SnakeBytes 12/16: Herrera signs with Rangers

Diamondbacks News

Former Diamondbacks Catcher Signs with Rangers by Alex D’Agostino [SI]

According to a report by El Extrabase’s Daniel Álvarez-Montes, Herrera has inked a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers, and will receive an invitation to big league Spring Training. 

The Rangers are the first organization Herrera will be a part of that is not the Diamondbacks. The switch-hitter spent 2013-2025 as a part of Arizona’s system in some capacity. He was the longest-tenured player in the organization prior to his decision to elect free agency.

Merrill Kelly Returns From Whence He Came by Michael Rosen [FanGraphs]

Kelly is as Arizona as a cactus in a backyard pool. (Meg tells me they typically aren’t actually in the pool, but you know what I mean.) He went to high school in Scottsdale, a couple dozen miles northeast of Chase Field. After a stint at Yavapai Community College, he transferred to Arizona State to finish up his college career. Drafted by the Rays, Kelly shuttled off to Korea for four years in his 20s before returning to make his MLB debut for the Diamondbacks in 2019. He has spent his entire major league career in Arizona, save for a two month sojourn to Texas following a midseason trade at the 2025 deadline. Perhaps scandalized by Arlington’s complete lack of any public transit — not even a single bus line! — he kept his time with the Rangers short. In Phoenix, he’ll return as the presumptive ace at the unlikely age of 37 and with the unlikely fastball velocity of 91.8 mph.

There will be analysis of Kelly’s game to come, but his appeal is easily summarized: The guy can just pitch. Yes, his fastball sits about three ticks slower than the average right-handed pitcher. And sure, his stuff metrics are nothing to write home about. But even with these clear limitations, Kelly succeeds because he does two extremely important things: He locates the ball, and he makes it impossible for hitters to guess which pitch is coming.

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 56 Prospects by Brendan Gawlowski [FanGraphs]

It took most of the season, but [Yilber] Díaz eventually found himself. He dominated over his last 11 innings in Amarillo, striking out 15, allowing one run, and most critically only walking two in his final 10 outings (including the postseason). He’s continued to miss a ton of bats, albeit with a few more free passes, in the Venezuelan Winter League. 

Díaz now projects as a late-inning reliever. His slider and curve are plus hammers, and he’s regularly reaching the upper 90s with his fastball, and the big league batters down in Venezuela look outclassed. He’s always been wild, and 2025’s bout in Reno in particular has me on high alert, but Díaz looks more settled at this point, and has shown the fortitude to be able to work through a dire rough patch. He has a shot to close if everything breaks right from here.

What are Ketel Marte’s 5 limited no-trade clause teams? by Alex Weiner [Arizona Sports]

Marte, though, has a limited no-trade clause already, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal on Monday revealed the five teams on it: New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Athletics.

That’s a pretty eclectic group of teams. It’s easy to see why the A’s are on there considering they play in a minor league ballpark, but why the Yankees and not the Mets? Why the Giants specifically among the NL West clubs? Did he eat some bad pierogies in Pittsburgh?

Red Sox Insider Explains Why Ketel Marte Trade Is Best Move For Boston by Jackson Roberts [SI]

Ian Browne of MLB.com highlighted the Red Sox as one of the few teams with the resources to make a Marte trade, while repeatedly insisting that the 32-year-old is a missing piece at an important position.

“While trading pitching prospects generally isn’t something executives … are keen on doing, Boston has sturdied up its foundation of pitching by loading up on arms in the past two MLB Drafts.,” Browne wrote. “(Chief baseball officer Craig) Breslow has mentioned needing to get uncomfortable at times to make a trade of high magnitude. Only he knows how uncomfortable he is willing to get.

Around the League

Infielder Kim returns to Braves on 1-yeaer, $20 million deal by Anthony DiComo [MLB]

On the whole, 2025 was a frustrating campaign for the Bucheon, South Korea, native, whose Rays debut was delayed until July as he rehabbed from surgery the previous October to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Kim strained his calf shortly after returning and twice landed on the IL with back injuries. But after the Braves claimed him, Kim stayed healthy and notably improved, batting .309/.372/.456 over his first 19 games with his new team — numbers dampened only by a 1-for-19 stretch to close out the season.

Red Sox, Nationals Swap Pitching Prospects by Anthony Franco [MLB Trade Rumors]

In a rare type of transaction, the Nationals and Red Sox have agreed to swap pitching prospects. The clubs announced a one-for-one deal that sends righty Luis Perales to Washington and southpaw Jake Bennett to Boston. Neither player has made his MLB debut but both are on the 40-man roster.

It’s the kind of trade that fans often like to project but which almost never happens in practice. Neither Bennett nor Perales is a top-tier prospect, but they each ranked among the top 10 talents in their respective organizations at Baseball America. Teams tend to value their own prospects more highly than those in other systems. That’s only natural, as they liked the player enough to acquire them in the first place and have been instrumental in their development.

Lawyers clash over Angels’ alleged role in Tyler Skaggs’ death [ESPN]

A lawyer for the family of late pitcher Tyler Skaggs argued Monday that the Los Angeles Angels‘ failure to investigate reports of drug use and dealing by the team’s communications director led to the overdose death of the 27-year-old player.

An Angels attorney, however, said it was Skaggs who was pushing drug-addicted employee Eric Kay and his teammates to provide him with pills and that had club officials known about it, they would have sought help for the left-handed starter.

The dueling claims came in closing arguments of a two-month civil trial in Southern California over whether the MLB team should be held responsible for Skaggs’ fatal overdose after snorting a fentanyl-laced pill on a team trip to Texas in 2019.