Diamondbacks have a huge Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly problem originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks are having a solid 2026 season, with a 31-26 record that’s 5.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead, and is good enough to own a Wild Card spot at the end of May.
For as good as things are going overall, there are still some concerning issues with the team, as is the case for every team in Major League Baseball. But, for the Diamondbacks, the big issue with the team is a lot more concerning.
As Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report highlighted, the Diamondbacks’ biggest issue is veteran starters Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly. They’ve both struggled, and this problem, unfortunately, doesn’t have a clean fix at all.
D-Backs have a Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly problem
“Arizona Diamondbacks: The Former Aces,” Miller writes. “… At the moment, though, they each have an ERA north of 5.00, with Arizona sitting at .500 in their combined 20 starts.”
Both of these pitchers returned to the Diamondbacks this offseason on free agent contracts, with Kelly signing for two years at $40 million total with a 2028 vesting option, and Gallen for one year at $16.2 million with deferrals to $22.025M total.
Kelly has been better recently, posting a 3.51 ERA in his five starts this May, with two against the struggling San Francisco Giants, and one each against the Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, and Colorado Rockies.
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Overall, he has a 5.25 ERA this season and 0.0 bWAR through eight starts. For someone making roughly $20 million per-year, that’s not nearly good enough production. But, since he’s pitching better as of late, the real problem for the D-Backs is with Gallen.
Through 12 starts this season, Gallen has a 5.16 ERA with -0.5 bWAR. Contrary to how Kelly has been great in May, Gallen has collapsed this month. In six outings, Gallen has a terrible 7.04 ERA with 24 runs allowed in 30.2 innings pitched.
While Kelly might be heading in the right direction, overall, the D-Backs haven’t gotten nearly good enough production from both starters this season.
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For the amount of money they’ve invested into both, nearly $40 million for 2026 between the two of them, their struggles this season are posing a big problem for Arizona.
Miller describes them as “The Former Aces,” which is an unfortunately accurate description of both starters. They were once two of the better pitchers in MLB, but in 2026, they’ve both regressed to mediocre at-best pitchers.
Gallen and Kelly combine to form the biggest problem for the D-Backs this season. There’s no easy fix, as they can’t replace either starter.
Arizona will just have to hope that what Kelly has done in May can continue, and that Gallen can recover from a rough start like he did last season.
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