Through the first 66 games of Major League Baseball’s 2023 season, the Arizona Diamondbacks are among the biggest surprises. Coming off 74- and 52-wins the last two seasons, the team has already won 40 games. It leads the National League West by 3 1/2 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers, despite underspending compared to the rest of the division.
The Diamondbacks have a total payroll of $114.9 million, which ranks below the league average at 21st, while the San Diego Padres rank third in MLB at $246.9 million; the Dodgers are fifth at $228.1 million, the San Francisco Giants are 11th at $183.7 million, and the Colorado Rockies 14th at $179.5 million.
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To be sure, the D-backs are spending well in excess of last season’s $86 million, and they will seek to improve the team by the Aug. 1 trade deadline, according to general manager Mike Hazen. This spending comes even as they await a decision from Diamond Sports Group on whether Bally will opt out of its $1.5 billion, 20-year regional sports network contract.
“We try to invest in the team when we think we have a better chance to compete,” managing general partner Ken Kendrick said recently, “and we think this is one of those years.”
Leading the Diamondbacks are two of the top young players in the game in right-hander Zac Gallen and speedy outfielder Corbin Carroll, the latter of whom signed an eight-year, $111 million contract before the season. Also, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who came over in an offseason trade from the Toronto Blue Jays, has been having an outstanding season, and Ketel Marte has rebounded from a down season to settle in at second base and at the plate.
MLB’s new rules this year lend to Arizona’s style of small ball—putting the ball in play, stealing bases and bunting for base hits. The D-backs are fifth in MLB with 63 stolen bases and no other team in their division is even close. They came back from a two-run deficit in the ninth inning Sunday to score four times and defeat the Tigers, 7-5.
In their current salary structure, the D-backs are paying the remainder of Madison Bumgarner’s contract of $18 million for this year, $14 million for next season and a deferred salary of $5 million a year from 2025 until 2027. Hazen decided to release the veteran left-handed pitcher on May 1 after he posted a 10.26 ERA in his only four starts, continuing a downhill slide that began after signing with Arizona as a free agent in time for the 2020 season.
“In the end I was told [by ownership] to do whatever it takes to win baseball games,” Hazen said.
Since Bumgarner was designated for assignment, the D-backs have gone 24-12, capped off with a recent 5-0 road trip through Washington and Detroit.
Manager Torey Lovullo has patched together the bullpen and starting rotation. He’s juggled fleet-footed outfielders including Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas when neither young player was hitting his weight. That earned Lovullo a contract extension through the 2024 season, which he signed on June 4.
“My job every day is a simple one,” said Lovullo, whose nearly seven-season tenure managing the D-backs is already the longest in club history. “It’s to be here for the players, continue growing and learning, and give the absolute best effort that I possibly can. We’ve had some very lean years here, but we’re trending in the right direction, and coming out the other end.”
Local fans are starting to catch on. The D-backs’ total attendance of 706,873 is 19th in MLB and their average per game of 20,790 is 20th; 96,399 total attended a recent raucous three-game series against the Atlanta Braves. Overall attendance is on par with last year’s 19,817 average, but way up from 2021’s 12,876 a game for the entire 81-game home schedule.
As Lovullo said, “We’re trying to win back the hearts and minds of these fans, and we still have a long way to go.”
At the same time, Kendrick and president Derrick Hall continue to explore the future of Chase Field; the ballpark was opened in 1998 for the club’s inaugural expansion season, and its current lease with Maricopa County expires after the 2027 season.
The building, the fourth largest in MLB with a 48,519 capacity, is beset by numerous internal plumbing and electrical problems. The retractable roof, which has cable issues, was supposed to be fixed during the offseason at the cost of $10 million, but that didn’t happen. It still can’t be opened or closed with customers in the seats.
The Arizona state legislature passed a bill in 2021 allowing the D-backs to apply an additional fee of up to 9% on tickets, concessions and merchandise sold at the park to fund the $500 million renovation of the current ballpark or put toward a new facility at the heart of an entertainment complex, which could cost up to $2 billion. That’s similar to the $2.1 billion development proposed by the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, which Tempe voters rejected last month.
The D-backs are looking elsewhere in the vicinity of their current ballpark in downtown Phoenix, but are reticent about asking their customers to pay such a high user fee to rebuild or renovate. Decisions on that front need to be made.
“Obviously we’re getting to a critical moment,” Hall said during a recent press conference.
Arizona won the World Series in 2001 over the New York Yankees, but has been to the playoffs only four times since, the last in 2017—which was Hazen’s and Lovullo’s first year with the franchise. On the field, at least, as the season closes in on the halfway mark, the D-backs are tracking in the right direction.
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