{"id":916092,"date":"2026-10-01T03:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916092\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T03:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T03:20:14","slug":"d-backs-michael-soroka-have-mutual-interest-in-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/916092\/","title":{"rendered":"D-Backs, Michael Soroka Have Mutual Interest In Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Diamondbacks will show interest in bringing\u00a0Michael Soroka<\/a> back in free agency, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM<\/a>. The feeling is mutual, as the righty told reporters (including Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports<\/a>) he\u2019d \u201cabsolutely love to return\u201d after the Snakes were eliminated on the final day of the regular season.<\/p>\n

Soroka had a strong first season in the desert. Signed to a one-year, $7.5MM free agent contract, Soroka pitched to a 3.41 earned run average across 22 appearances. The deal technically contains a $10MM mutual option for 2027, but the pitcher will easily decline that. He was second on the team with 114 strikeouts and paced their starting pitchers in strikeout rate (24.1%).<\/p>\n

The Canadian-born hurler dealt with some injury issues, as he has throughout his career. He missed six weeks from late June to the start of August with a left glute strain. Arm inflammation in late August resulted in another minimal stay on the shelf. Soroka\u2019s 116 innings were light for a starting pitcher but represented his heaviest workload since 2019.<\/p>\n

That injury history is going to keep Soroka from securing a massive free agent payday. He should be in line for at least two and potentially three years, however, as he\u2019s coming off one of the better platform seasons among mid-tier free agent starters. Soroka is still just 29 years old and has mid-rotation talent \u2014 if not the consistent durability to lock him in as a true #3 starter. He sits in the 93-94 mph range with a high-spin fastball and has an excellent low-80s breaking ball that gets a lot of whiffs. Soroka also added a new cutter as a fourth pitch this year.<\/p>\n

The D-Backs will again be in the rotation market. It seems safe to assume they\u2019ll let Zac Gallen<\/a> walk on the heels of an ERA north of 6.00.\u00a0Corbin Burnes<\/a> has barely pitched for the last two seasons and ended the year on the shelf with a shoulder issue. He\u2019s expected to avoid surgery<\/a> but is something of a wild card.\u00a0Merrill Kelly<\/a> is coming off his worst season in Arizona, posting a near-5.00 ERA with a 16% strikeout rate.<\/p>\n

Burnes and Kelly are under contract and figure to have Opening Day rotation spots if they\u2019re healthy. Brandon Pfaadt<\/a> and\u00a0Eduardo Rodriguez<\/a> had strong ERAs with below-average strikeout stuff. Ryne Nelson<\/a> underperformed and missed most of the second half to a partial flexor tear in his forearm. None of the Snakes\u2019 returning starters missed bats at close to an average level. Only the Rockies had a lower team strikeout rate from their rotation overall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d make sense for the D-Backs to add two starters, ideally pitchers with some swing-and-miss upside. Retaining Soroka would address one of those needs. \u00a0The Snakes probably wouldn\u2019t risk a qualifying offer that\u2019s likely to land around $23.1MM. They could kick the tires on a multi-year deal at a lower annual salary but one that nevertheless gives Soroka a decent raise (e.g. $14-16MM annually).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Diamondbacks will show interest in bringing\u00a0Michael Soroka back in free agency, reports John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":916093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,146464,462,82],"class_list":["post-916092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-michael-soroka","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/916093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}