PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - BREAKING: D-backs Bringing Back Merrill Kelly on Two-Year Deal

Episode Date: December 14, 2025

The Arizona Diamondbacks are bringing back The Mainstay Merrill Kelly, per Steve Gilbert, on a two-year deal. We have more on Mike Hazen completing one of the biggest heists of the 2025 MLB trade deadline, what Kelly returning means to the fans, and if this move is enough to turn things around for the D-backs pitching staff.JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ Aura Frames: Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PHNX. Promo Code PHNXPhoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120 ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/APS:  Find instant rebates, discounts and special offers on smart thermostats, energy-efficient appliances and more at https://marketplace.aps.com/default/heating-cooling/smart-thermostats Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visithttps://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes Chicken N’ Pickle: Family friendly fun awaits! Visit chickennpickle.com to plan your visit today! Visit https://www.macu.com/accounts/checking/mystyle-checking?cid=ea-PHNX-AZ-mystyleAugust2025-checking to learn more about their MyStyle Checking Accounts! bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets!Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/  Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.  Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people.  Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. #dbacks #diamondbacks #arizonadiamondbacks #mlb #zacgallen #corbincarroll #ketelmarte #mlbtheshow #mlbtraderumors #tradedeadline #traderumors #allstargame Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Merrill, the mainstay is back, and Mike Hazen might have just pulled off the heist of the century. We're talking about it in 30 seconds. Don't you go anywhere. Ski and welcome in to an emergency edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast right here live from my house where I was asleep like 30 minutes ago. We got big news. And of course, this show, as always, is brought to you by our friends at GameTime. Download that GameTime app. Use our code of PHNX, get $20 off.

But we are here as an emergency pod to talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks bringing back Merrill Kelly on a two-year deal worth $20 million per year per Steve Gilbert and MLB.com. This was a move that we felt was eminent. We've talked about this for a while. And I think that if you're talking about players, the Diamondbacks could have gone after that we're not going to be the elite high caliber expensive arms available on the free agent. pitching market, then Merrill Kelly was a pretty attractive target. Not only did you know at his age of 37 years old, was Merrill going to not require the long-term deal that most of those guys would require, but you also know exactly what you're getting in the mainstay.

I mean, this guy has been outstanding for the Diamondbacks in his time here. He was outstanding last year. I think we have his stats for 2025, but he put up some great numbers last season. And, you know, again, those numbers were mostly for the Arizona Diamondbacks here. He put up in 128, two-thirds innings, a 3.22 ERA, a 3.58 FIP, 3.18 strikeouts per walk, and 2.9 more. If I didn't put Merrill Kelly's name to these stats, most of you would have been drooling over this anonymous person, as long as I probably also kept his age out of it. But meanwhile, his season with the Texas Rangers did not go nearly as well.

And that is probably the thing I'm going to focus on today, considering I'm sitting here, ready to just take victory laps wearing this Arlington shirt I have on. In 55 in a third innings pitch with the Texas Rangers after the Arizona Diamondbacks traded Merrill Kelly at the trade deadline to the Rangers. He posted a 4.23 ERA, a 4.18 FIP, 4.60 strikeouts per walk and a negative war, a negative baseball reference war of 0.1, right? The move was not great for Merrill Kelly, but more importantly, the move was not great for the Texas Rangers. The Diamondbacks had a bevy of contracts to unload, and obviously Merrill Kelly was one of them, but I don't think any of us imagined when the season started

that Merrill Kelly's contract would have been the one that received the biggest haul at the trade deadline. I think many of us imagined if the Diamondbacks had a bad season and they were going to end up trading their players away, they were going to end up trading away most likely Zach Gallen for the hall. Instead, the offers based on Gallin's first half were not there. And meanwhile, as we showed you there with Merrill's numbers that those were very attractive.

The Texas Rangers are the biggest loser in this entire situation, quite frankly. And that's because Mike Hazen fleece them. He fleeced the Texas Rangers. When you look at what the Texas Rangers got here out of Merrill Kelly, it was like a coordinated effort to bring that team to its knees and ensure that they did not make the playoffs. And Merrill Kelly was not the reason why. And shout out to our guys, CWP. Yes, sir.

