Given their place in the standings, the Diamondbacks look like they will be sellers at the trade deadline. GM Mike Hazen addressed DBacks' plight.
The Diamondbacks’ direction as they approach the trade deadline no longer appears tough to decipher. At 47-50 and 5 1/2 games out of a playoff spot, they entered the All-Star break looking like they will be sellers.
And while general manager Mike Hazen sounded closer to acknowledging that likelihood than he had at any point in recent weeks, he still stopped short of declaring it — and he didn’t have a firm answer as to whether he would be willing to actually pull the trigger on a sell deal well ahead of the deadline.
“That’s a tough question to answer today,” Hazen said on Monday, July 14. “Once we get through the draft, I’ll have to think about that a little more. I still don’t think there are a lot of trades happening (two weeks before the deadline) where people feel satisfied with what they would get, anyway. We’re going to continue to have conversations.”
Hazen figures to be popular among his peers given what he could have available to deal. Pitchers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly and sluggers Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor are all on expiring contracts. If they were to depart as free agents, the Diamondbacks could, in theory, get draft picks in return for each — but they might receive more from clubs seeking upgrades during a pennant race.
Suarez and Kelly, in particular, seemingly would be in high demand. Suarez is having a monster year with 31 homers, 78 RBIs and an .889 OPS. He would represent an upgrade at third base for a number of contenders, including the Yankees, Mariners, Mets and Brewers, and could fit for other teams, as well, given the designated hitter.
Kelly would be appealing for any number of teams, especially considering many onlookers anticipate a shortage of solid starting pitching being available. Kelly is having a good season — he has a 3.34 ERA in 116 innings — and has an impressive October track record from the club’s World Series run in 2023, when he logged a 2.25 ERA in four starts that postseason.
“As you can imagine, I’m fielding a lot of calls from the buyers because they see us a certain way, which I understand, and that’s probably going to continue unless we go on a run,” Hazen said. “I’m waiting for that to happen.”
To be sure, Hazen did not sound out of touch with where his club stood. During a 2 1/2-week stretch in which the Diamondbacks needed to play well to improve their positioning before the deadline, they have gone just 6-12. They have not won a series since they took two of three from the Chicago White Sox last month.
While they lost a number of winnable games in that stretch, including going 0-6 in one-run games, the fact remains they stumbled at a critical time.
“I don’t want to sit here and hope that things are going to happen,” Hazen said. “I’m kind of done hoping. We want to see it happen. It is what it is — we’ve been waiting now for the better part of three-plus months.
“I think we’ve definitely had our spurts where things look good. I think we have the ability to put things together. But at this point, with the position we’ve put ourselves in, we need to play pretty exceptional to move back up from where we are now.”
Even if the Diamondbacks wanted to act sooner — the team has 12 games remaining before the deadline — club officials say it tends to be hard to get rival clubs to agree to part with their more appealing prospects without the backdrop of a looming deadline.
Even though it felt like the Diamondbacks “jumped” the deadline last year as buyers when they acquired lefty A.J. Puk from the Miami Marlins, that trade did not take place until July 25. (The deadline last year fell on July 30.)
Which is to say, the Diamondbacks don’t see any real harm in waiting. Prior to the deadline, the Diamondbacks have a series at Chase Field against the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros, followed by a road series in Detroit and Pittsburgh.
“We’re running out of time,” Hazen said. “We need to turn it around pretty quickly and move in the right direction. We can’t keep moving down the standings. At some point, the turnaround has to happen.”
Assuming they do sell, the Diamondbacks are expected to target pitching in return. The injuries this year — namely to starter Corbin Burnes and bullpen arms Puk and Justin Martinez — have decimated this year’s team and could wreck next season, as well.
But the deadline could provide an opportunity for the Diamondbacks to build back their pitching inventory with the hope of contending next year.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Diamondbacks’ Mike Hazen talks trade deadline direction
Category: Baseball
