When it came to looking at where he would sign this offseason, the Arizona Diamondbacks checked three big boxes for right-hander Michael Soroka.
They needed starting pitchers. As a Phoenix-area resident he and his family can live in their home year-round. And he no longer has to face the D-backs' lineup.
Arizona signed Soroka to a one-year deal with a mutual option on the first day of the Winter Meetings. Terms of the deal were not announced, but the contract is for $7.5 million, a source told MLB.com, and with performance bonuses, Soroka can earn a maximum value of $9.5 million.
"It's kind of a dream scenario," Soroka said. "Everybody kind of wants to be able to live in their house all year, and be able to compete with this organization. I think over the last couple of years, they've given me some tough times.
"They've had a really good team put together and [are] a really tough team to play against. So, for me, that's one more lineup that I don't have to worry about. There were lots of things that fell into place, and they made their interest clear early on, and we saw no use in waiting any longer."
Less than a week after signing Soroka the Diamondbacks also signed free agent right-hander Merrill Kelly to a two-year, $40 million contract pending a physical, sources told MLB.com. The club has not confirmed the Kelly signing.
Starting pitching was at the top of the D-backs' priority list this offseason, with Zac Gallen becoming a free agent and the fact that Kelly had been traded at the Deadline. Those two moves, along with Corbin Burnes being out until the All-Star Break next year following Tommy John surgery, left Arizona thin in the rotation.
As it stands, the Diamondbacks rotation would be Kelly, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Soroka.
Soroka made 17 starts and pitched 89 2/3 innings in 2025, his largest workload since his stellar rookie season with the Braves in 2019. That year, at age 21, he had a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts, making the National League All-Star team and finishing sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting and second in NL Rookie of the Year Award balloting.
Between the Nationals and Cubs in 2025, the right-hander -- in his age-27 season -- showed some flashes of the promise he displayed before tearing (then re-tearing) his right Achilles tendon and missing all of 2021 and ‘22. Soroka finished the ‘25 season with a 4.52 ERA, but several Statcast metrics (such as his 3.43 expected ERA and .210 expected batting average) pointed to a bit of bad luck.
Soroka felt he took a step forward last year and will take an even bigger one this year thanks to the addition of three new pitches -- a cut fastball, a sweeper and a gyro-slider.
Soroka credited the Cubs' organization for helping him learn more about his delivery and suggest the new pitches.
"There were some things I did last year that honestly I did a lot better than when I was an All-Star in 2019," Soroka said. "There was definitely a couple years where it was just really difficult to find everything and kind of find a rhythm, if you will. And I think last year I fell into it at times, to where it was like, 'Wow, this is, this is what I felt like mentally and competitively, when everything was clicking.'"