The pickle juice will flow in downtown Phoenix. once again. An interesting thing on that too that I want to bring up as well. But overall here, when you talk about Merrill, what he means to the valley, what he means as like to Arizona, I think it's like, it's kind of like what I said with Paul Goldschmidt. There's a different type of love for Merrill Kelly here in this city. There's a different appreciation for him. He's 37 years old with a two-year contract worth $20 million per year. There's a good chance that this could be the final run of Merrill's pitching career, right? So for him to come here and return here and hang it up with the Diamondbacks,

that's special. That means something. And Mark's right. He is at least a top 10 kissable pitcher. He wants to see the kissable stats. I didn't pull the kissable stats. We didn't have time this morning. And that's probably on me because we definitely should have factored in his kissable,

his kissable factors, his kissing percentages, the expected kissing stats, all of that into his free agent value. And that is something that somebody, many people here, are going to most likely not love, is that we are bringing back a 37-year-old at $20 million per year. And I've already seen the comments on social media about that. Let's just remember that Merrill in general was never supposed to be this good returning from Korea. And for some reason, he's just been incredibly consistent in his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks. and he was a stud in the playoffs,

and he's just been a stud for us at times quietly. I've said when he was, when he was surpassing legends in the Diamondbacks, you know, organization as far as pitching goes for wins and other factors, I, you know, I felt like there was something special and obviously underrated about Merrill Kelly, right?

But having him back, I think just, it means a lot. I think it means a lot to all of us. And I personally am very thankful. Ed Merrill back in this organization. I will say that there's no surprise that a move like this is not going to excite many people. And that was something that I cautioned on several of our episodes when we were discussing about which free agent pitching options they could go after. Even if they go after a guy with worse stats, there's this weird expectation amongst the fan base that that person is going to have a renaissance, right? They're going to rejuvenate their career here in Arizona,

which the track record does not prove that that happens, especially with pitchers. But, you know, I think the thing is that you bring in an unknown, and it's easier to get excited about it than Merrill Kelly. Merrill Kelly was not the reason this pitching staff was so bad last year. In fact, Merrill Kelly could be credited for a big reason why things didn't really go off the rails completely for this starting rotation. So he was not the problem. And I don't know why this, you know, of course, this is going to be like one of those

underrated moves that a lot of people don't like. but I'm expecting that. I was expecting people in general to not love this move because of the fact that what are you really improving here? You know, again, though, I will reiterate that Merrill Kelly was not the problem with this pitching staff. So having him return is a blessing and something that is going to make this team better.

Is it enough to make them competitive with Michael Soroka as a back-end starter and Brandon fought and Eduardo Rodriguez in the middle? I have no idea. I like the idea of them bringing in this new assistant GM and Jeremy Blake, who has specialized in, you know, pitching development in Pittsburgh has a track record there of pitchers being better. So I think you can feel a little optimism about the pitching staff that's here, that is here getting better. And I mean, again, there is kind of an unknown factor there in Michael Soroka,

even though his numbers last year weren't very good. His underlying expected stats actually were. And if he's able to somehow be that, then you have two guys in your rotation that most likely have a sub four ERA, and you could have probably several of those guys. The most important thing here, though, is, and this gets back to my earlier point,

Mike Hazen fleeced the Texas Rangers. We lost to the Rangers in the World Series. I'm sure you all remember that from 20. There was a point where I was half naked and drunk. It was fun. We had good times. But I've never seen such a revenge plot as what has happened here. The Diamondbacks, instead of trading Zach Gowan, who they weren't getting good offers for at the trade deadline, do part ways with one Merrill Kelly and vastly improve their farm system pitching depths through that trade.

They bring in Mitch Bratt. They bring in David Haggaman. importantly, they bring in Cole Drake, who I believe is now the Diamondbacks number one overall pitching prospect. They send Merrill Kelly over to the Rangers, who was fine. He wasn't good. He wasn't what he was with the Diamondbacks, but he was fine, but the Rangers weren't. And they collapsed and they missed the playoffs completely in 2025. They gave us three of their best prospects for essentially winning the exact same number of postseason games that the Diamondbacks did. And now, like a good double agent, here, Merrill Kelly, now that the assignment is over, now that the J.O.B. is done. Merrill Kelly returns home and says, mission accomplished, sir, to Mike Hazen. So I couldn't be more thrilled about the way that trade went down. And if there was a, I couldn't think of a better team to do it to. Maybe the Dodgers, but you know the Dodgers would just recover from it and be better for some reason. Merrill Kelly would have gone over there and posted a team.

