Merrill Kelly wasn't gone for long.
The Arizona Diamondbacks traded the veteran right-handed pitcher to the Texas Rangers at the MLB trade deadline.
On Sunday, Kelly signed back with the Diamondbacks.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported that it's a two-year deal for $40 million.
That sounds like quite a bit of money, but Arizona is showing that it doesn't want to wait around for long before getting more competitive.
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Why did Diamondbacks sign Merrill Kelly to $40 million contract?
The Diamondbacks wanted Kelly back.
He had only pitched for Arizona in his MLB career before the 2025 trade to the Rangers.
In seven seasons with the Diamondbacks, Kelly has a 3.74 ERA.
In 2025, that was a 3.22 ERA in 22 starts before being traded.
Kelly struggled a bit to a 4.23 ERA with the Rangers, but that was a pretty small sample of just 10 starts.
In October, Kelly turned 37 years old, so there's no guarantee of this working out.
But the Diamondbacks felt they needed to fill the gap left by the Kelly trade, and given the chance, they decided to fill it with Kelly himself.
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