipper hails Corbin Carroll, likens him to legendary Red Sox infielder – His physique and output garnered praise from team skipper Torey Lovullo, who lauded Carroll and compared him to Red Sox great Dustin Pedroia in an interview with Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast. “Corbin Carroll is unbelievable,” said Lovullo. “He looks like a small player. He’s not very tall [and] reminds me of Dustin Pedroia. When I saw Pedroia without a shirt on, I’m like: ‘now I know where the bat speed is coming from.’ He’s got unbelievable shoulders and unbelievable lats and traps. He’s just jacked,” he added. (38:30-38:54) He further commended his superstar for having the discipline to be a better version of himself.
[AZ Central] ‘Grateful’ Merrill Kelly returns to Diamondbacks; Marte talk simmering – A mainstay and key part of the Diamondbacks’ starting rotation for the past 6 ½ seasons, he realizes this contract, for which he’s thankful, could be his last as a player. “Me knowing what this last deal, or possibly this last deal, brings for me and my family, and where we’ve been to get here and the journey that we took, there was a good amount of emotions and reflections … on where I started on my journey just career-wise and how many years it’s been,” Kelly said. “It goes by fast, and looking back on the last 15 years to kind of all culminate into what this deal is and what it means for me, I think about it a lot and I’m forever grateful for the DBacks’ organization for allowing me to kind of finish my journey with this deal.”
[ESPN] Angels, Skaggs family reach last-minute settlement – The Los Angeles Angels agreed Friday to a last-minute settlement with the family of deceased pitcher Tyler Skaggs after jurors, deliberating for more than two days, sent queries that suggested the verdict might go in the family’s favor. The amount and terms of the settlement — ending a yearslong battle over culpability in Skaggs’ death — were not disclosed. The Skaggs family had been seeking $118 million in potential lost earnings plus added damages. “The Skaggs family has reached a confidential settlement with Angels Baseball that brings to a close a difficult six-year process, allowing our families to focus on healing,” the family said in a statement.
[MLB.com] Here is the 2025 ‘All-Awardless’ team – THIRD BASE: Eugenio Suárez, Mariners/Diamondbacks. Though Suárez didn’t perform anywhere near as well with the Mariners after a high-profile, midseason trade from the Diamondbacks, his go-ahead grand slam in Game 5 of the ALCS was an epic moment. And he had done so much damage with Arizona that he finished the regular season with the third-highest OPS (.824) of any qualifier at the hot corner (trailing All-MLB Team members José Ramírez and Junior Caminero) and fifth in the Majors in home runs (49). Suárez was the first of a record three players this year with a four-homer game, preceding Nick Kurtz and Kyle Schwarber.
[Reddit] Has any player worn more different uniform numbers in their career than Jamey Wright? – Wright has worn 12 different uniform numbers in his career (16, 19, 21, 23, 28, 31, 34, 35, 45, 48, 49, 50), and it seems like whenever he went to a new team, he literally just took whatever they gave him. I can hardly imagine having so little preference as to what number you get, and I’m wondering if any player has more. Lofton and Dotel moved teams a lot but had preferred numbers that they took over and over again. Edwin Jackson had 10 different numbers and still managed to wear #36 for 7 different teams… Someone else pulled out George Brunet wearing 15 numbers even: 4, 9, 22, 23, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 38, 39, 43, 53, 57