PHOENIX \u2014 Merrill Kelly\u2019s return to the desert is official after the Arizona Diamondbacks announced on Friday that a two-year, $40 million deal has been finalized.<\/p>\n
The sides reached a tentative agreement on Sunday, but the deal was pending a physical. The right-hander will receive a $2 million signing bonus, a $17 million salary in 2026 and $21 million in 2027.<\/p>\n
There is also a vesting option for 2028 that would become guaranteed as $12 million if he pitches 170 innings in 2027 and $14 million if he pitches 185 innings in 2027.<\/p>\n
If traded, he would receive a $500,000 assignment bonus payable by the acquiring team.<\/p>\n
Kelly also get a hotel suite on road trips.<\/p>\n
The 37-year-old spent the first 6 1\/2 years of his career with the Diamondbacks before the pending free agent was dealt to the Texas Rangers at this year\u2019s trade deadline in July.<\/p>\n
He was good for both teams, finishing with a combined 12-9 record and 3.52 ERA.<\/p>\n
Kelly could open next spring as the D-backs No. 1 starter in a rotation that is expected to include Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez. Ace Corbin Burnes is still recovering from Tommy John surgery while 2023 All-Star Zac Gallen is a free agent and appears unlikely to re-sign.<\/p>\n
Kelly\u2019s return to the desert isn\u2019t a huge surprise considering he\u2019s a Scottsdale native and played at Arizona State.<\/p>\n
The fan favorite was a key piece of the team that went to the World Series 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 win in the Fall Classic.<\/p>\n
Kelly doesn\u2019t have overpowering stuff but thrives with a six-pitch mix that keeps hitters off balance. He has carved out a solid MLB career despite not making his debut until he was 30 in 2019.<\/p>\n
He played four seasons in South Korea from 2015 to 2018, going 48-32 with a 3.86 ERA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Merrill Kelly\u2019s return to the desert is official after the Arizona Diamondbacks announced on Friday that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-360225","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\/360225","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=360225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}