The Texas Rangers are acquiring veteran right-handed starting pitcher Merrill Kelly from the Arizona Diamondbacks, ESPN reports.
Even at age 36, Kelly remains a steady and quality presence in a big-league rotation. This season, he’s put up an ERA of 3.22 (133 ERA+) and an FIP of 3.54 in 22 starts and 128 ⅔ innings. While he has below-average velocity, Kelly especially this season has been successful at getting hitters to chase outside the strike zone with his deep and balanced repertoire. For his career, Kelly has an ERA+ of 114 and a WAR of 16.9 across parts of seven MLB seasons — all, until now, with the Diamondbacks.
Kelly is in his walk year and owed the balance of a modest $7 million salary before being eligible for free agency. Because Kelly has now changed teams during the season, he’s ineligible to receive a qualifying offer heading into the winter. He is, however, free to sign an extension with Texas or even sign with them after he hits the open market. First, though, comes the stretch drive and perhaps playoffs.
Texas makes the move as they’re tied with the division-rival Mariners for the third and final wild card spot in the AL. They’re also five games back of the AL West-leading Astros. The Rangers have a formidable rotation front of Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, and the addition of Kelly now solidifies what had been a lack of depth behind those tandem aces and improves their potential playoff rotation.
For the D-backs, it’s the latest sell move in response to their disappointing 2025 to date. Expected to contend this season, injuries, bad luck, and some poor performances at key spots pushed Arizona to below .500 leading up to the deadline. The Kelly trade comes after they dealt slugging third baseman Eugenio Suárez to the Mariners on Wednesday and Josh Naylor to Seattle earlier in the week. They’ll presumably look to return to contention in 2026, but for now they’re adding young talent in return for their walk-year veterans like Kelly.
