January 8 marks an important date on MLB’s offseason calendar. It serves as the deadline for players and teams to submit salaries for salary arbitration.
Salary arbitration is a collectively bargained right for players with three to five years of service time, plus the top 20% of players with two years (Super Two). Typically, most players will settle on one-year deals for the season on deadline day.
Teams have until the hearing to negotiate a settlement for the season. However, once the hearing starts, both the player and the team submit their case to a three-person panel of arbitrators, which ultimately decides the player’s salary.
Diamondbacks Settle With All Arbitration-Eligible Players
The Arizona Diamondbacks had eight players eligible for arbitration in 2026. Per The Arizona Republic‘s Nick Piecoro, the team has settled with all eight.
These are the salaries the players settled on, sorted from most to least service time entering the 2026 season.
- LHP A.J. Puk (5.124): $3.1 million
- RHP Ryan Thompson (5.095): $3.95 million
- RHP Kevin Ginkel (5.033): $2.725 million
- 1B/DH Pavin Smith (4.015): $2.25 million
- OF Alek Thomas (3.103): $1.9625 million
- OF Jake McCarthy (3.074): $1.525 million
- C Gabriel Moreno (3.061): $2.55 million
- RHP Ryne Nelson (3.020): $3 million
2026 marks the third straight season the Diamondbacks will not go to an arbitration hearing with any of their players. Since all eight players settled instead of going to a hearing, their salaries are fully guaranteed for next season.
The Diamondbacks typically are a file then trial organization. In nine years of running the organization, general manager Mike Hazen has only gone to a hearing three times. In those three cases, the club lost its hearing with Shelby Miller in 2018 but won over Archie Bradley (2020) and Josh Rojas (2023). Both Bradley and Rojas praised Hazen for the way he handles the process.
Compared to Matt Swartz’s model, the Diamondbacks saved just under $1.4 million on their eight arbitration-eligible players. It’s worth noting that six of the players underperformed their projection. Nelson was the only player of that group who didn’t battle injuries or have a poor performance in 2025.
McCarthy underperformed his estimate the most ($375K) while Moreno overperformed the most ($150K). Moreno is considered a potential 2026 breakout candidate, assuming better health. Thompson was the only other player who beat his projection, but did so by only $50K.
Updating the Diamondbacks Payroll Situation
Between the eight players, the Diamondbacks will spend just over $21 million on their arbitration-eligible players. That lowers their payroll to $167 million and their Competitive Balance Tax number to $204.5 million, based on Roster Resource’s figures. The figures haven’t been updated at the time of publishing.
The certainty with these salary figures now makes trades more plausible. McCarthy and Thomas are subject to trade rumors, as the Diamondbacks could flip one of them to land short-term bullpen help. A difference of $375K or $247.5K might not make too much of a difference in the trade balance, however.
Diamondbacks General Managing Partner Ken Kendrick said in September that the team is unlikely to carry a CBT payroll of $220 million. That doesn’t leave a lot of flexibility this offseason, although Hazen downplayed it. Arizona still needs to land a late-inning arm and a right-handed hitting first baseman this offseason.
Diamondbacks Avoid Salary Arbitration With All Eight Players for 2026