2.5 ERA and signed a five-year extension with deferral payments through 2048. But instead, we got this scenario. And this is great. This is great for sure. Appreciate all of you guys for being here early morning in this chat with me. I know my internet isn't always cooperating with me, but AZ Catch G. Appreciate you being here. Thanks for the update. I'm interested to see what you guys think is $20 million a year for Merrill Kelly too much. I knew that was going to be the neighborhood. I thought it would be maybe a little bit cheaper than that. maybe we would get Merrill Kelly more for like 35 million for two years,

but the extra $5 million does not really bother me. It is a product of the market and is a necessity in order for the Diamondbacks to fill out their starting pitching rotation. The biggest thing about this trade, though, is this is Cotel Marte's best friend. Merrill Kelly is back. Cotel Marte's best friend is home. And now we can just literally put to bed these rumors like it's Christmas Eve. we can tuck the trade rumors about Cotel Marte into bed,

then we know we're going to sneak out later and try to sneak a peek at Santa, but we can put these trade rumors to bed. The Diamondbacks and Mike Hazen have already refuted them. They've already tried to, I guess, do everything except, like I said, on yesterday's show, openly say that, you know, that they are not trading Cotel Marte, right? We said that about Terek Scoobel. It would be easy to shut down those rumors by saying,

we're not trading him. it would be just as easy for Mike Hayeson to say, we're not trading Catele-Martee. However, there have been interviews with Mike. Obviously, he has given his thoughts on it quite a bit, including kind of being a little bit baffled by why this is different than any year because he gets calls apparently according to him on Cattel every year. But the other thing was is Mike was asked at one point, if the Diamondbacks were able to acquire starting pitching without a trade,

without trading Cotel Marte and fill their starting rotation, which now they have five starting pitchers, believe it or not, that would definitely decrease the likelihood of a Cotel Marte trade. The Diamondbacks are not trying to go out there and upgrade Marte for other position players, and they don't really need that badly. There are a lot of places they would love to upgrade, and there are a lot of great players available out there. I'm not trying to say that Diamondbacks can't get better.

I'm also not saying that I feel like this makes the Diamondbacks a competitive team with a team like the Dodgers who just added Edwin Diaz as their closer this offseason. What I do feel like is this is a complete team with solid pieces that, you know, I feel like a good GM builds. These are pieces that are, have a risk attached to them. Yes, they are not the flashiest guys out there available. But if the Diamondbacks are able to now use the remaining funds that they have, the remaining financial flexibility to still add a Pete Fairbanks to their bullpen and still perhaps at a Paul Goldschild over at first base, it's hard not to feel like this offseason was shockingly,

shockingly complete, right? You're not going to convince a lot of people that they improve this team. And I would have a hard time arguing that they did as well. This has to be like results on the field, kind of proving it for this team. And until they go out there and can prove that they get back to that identity they had in 2023, get back to the solid defense that they have been known for, that has been their identity and their calling card. And if

this goddamn pitching staff cannot be one of the worst in the league, you feel like this team has a chance to be pretty good. You know, but again, there's none of these signings. A Michael Soroka bringing back Merrill Kelly, bringing back James McCann,

even adding a Paul Goldschmidt and a Pete Fairbanks, is not going to be enough to convince anybody that the diamondbacks are competing with the Dodgers with that particular roster. But again, this team and Tori Lavello play their best in the underdog role. And I think that's a big reason why Merrill Kelly is such a good fit. Merrill Kelly is a dog. He is an underdog. And this man loves to prove himself.

He loves to go out there and he loves to try to have people, you know, underestimate him. And again, give a team like what he's given the diamond. you know, everything like that he has and be as good as he's been. So I don't know. I still think that baseball is one of the best sports to watch because of all the variables and all the different things and how good a bad team can be. Like nobody expected the brewers last year to be as good as they were. Who knows what this team can be?

They still have some work to do. But I do like this deal. And I do think that there are still some trades in the future. I would not be surprised to still see a Jake McCarthy or an Alec Thomas traded. I would not be surprised to see young prospects like a Ryan Waldschmidt, even though it would break my heart, get traded. But I feel confident now with the addition of Merrill Kelly that we are not going to see Catea moved, which would have been probably the biggest loss that they could have experienced,

one that probably would have devastated this fan base for years to come to watch Catea in another Jersey be essentially a you know a freaking MVP candidate somewhere else and yeah i don't know garrett asks think the rangers are down to get fleeced again i don't think it's got the question i i throw it out there i mean we fleeced uh the mariners quite a bit maybe the mariners fleaced us a little bit i don't know we have a working relationship with jerry de potto and the mariners but i feel like it's far more contentious with the texas rangers so uh ryan suggests sending jake to the rangers for some barbecue and I think that's an overpay for Jake. But that's just my feelings on it.

