NL West6 of 6

Arizona Diamondbacks: RHP Corbin Burnes, $32.9M
2026 Stats: 3.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 6.0 K/9, 0.2 bWAR

He’s finally back from Tommy John surgery, and not a moment too soon. Burnes made his 2026 debut on Tuesday, tossing three scoreless innings against the Royals. With any luck, he’ll be stretched out enough to go six or seven innings during the do-or-die final weekend of the regular season against the San Diego Padres, possibly again during the wild card round. If that happens and he helps get the Diamondbacks into the NLDS, the lengthy rehab will have been worth every penny. For now, though, those three innings sure have cost a lot of money.

Colorado Rockies: OF Kris Bryant, $26M
2026 Stats: N/A

It’ll never quite approach Rendon/Strasburg levels of disaster, simply because Bryant’s $182M contract isn’t even 75 percent as expensive as those $245M swings and misses. But since the beginning of 2023, Bryant has played in 128 games with a .642 OPS and a negative-2.3 bWAR. At this point, he’s frankly helping the Rockies by simply cashing his checks while not picking up a bat.

Los Angeles Dodgers: OF Kyle Tucker, $57.2M
2026 Stats: .225/.323/.361, 13 HR, 60 RBI, 10 SB, 0.3 bWAR

We previously mentioned Marcell Ozuna’s year-over-year fall from OPS grace since 2024. Well, Tucker is right there with him, going from a .993 OPS in 2024 to an .841 mark last year, down to the current eyesore of .684. The Dodgers would have to be thrilled if he could start even producing at that level as of late, but he has triple-slashed .143/.255/.242 over his last 27 games. If that doesn’t change and if Andy Pages makes it back in time for the postseason, Tucker might be a $57.2M benchwarmer in October.

San Diego Padres: RHP Joe Musgrove, $20M
2026 Stats: N/A

Neither Manny Machado nor Xander Bogaerts has lived up to their exorbitant salaries this season, but at least they’re both putting in reps, missing a combined total of seven games this season. Musgrove, on the other hand, has suffered one setback after another from the Tommy John surgery he had 23 months ago. He didn’t pitch at all in 2025. It’s not looking promising that he’ll make it back onto a big-league mound in 2026.

San Francisco Giants: RHP Tyler Mahle, $10M
2026 Stats (with San Francisco): 94.2 IP, 5.13 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 8.5 K/9, -0.2 bWAR

Mahle is one of 10 players who opened the season on the Giants roster with a tax salary of at least $10M. Most of those players failed to live up to their potential. But Mahle, in particular, has to be a point of frustration for Giants fans, blossoming into an ace the instant they traded him away, boasting a 1.24 ERA in six starts with Atlanta. It would be one final kick in the teeth for San Francisco if Mahle ends up imploding in the NLDS to help the Dodgers advance.