{"id":348687,"date":"2025-12-14T18:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T18:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/348687\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T18:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T18:43:08","slug":"veteran-pitcher-merrill-kelly-returns-to-diamondbacks-on-a-40-million-2-year-deal-ap-source-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/348687\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran pitcher Merrill Kelly returns to Diamondbacks on a $40 million, 2-year deal, AP source says"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX (AP) \u2014 Veteran starting pitcher Merrill Kelly<\/a> agreed Sunday to return to the Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> on a $40 million, two-year deal, according to a person familiar with the move.<\/p>\n

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced and is pending a physical.<\/p>\n

The right-hander spent the first 6 1\/2 years of his career with the Diamondbacks before the pending free agent was dealt to the Texas Rangers<\/a> at this year\u2019s trade deadline in July. He was good for both teams, finishing with a combined 12-9 record and 3.52 ERA.<\/p>\n

Kelly’s return to the desert isn’t a huge surprise considering he’s a Scottsdale native and played in college at Arizona State.<\/p>\n

The fan favorite was a key piece of the team that went to the World Series<\/a> in 2023. He had a 12-8 record and a 3.29 ERA that season, adding a masterful performance in Game 2 of the World Series against the Rangers, which is the only game the D-backs would win in the Fall Classic.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old doesn\u2019t have overpowering stuff but thrives thanks to a six-pitch mix that keeps hitters off balance. He has carved out a solid MLB<\/a> career despite not making his debut until he was 30 in 2019.<\/p>\n

He was drafted in 2010 by the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> but got stuck in Triple A before electing to sign with the SK Wyverns of the Korean Baseball Organization from 2015 to 2018, going 48-32 with a 3.86 ERA.<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks liked what they saw and signed him to a $14.5 million, four-year deal in 2018.<\/p>\n

He agreed to an $18 million, two-year deal with Arizona in 2022 that covered the 2023 and 2024 seasons and included a club option for 2025 that the D-backs exercised.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AP) \u2014 Veteran starting pitcher Merrill Kelly agreed Sunday to return to the Arizona Diamondbacks on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-348687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}