The trade deadline has come and gone, with minimal change. Did their opponents pass the Diamondbacks with their trades and moves?
C. Wesley Baier: I might be one of the few online pundits to have had a positive take on the trade deadline. I don’t think the Dbacks NEEDED to make a move. Skubal and Mize haven’t made a difference for the Dodgers and Padres yet. I think they’re still in a strong position to make the playoffs.
Makakilo: With the Cubs solidly in the first NL Wild Card position, the Diamondbacks are fighting for the second and third Wild Cards. At the trade deadline, the Padres, Phillies, and Pirates made more positive
impact than the Diamondbacks, but the Pirates are 5 games down & look to be out of the race. The Diamondbacks will have pitchers returning from the injured list. All things considered, three teams have about-the-same chances at the last two NL Wild cards: The Diamondbacks, the Phillies, and the Padres.
Spencer: I think the Cubs got significantly better (pending health). I think the Padres did well enough considering their money isssues. I still like our chances.
Ben: I liked the moves the Cubs and Padres made to their pitching staff, but I’m less impressed by the approach the Phillies and the Pirates took. I think we all knew that Hazen was going to mostly stand pat and hope that the injured players the team has would be the final boost needed to reach the postseason. That bet might pay off eventually, but the expected news of AJ Puk being shut down for the season certainly hurt, as does Paul Seward suddenly becoming a massive liability.
ISH95: I wouldn’t say they passed, necessarily. The Padres may have, but the Cubs already were ahead of us, and honestly so were the Phillies. Personally, I think an argument could be made the Arraez trade was actually a loss for the Phillies because it moved Harper back to the outfield, but that’s neither here nor there. So no, I don’t think the road forward has changed much.
Justin: Yeah, they definitely did more and had better deadlines. It is what it is.
Are you happy with Nootbar joining the team? Will he help fill one of the many needs the team had going into the deadline?
C. Wesley Baier: Not happy it cost Sandro Santana and Daniel Eagen, but he filled a need, and it appears he brought good vibes to the clubhouse too.
Makakilo: Although he is a left-handed batter that the Dbacks needed, my initial impression was disappointment. Perhaps my impression was too hasty. Jim McLennan pointed to an X post that stated that Nootbar is better than 66% of batters in creating bases. Baseball Savant shows that he will stress opponents’ pitchers with his 87th percentile Chase rate and 73rd percentile Whiff rate. This season, his defense in left field is perhaps slightly above average (+1 OAA & -1 DRS). His last season of arbitration is 2027, which may or may not have value.
Spencer: Honestly he’s long been a player I haven’t loved and found overhyped. Early returns with him in Sedona Red have that opinion changing. I hope he fits a good niche.
Ben: Unless he can also pitch, he will likely not fill all of the holes the team had prior to the Deadline. I think he’s a solid pickup who has always oozed promise and enough team control to make it possible for him to achieve it. But he’s yet another outfielder on a team that has as many as five and maybe even six possible players roaming the grass on the roster in Carroll, Waldschmidt, Troy, Kepler, Barrosa, and eventually Gurriel Jr. Those final three are all non-tender candidates for next year, but that’s not the case for the other three. Now, it’s possible some or one of them could be flipped to shore up another area of the roster, but as it stands, it could get complicated.
ISH95: I’m not not happy. I’m just not thrilled about it either. Nootbar is exactly the kind of subverting expectations move Hazen loves to play with filling a need, so it doesn’t surprise me, but he’s just kind of there. Not much different than Max Kepler, but hasn’t been given a ban from the post season. So that’s a plus I guess?
Justin: I don’t really have an opinion. He’s a new Dback so Go Nootbar.
How much will not winning the series against the Padres come back to haunt the Diamondbacks?
C. Wesley Baier: Too early to tell. Find out in September.
Makakilo: As of the morning of 8 August, the Padres were 2 games behind the Diamondbacks. These two teams play a 3-game series at the end of September. The winner of that series will have the tiebreaker (more wins when these two teams played). Although every win is great, my optimism is at a reasonable level that the Diamondbacks will edge out the Padres for a NL Wild Card position.
Spencer: It won’t.
Ben: While splitting the series with the Padres certainly hurts, I think going 0-3 against the Cubs and Mariners (so far) will prove to be more critical than the Padres series. I’m just thankful they’ve finally been able to beat up on the Rockies – something the team has struggled to do in the past.
ISH95: Of course, we won’t know the answer to this until either the end of the season or the Diamondbacks clinch a postseason berth, but missing an opportunity to make it so going 1-2 in the final series against the Padres gives you the tie breaker is a big loss. We’ve seen how all-important those tie breakers can be, and making it harder to get one is unfortunate.
Justin: Going into that series I honestly looked at it as “4 games off their calendar” if we split. Which we did.
The Dodgers are in freefall. Is there hope that we might avoid a threepeat?
C. Wesley Baier: No hope at all, but the division might be in play now.
Makakilo: My series preview pointed to favorable pitching matchups (based on July/August performance) and that in some games the Dodgers don’t score enough runs (and look at their negative point differential in their losing streak). As I write, the Diamondbacks have won the first game of the series, which is reason to continue my optimism.
Spencer: No. Their entire team is designed to have a really good April and September-October. They are right on track.
Ben: While the odds are certainly high on the Dodgers, the oddsmakers are still favoring the field over LA, which isn’t shocking given how strong the NL is this year. We’ve all also been witnesses to the randomness that playoff baseball can be so I think there’s an excellent chance we avoid it – and thank goodness we can.
ISH95: Maybe I just grew up reading too many Gandalf the Grey speeches, but there is always hope. Anything can happen in a seven game series, and even superteams can go cold at the wrong time. At the end of the day, however, this is nothing more than a reminder that they are in fact humans, but nothing changes beyond that. They are still the team to beat, still the standard, and still probably going to win the World Series.
