Diamondbacks Exercise Paul Goldschmidt's 2019 $14.5M Contract Option

In a widely expected move, the Arizona Diamondbacks picked up the $14.5 million club option for first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reported Monday. 

Goldschmidt averaged .290 and slugged .533 while posting 33 home runs and 83 RBI in 2018. His 5.1 WAR ranked 18th among MLB position players, per FanGraphs.

Picking up Goldschmidt's option was a no-brainer for Arizona. According to Spotrac, he'll be the ninth-highest-paid first baseman in baseball along with Matt Carpenter next season. Goldschmidt's salary is a bargain relative to his production.

The big question is whether the Diamondbacks look to cash in on Goldschmidt's trade value before he hits free agency in 2020.

After notching 93 victories and reaching the National League Division Series in 2017, Arizona went 82-80 in 2018. The team finished 9.5 games back of the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers and 8.5 games out of the last wild-card spot.

The franchise may be trending downward next year, especially considering it could lose A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin as free agents this winter.

In September, general manager Mike Hazen didn't say one way or the other whether the Diamondbacks might start tearing down their roster this offseason, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic:

"I don't have an answer for that right now. There's obviously a myriad of avenues and realities that we're going to talk through. We have a solid core of talent on this team and for the majority of the season we've been in first place. We're going to start [in] the next few weeks to really [assess] where we stand. I think that will dictate what happens next."

Even though he's entering the final year of his contract, trading Goldschmidt would likely mean receiving a top prospect or two to get a rebuild underway.

Of course, the Diamondbacks could trigger a long-term rebuilding plan and re-sign Goldschmidt anyway, using him as a veteran leader much like how the Cincinnati Reds lean on Joey Votto. Piecoro speculated Goldschmidt might prefer to stay in Arizona rather than leave for a bigger market.

Locking Goldschmidt in for 2019 was the easy part for Hazen and the Diamondbacks front office. The hard part is deciding what to do next.