Trades.
In the poll for the previous series preview it became pretty clear that most people were more interested in what would bring the trade deadline than the result of our series against the Detroit Tigers.
Lucky you, if you were one of them that voted for that option, because trade deadline day was pretty wild. Some teams look like apparent losers (Minnesota Twins traded their entire team away) while other teams look like winners. One of the most obvious winners here seem to be the Athletics.
The former
Oakland team didn’t do many trades: they made just two. However, they sent a reliever to Padres for a consensus Top 5 prospect. While a prospect is always a prospect until proven otherwise, getting one of the most coveted ones for a reliever seems like quite the move Hazen would have loved to pull off.
The Athletics made these moves:
- Acquired Kenya Huggins from Reds for Miguel Andujar
- Acquired Leo De Vries, Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Nunez from Padres for Mason Miller and JP Sears
The trade of Mason Miller for Leo De Vries was one of the more shocking deals we’ve seen in years, not just because top-100 prospects are rarely traded at the deadline — let alone a consensus top-five prospect in De Vries — but because the A’s got him for a reliever. Yes, a very good one in Miller, who the San Diego Padres might try as a starter next season. Anytime you can flip a reliever for a potential superstar, you make the move. [...] This is a potential franchise-altering move. - David Schoenfield on ESPN.com
Prospect wise, MLB.com valuated the Athletics’ haul as the best in the entire league:
In terms of volume, the A’s are actually at the bottom of this list. But they almost clinched the top spot by getting No. 3 overall prospect Leo De Vries alone. The teenaged shortstop is the highest-ranked prospect to ever get traded at the Deadline and has the chance to be a true superstar. But the A’s also got two more new members of their top 10 in that trade for Mason Miller and JP Sears, adding Braden Nett (No. 5) and Henry Baez (No. 9). Eduarniel Núñez gave them a fourth player from the trade with the Padres, coming in at No. 17, then they added Kenya Huggins (No. 27) right under the wire when they sent Miguel Andujar to the Reds. - Jonathan Mayo on MLB.com
So, the Athletics added 5 prospects to their system, though only Eduarniel Núñez is MLB ready. Núñez signed as a minor league agent with the Padres in 2025 after being released by the Cubs in 2024 and impressed quite a bit in San Diego, including 12.1 scoreless innings in the PCL for El Paso, touching 100 mph with his fastball. That allowed him to make his major league debut in July, where he also got to pitch against the Diamondbacks. Good chance that the Athletics decide to call him up to their active roster.
For this series yet another new face will join the Athletics squad: Luis Morales. Morales is a 22 year old Cuban righty, signed in 2023, who can reach 99 mph with his fastball. Morales could be a starter, but to manage his workload he has been shifted recently to the minor league bullpen. He will probably see action against the Diamondbacks.
What now?
Hard to argue that the already meager Diamondbacks’ offence of the past few weeks looks now even more grim after trading away Eugenio Suárez, joining Grichuk and Naylor who were moved earlier. Eugenio Suárez’s spot on the active roster will probably be taken over by Heather...I mean...Tyler Locklear.
Shelby Miller and Jordan Montgomery were both on the IL, so no corresponding moves will be made for them, but we will have to see who is called up in Merrill’s place. Drake and Burgos were assigned to the Aces, Cranton and Bratt to Amarillo and Hagaman to Hillsboro. Burgos is close to getting called up but will probably pitch for a while in Reno before getting another chance at the highest level.
Jordan Lawlar should be close to returning to the major league roster, since reports say he is wrapping up his rehab from the hamstring injury. It probably makes most sense that the Diamondbacks add Tim Tawa to the major league roster and shift Blaze Alexander to 3B until Lawlar is ready.
It could also be that Jalen Beeks returns sooner than now expected: he pitched an inning in Reno on July 30. Apart from him, no news about a possible return of Pavin Smith, Ildemaro Vargas, Gabriel Moreno or Ryan Thompson.
The Diamondbacks will play an Athletics team in Sacramento, a minor league stadium, which has seen their closer (Miller), a starting pitcher (Sears) and a utility player (Andujar) leave. Not that it matters them much: the Athletics climbed to 4 games above .500 early May, but after the Dodgers put them back on earth with a 19-2 battering on May 15, the Athletics’ performance has gone downhill and their 48-63 record (45-66 Pythagorean) is second-worst in the AL and fifth-worst in the MLB.
Pitching wise it is all very uninspiring what they have in Sacramento, but the Athletics are fielding some young and fun hitters. Headline is obviously 22-year old rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz, who made history last week in becoming the first rookie to achieve 4 homeruns in a game. 23-year old shortstop Jacob Wilson and left-fielder Tyler Soderstrom also show that their future is bright, with right-fielder Lawrence Butler making some good defensive plays in right field, though sometimes perhaps a bit more impactful because of the low fences in Sacramento. Add to that a fine catcher as Shea Langeliers and Brent Rooker, who has found a second life as DH for the Athletics. Offensively, I am not shy to say that the Athletics now are probably more impressive than the Diamondbacks and that will probably make the difference in this series after trading away our best starting pitcher who was supposed to start the first game in this series. Unfortunately we won’t see spectacular, but injured, center fielder Denzel Clarke in this series nor rookie of the year candidate Jacob Wilson, also injured.
