Could the Diamondbacks be reuniting with 4-time Gold Glover? | Sporting News

The Arizona Diamondbacks need some pop and are speculated to be priming for a reunion with an old fan favorite this winter. 

Arizona is facing the loss of first baseman Christian Walker and the 95 home runs he has hit over the past three seasons. FanGraphs has Pavin Smith currently penciled in to be the team’s starter at the position should the three-time Gold Glover leave Phoenix.

Smith doesn’t project to the type of power numbers provided by Walker, meaning the Snakes will need to make up that production elsewhere. 

What about the Diamondbacks going “Back to the Future” if the team were to lose Walker instead? Andy McCullough of The Athletic names former Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt as a prime signing for the Diamondbacks “to put a bow on his resume for the Hall of Fame.”

Goldschmidt played eight years in the desert, hitting 209 homers for the team before he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals during the 2018 offseason.

After hitting 153 more homers for St. Louis and winning the 2022 National League Most Valuable Player Award, the Cardinals non-tendered him shortly after the final out of this year’s World Series. 

Now a free agent, Spotrac projects Goldschmidt to be available on a one-year deal for approximately $12 million. That’s a fraction that Walker could see from another team this winter.

The 37-year-old is in the twilight of his career and is no longer the Most Valuable Player-contending talent he was when the Diamondbacks traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018. 

The Cardinals did not extend a qualifying offer to Goldschmidt at the end of this past season, making him a free agent. 

Despite his advancing age and dwindling statistics, the seven-time All-Star still provides the kind of durability and pop that many Major League Baseball teams would enjoy on a short-term deal. 

He is not the player he was when he left Arizona, but he could provide the team with steady production and a veteran influence on a team that failed to make the 2024 playoffs after making a surprise run to the World Series the year before.

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