Aug 19, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy (right) celebrates with teammate Alek Thomas after hitting a solo home run in the third inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Agree to Terms With 8 Players

Originally posted on Arizona Diamondbacks on SI
By Alex D'Agostino | Last updated Jan 8, 2026 8:50 PM ET

The Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly avoided arbitration with all of their eligible players, coming to an agreement with eight members of their roster according to a recent report from The Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro.

Those eight players include: Gabriel Moreno, Pavin Smith, Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, Ryne Nelson, Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and A.J. Puk.

These players were all under team control for 2026, but these agreements will allow them to avoid going to an arbitration hearing with the team over their salary for the 2026 season.

For context, when a player reaches three years of service time, they become eligible for arbitration, so long as they have not already signed a contract extention.

The arbitration process works as follows, via MLB.com:

"If the club and an arbitration-eligible player have not agreed on a salary by a deadline (typically in mid-January), the club and player must exchange salary figures for the upcoming season."

"After the figures are exchanged, a hearing is scheduled (typically in February). Teams and players are still free to continue negotiating on a contract up until the hearing date. If no one-year or multi-year settlement can be reached by the hearing date, the case is brought before a panel of arbitrators. After hearing arguments from both sides, the panel selects either the player- or team-submitted salary figure (but not one in between) as the player's salary for the upcoming season."

The Diamondbacks reported contract figures are listed below:

Arizona Diamondbacks Avoid Arbitration With 8 Players

Jack Sommers

In total, the Diamondbacks ultimately come in slightly below their expected estimates from MLB Trade Rumors.

Of the eight, only Thompson ($3.95 million vs $3.90 million estimated) and Gabriel Moreno ($2.525 million against $2.40 million estimate) surpassed their expectations ahead of arbitration. McCarthy, meanwhile ($1.525 million vs $1.90 million estimated), has the largest discrepancy between the two numbers, coming in about $380,000 below expected.

The Diamondbacks will pay $1.36 million less in total to these eight players than what was expected — certainly not a number that means much in a large-scale payroll sense, but a bit of a "savings" nonetheless.