Matchups.
All matchups are unconfirmed.
Game #1 Mon 08/01 7:05 PM MST, Jacob Lopez (ATH) vs Anthony DeSclafani (ARI).
- Jacob Lopez. 16 G, 12 GS, 65.0 IP, 3 W-6 L, 4.29 ERA, 4.52 FIP, 1.34 WHIP, 79/28 K/BB. $760,000 (Pre-Arb).
- Anthony DeSclafani. 8 G, 1 GS, 23.1 IP, 1 W-1 L, 3.86 ERA, 5.11 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, 24/6 K/BB. $2,000,000.
Merrill Kelly is supposed to start this game and he is still listed (at the moment of writing) as today’s starter on dbacks.com, but that looks a bit difficult to happen when he is wearing a Rangers shirt. So, the most logical solution here is to give DeSclafani the start because the last time he pitched is already a week ago, when he completed 4 innings of long relief in the 11-inning game against Pittsburgh. It would be DeSclafani’s second start for the Diamondbacks this season. His first one, On July 6 in Kansas, didn’t got that well (4 runs in 4 innings).
The Athletics will put Jacob Lopez on the mound. Lopez is in his first season with the Athletics. He was a 26th round pick in 2018 by the Giants but went to Tampa a year later in a minor prospect move. Obviously Tampa won that trade, because against all amateur draft round odds, Lopez made his major league debut for the Rays in 2023. He joined the A’s this season together with starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs and is providing valuable innings for the Athletics, although he has been up and down this season several times. Lopez works with 5 pitches but especially with a very successful fastball and slider. Lopez is a lefty, so “traditionally” does not throw that hard, averaging 90 mph on his fastball.
Game #2 Mon 08/02 7:05 PM MST, J.T. Ginn (ATH) vs Zac Gallen (ARI).
- J.T. Ginn. 13 G, 6 GS, 44.0 IP, 2 W-2 L, 3.89 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 1.18 WHIP, 47/10 K/BB. $760,000 (Pre-Arb).
- Zac Gallen. 22 GS, 127.0 IP, 7 W-12 L, 5.60 ERA, 4.75 FIP, 1.35 WHIP, 121/47 K/BB. $13,500,000.
I guess Dano_in_Tucson will have the luck to recap yet another Zac Gallen start? You have to feel sorry for these recappers and especially for Dano whose Saturday evenings are often more of sorrow than joy. Zac (and Dano) probably knows by now that his free agency market is looking weak, very weak. All teams apparently snubbed at a possible Gallen trade. Was there even an offer made? If you follow the rumours sites, especially MLBTR, it seems that he was an obvious trade candidate, but you and I know that no contender wishes to bank on a possible change-of-scenery bounce-back in the final two months of the regular season. That leaves Zac to be traded as a byproduct in some other trade, which is probably unlikely. Gallen will have to pitch his ass off in what remains of this season to increase his stock. If not, he will probably take the QO when summer has gone too fast and we wake up when September ends. $20MM seems like an awful lot for a pitcher with a 5.00+ ERA, but it is the matching offer that Walker Buehler got from the Red Sox after the Dodgers decided to not hand one qualifying offer to him. Hindsight says that the Red Sox made a terrible mistake, so there is that advice for Mike Hazen.
J.T. Ginn was with Oakland last season and this year...ah, wait...it is the same team, just a different city and stadium. Ginn debuted last year and made a good first impression at the highest level. The now 26-year old started the season in AAA but was soon called up to the major league rotation and had some so-so starts this season. He was three times placed on the IL and also moved a bit up and down, so in the end does not have that many innings and games under his belt. Once he returned the last time to the majors, in June, he was moved to the bullpen, but has been recently moved back into the rotation. In his latest two outings he allowed just 1 run in 11.0 innings, against both teams from Texas. The righty averages 94 mph on his sinker and his 3 other pitchers. As the sinker profile might suggest, Ginn is a heavy groundball pitcher.
Game #1 Mon 08/03 1:05 PM MST, TBD (ATH) vs Eduardo Rodriguez (ARI).
- TBD.
- Eduardo Rodriguez. 18 GS, 92.2 IP, 3 W-7 L, 5.63 ERA, 4.64 FIP, 1.65 WHIP, 98/34 K/BB. $20,000,000.
Eduardo Rodriguez...ugh.
ESPN does not predict an Athletics starter for Sunday’s game, but it should be Luis Severino unless he is injured or day-to-day. To avoid a grievance from the player’s union, Severino got offered a massive overpay which allows him to earn $20MM this year and $25MM. However, the Athletics got much more for that than the Diamondbacks have been getting from either Jordan Montgomery or Eduardo Rodriguez. Severino looked like a legit TOR after the 2017 and 2018 seasons he pitched for the New York Yankees, but had already been volatile in the 2016 season. After returning from his injuries that cost him the 2019, 2020 and 2021 season, he pitched from good to bad. Although his ERA of 4.83 would be graded as “bad”, truth is that he would be one of the top starters in Arizona.
My prediction? Series loss. Share your prediction in the comments!
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