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The Arizona Diamondbacks decided to trade away Merrill Kelly to the Texas Rangers at the 2025 trade deadline. Kelly was expected to be traded away, but was also known to be a rental addition, as his contract was set to expire.
Well, now that MLB's free agency is finally here, Kelly is now a free agent and eligible to sign with any team. The Diamondbacks should absolutely consider re-signing Merrill Kelly, and in a recent predictions piece by Bleacher Report's Zachary Rymer, Arizona does exactly that.
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Merrill Kelly predicted to return to Diamondbacks on a two-year deal
In that BR article by Rymer, he predicts that Merrill Kelly will return to the Arizona Diamondbacks on a two-year, $28 million deal.
"The Diamondbacks need pitching, and they obviously have more familiarity with Kelly than any other team. He's also an Arizona man, as he played high school ball in Scottsdale and college ball in Prescott and Tempe long before he made his way to Phoenix to pitch for the D-backs."
Kelly has another quality campaign in 2025 with both the Rangers and Diamondbacks. In 22 starts with Arizona, he posted a 3.22 ERA in 128.2 innings. He was a late bloomer in MLB, but Arizona took a chance on him coming out of the KBO, and although he's never been named an All-Star, he certainly has the production to be one.
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The Rangers may be a little hesitant to sign Kelly, because the whole idea of bringing him in via trade was the make a playoff push, and they were unable to do so.
Kelly may be aging, but he has made 25+ starts in three of the last four seasons, and although he doesn't have overpowering stuff, the right-hander continues to be productive and induces a lot of in-play outs.
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