3 Diamondbacks players who won't be back in 2024
Last night was the end of the road for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Embrace the Chaos comeback kids went down to the Texas Rangers last night 5-0 to lose the World Series four games to one. It was nonetheless a remarkable season for the Diamondbacks, who were still struggling for a Wild Card spot in late September and were ultimately seeded sixth, but managed to work their way up to the World Series. It was an incredible effort, but now it's time to start considering what an Arizona offseason will look like, and how the team might look different when they try to run it back again next season.
Here are 3 Arizona Diamondbacks players that won't be coming back in 2024
The Diamondbacks have four free agents this year, one player with a mutual option, and eight players eligible for arbitration, including first baseman Christian Walker, ace Zac Gallen, and closer Paul Sewald. It's more likely than not that Arizona will try to retain many of them, but there are still a few who will probably be let go.
Evan Longoria
Not everyone can get a send off like Miguel Cabrera's when they come to the end of their careers in the major leagues. Most guys won't get curtain calls and gifts upon arrival to every rival ballpark in their last year. Most guys aren't Triple Crown winners, it's true, but a lot of team staples, hometown heroes, even World Series winners, go off pretty quietly into the night. This year, it was players like Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants and Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals, whose futures are still technically uncertain although the common wisdom is that they'll retire. They tipped their caps to standing home crowds in their last at bats or as they were pulled from the mound, but other than that didn't get much more of a goodbye.
It looks like Evan Longoria might be one of those guys too. Longo, now 38, has spent 16 seasons in MLB, most with the Tampa Bay Rays. This is his first year in Arizona, and it's likely that it'll be his last in the major leagues altogether. His plate appearances have waned significantly since 2021 after a shoulder sprain put him on the 60-day IL and injuries started to compound. He's technically Arizona's primary third baseman but only appeared in 73 games this year, due in part to a back injury in July.
Longoria is beloved across baseball, and rightfully so. He's a solid clubhouse presence, still capable of showing flashes of power and inherent instinct at third base, and he's saved a person's life on camera. But it's undeniable that his time in baseball is coming to an end, and from a front office perspective, it wouldn't be wise to keep paying him millions of dollars for what at this point would only be for sentimentality's sake.
Tommy Pham
Of the many New York Mets who were unceremoniously dumped at the trade deadline this year, Tommy Pham has made a good case for himself as the best off of the bunch. After all, he and Max Scherzer are the only ones left standing, and Scherzer hasn't fared very well in his World Series starts, to say the least. Pham, on the other hand, cemented himself into the good graces of Dbacks fans when he went 4-4 in Game 2 of this World Series and could've had the opportunity to go 5-5, if it were for his insistence on letting friend and Arizona bench bat Jace Peterson get a turn at the plate.
It's absolutely possible that Pham's postseason performance has made enough of an argument for the Dbacks to re-sign him but, like with Evan Longoria, age has to be considered here. Pham is a 35 year old DH whose playing time has fluctuated throughout his career. He has flashes of brilliance and clearly can perform well under pressure, but he's inconsistent, and doesn't necessarily specialize in hitting for contact or for power.
The Dbacks shouldn't let a well-timed hot streak keep them from seeing the bigger picture going into next year. Even if letting Pham go would mean having to find a replacement bat at DH or restructure the infield a bit, it's only a slight risk they should heavily consider taking.
Mark Melancon
Those who are just tuning into the Diamondbacks this year because of the World Series might not know Mark Melancon's name, and that's because he hasn't appeared on the mound once in 2023. He signed a two-year, $14 million contract in 2021, with a mutual option in 2024, but didn't do great work for the team in 2022 and sprained his shoulder in spring training this year, which led to a placement on the 60-day IL, which led to him being absent from the mound for the entire season.
Like Evan Longoria and Tommy Pham, Melancon's also getting older, and the Diamondbacks bullpen has proven itself to be an effective force without him, especially during this postseason. Relievers Ryan Thompson, Joe Mantiply, and Kevin Ginkel are all eligible for arbitration this year, and Arizona is much more likely to focus its attentions on maintaining a good relationship with the three of them than concern itself with re-signing a reliever who only managed to give them 56 innings over two years. This one's a no brainer; they've got to let Melancon go.
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