Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale on Feb. 20, 2023. Mlb Diamondbacks Spring Training
MLB rumors: Arizona Diamondbacks taking less aggressive approach at MLB trade deadline
The Arizona Diamondbacks were one of the more surprising teams through the first half of the 2023 season. They were playing good baseball, getting solid pitching and timely hitting. Prospect Corbin Carroll had an All-Star first half and found his way to Seattle.
The post-All-Star break has been a different story for Arizona.
They are tumbling in the standings, the Los Angeles Dodgers have overtaken them for first place and they are in a fight with four other teams for one of the three National League Wild Card spots. Now as the deadline approaches, it appears they have figured out what their stance will be between now and August 1.
MLB rumors: Arizona Diamondbacks to take less aggressive deadline approach
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription needed), Arizona will scale back its approach to the trade deadline, and instead of jumping into the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes and the Cody Bellinger sweepstakes, they will look to add some arms.
This should not come as a surprise as the Diamondbacks’ issues of late have not been offensively but on the mound. They have won just four of their last 19 games and their only logical path to the postseason is one of the three Wild Card spots. They are currently battling with the Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Miami Marlins, and Philadelphia Phillies for those spots. Logic says that it’s hard to envision Arizona edging out any of those teams with the current state of their pitching staff and going that route over the next five days to add makes total sense.
Some of the arms that GM Mike Hazen can look to target are Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, and Lucas Gioloto of the Chicago White Sox or Eduardo Rodriguez of the Detroit Tigers. It’s hard seeing the San Diego Padres giving a division rival either Blake Snell or Josh Hader.
Bullpen arms they can look to add are a closer or a setup arm for late in games. The Diamondbacks have been an up-and-coming team over the last couple of seasons and you could say that they are a year ahead in terms of contending. They have some good young talent, but approaching this deadline should be adding arms, and rentals before hitting the free agent market over the winter for 2024.