That's probably rude to say. It's just the way I feel on it. But we have, like I said, far more moves to make. But Merrill, again, another thing I've talked about is this team lacking like leadership and veteran presence. I feel James McCann brings a ton of that to this team. But I think Merrill absolutely does as well. So I am very much looking forward to Merrill Kelly coming back and returning.

And we knew it. the signs were there. He was at his son's game with Miggy and the sons deleted it. Why did the sons have to delete it? Huh? I'm just curious. Why did they take down a video of Merrill Kelly being there? Maybe because the deal was already done at the time? I don't know, but these are just speculation. I also heard Merrill bought a new house in town. So things felt inevitable. And yeah, I'm telling you, at the end of the day, the Diamondbacks absolutely fleece the Rangers and Merrill Kelly comes back here to hopefully help this team bridge the gap between now and the other side of the unknown. The next two years are so weird.

The next year look like a disaster for the Diamondbacks, a dumpster fire, probably the worst that you can imagine. And now things are actually looking up. Again, I'm not suggesting that any Diamondbacks fan is going to get pumped about the signings that they've made this offseason. and until we see those guys perform on the field in 2026. However, I think we can all sleep a little better at night knowing that Mike Hazen went out there, worked his ass off to try to complete this roster and give this team a chance to win. And honestly, bring back a guy that we all kind of love, right?

And none biased whale says who gets pushed out when he does come back. See, that's a very interesting thing for me. Michael Soroka obviously does have bullpen experience and kind of is the last like he's the last man in right I feel like there's a good chance based on his his introductory interview and some other things I've heard that he would be fine with accepting whatever role he is asked of however the beautiful part about this team for a player like Michael Soroka is that the opportunity is wide open there's no guarantees nobody is guaranteed to not end up in the bullpen. one is guaranteed to not be cut from this team. No one is guaranteed anything. It's all performance based. And again, if he goes out there and posts a sub four ERA and is a surprisingly good addition to this roster, then even he's not the one that's going to be put out. Right. Like there's, there's a competition now here within the starting rotation knowing that as you said, who gets pushed back when when when Corbyn Burns comes back? Well, you have to work for it because every man in that

starting rotation is going to know that somebody is going to get pushed out when Corbyn Burns comes back. So that seems to me like the proper added motivation for them all to be at their best so that they are not the ones that get sent back or get sent down, get sent wherever, right? Like there's only a few options you can make with a guy like Erod. And there's only so many options you're willing to make with a guy like branded fought because you still probably very much believe in him. However, you know, again, I just think that in general, nobody, nobody is safe when it comes to who gets pushed back. You know who gets pushed down,

whoever has a 5.23 ERA when that time comes. That's who gets pushed down. And I do like the fact that Mike Hazen has not shied away, as we saw with the Madison Bumgarner deal and other situations where guys that are hurting us, guys that are not performing well on the field, no matter how much they're getting paid, are not going to be allowed to continue to hurt the team's performance on the field, right?

So again, I think that the competition is there, and it's definitely good for this team. So I'm just very excited, as I think you all should be back, or be that Merrill Kelly is back. This is a big feather in the cap of Mike Hazen what he was able to do for this team. And again, the work is not done, but you feel much better about, you know, what they did this offseason. It's like me with the Christmas gifts. I still have so many stocking stuffers to buy and people I forgot. But the big stuff was bought in like November. And it did allow me to have a little bit of comfort,

a little bit of, of, you know, rest at night knowing that the majority of my work is done. Bringing in these two starters and doing it for a total cost of $27.5 million for one season for both of those guys. That's a deal. That's a Black Friday deal. And Mike Hazen got the majority of his shopping done with that one. So great to have the main stay back in the valley. And great to once again.

feel a little bit better about 2026. Appreciate all of you guys taking some time on football Sunday to join us. I have to head out to Heila River Resorts and Casinos to hang out with the PHMX Cardinals crew and do some drinking. So make sure to join us for that if you are interested in coming out. Otherwise, we'll be back on Monday with another 12 p.m. show. So make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, I'm at Kap underscore Caveman with a K. Shout out to my guy, Shane Dief and Bach for holding it down for me.

You can follow him at Shane Dief. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore debacks, but as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Until then, have yourselves a wonderful Sunday. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it is so much more fun

when the mainstay is part of your starting rotation.