SCOTTSDALE — Arizona Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall assessed late last season that the club’s payroll would come down.
On Sunday, the first day of full squad workouts at Salt River Fields, Hall stood up in front of cameras and joked that he had lied.
“Sometimes you surprise yourself in life,” team owner Ken Kendrick said.
“We spent more than I thought we would.”
The Diamondbacks are projected to eclipse their payroll from the end of last season to bring back pitchers Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen, along with adding Nolan Arenado, Carlos Santana and Michael Soroka to the roster.
According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts via Baseball Prospectus, the Diamondbacks’ final projected payroll in 2025 was $176.3 million, $208 million with the competitive balance tax. Arizona traded several veterans at the deadline and saved money doing so.
Cot’s projects the team’s 2026 payroll at $183.8 million with a competitive balance tax number of $223.1 million. The luxury tax threshold is $244 million, which is not something the club has had to worry about previously.
That does not guarantee that the club will be competitive. The D-backs have complications stemming from long-term injuries key players suffered last season that linger into 2026 and face a highly competitive-looking National League.
The Diamondbacks still expect to compete for a postseason spot after making a series of short-term commitments to shore up a roster that entered the winter with questions at multiple positions.
Kendrick complemented the front office to the players during his annual spring training speech on Sunday for assembling the team given complex circumstances.
The Diamondbacks increased their payroll again, extending the budget well beyond the club anticipated.
“Hopefully, our investment will pay off,” owner Ken Kendrick said. pic.twitter.com/VyRM6S6fgE
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) February 15, 2026
More than $50 million of the payroll will start the year on the injured list, including ace Corbin Burnes, back-end relievers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Outfielder Corbin Carroll’s status for Opening Day is questionable, but he will not miss many regular season games if his timeline remains consistent to that of a broken hamate.
“Everything’s difficult, I think complicated is probably the more appropriate word,” general manager Mike Hazen said. “We’re not unique to that. There’s other teams out there that made the playoffs last year that didn’t have their No. 1 starting pitcher either, and so that’s not your fate just because you have guys that aren’t going to be there on Day 1.”
Kelly said he had a three-year offer on the table from the San Diego Padres, but the D-backs were able to come to an agreement on a two-year deal with a vesting option for the veteran who wanted to return to his hometown.
Arenado will start every day at third base for $5 million, as the D-backs were able to acquire him via trade from the St. Louis Cardinals for minimal money and prospect capital.
The biggest hoop the D-backs jumped through landed them Gallen, who took a one-year deal worth $22.05 million with only $8 million due this season.
Hazen, Hall and Kendrick all said the work may not be done, particularly in regard to the bullpen.
The work has all been done to build a roster that has the task of staying afloat in the National League pennant race through a difficult early-season schedule before reinforcements return from the injured list.
Kendrick once again said the goal is to reach the postseason after back-to-back near misses, alluding to his standing as an 82-year-old owner.
“Last year in payroll, we were in the top five when you think of percentage of your revenue are you spending on your team,” Kendrick said. “We’re back in that spot, probably. … I want to succeed. I want to win. I want to spend the money that we have, and maybe then some. And now two years in a row, we’ve done it. Last year, it didn’t work out like we would have wanted.
“I think we can acknowledge significant beyond norm injury was a factor. But you don’t cry when you have injury, it’s part of the game. Guys we lost last year to injury you almost think of as the reserve group that’s going to come along later in the year, and I feel like when we get everybody healthy, we’re going to be a highly competitive team. Getting ourselves from Day 1 to the point where all of the injured guys are back is going to be challenging. The Dodgers are the Dodgers, and the league is the league. I feel like we owe it to the fans to go all in to the degree we can, and hopefully that our investment will pay off.”
The Diamondbacks are well behind the giants of the sport in payroll but have ranked in the upper half of the league since 2024.
Kendrick called the back-to-back champion Dodgers the 900-pound gorilla, as he did to the Los Angeles Times last week, but to continue the metaphor, he said the gorilla does not win every fight. The Dodgers were a cleat away from losing the World Series in Toronto to the Blue Jays, in addition to being down 2-1 in the 2024 NLDS in San Diego.
The Diamondbacks enter this season an underdog compared to the previous two. Hall said the club will embrace being overlooked with a roster that is expected to play with a high level of effort and energy, better defense and a dangerous top of the lineup.
