Deadline Madness for All…Well Mostly all.
The trade deadline is one of the most hectic days of the entire regular season for all ball clubs, whether you are a fan of a team that is already looking ahead to the next season for how they can improve or a team that is in the middle of a playoff race and hoping to see October baseball, it’s a day where all of us are constantly checking MLBTradeRumors or refreshing our twitter feeds for the next Jeff Passan bomb to grace our timeline.
Coming off a series victory over the Cleveland Guardians where
the Dbacks would end up going 10-6 from the start of the 2nd half to the last day before the deadline, there was hope among fans and players on the team that GM Mike Hazen would go ahead and be an aggressive buyer and fill the positional needs this team has shown to be lacking throughout 2026. What we got was…far from the outcome we had been hoping for to say the least.
Invite Lost In The Mail?
With today being the last day for teams to make trades before the deadline at 6 PM EST, the notifications from the top baseball reporters were going off all day. We saw nearly every NL playoff hopeful make some kind of move to strengthen their rosters, especially the teams like the Padres, Phillies, Cubs and even Pirates who are all still jockeying for one of the 3 Wild Card spots. There were some rumors about the Diamondbacks being involved in discussions for players like Casey Mize of the Tigers, or Alec Burleson from the Cardinals, but that’s where it always seemed to end at just a “discussion” and nothing being finalized.
I sat there watching the time tick away thinking “Alright, (Mike) Hazen will get something done before time is up,let him cook” and kept repeating that to myself, but once the final 10 to 15 minutes approached I got nervous that we might not see anything come to fruition, but right as I had that thought, the news finally came through and the Snakes made a move.
NOOT NOOT!
Brandon, Gabe and I planned to have a deadline special episode where we would discuss all the moves that were made for the Diamondbacks and who was dealt for the reinforcements that we were sure were on their way, but like a lot of other online we were quite disappointed to see that the only trade Mike Hazen would be was trading Daniel Eagan (#5 prospect), Sandro Santana (#26 Prospect) and a Player-To-Be-Named-Later (PTBNL) in exchange for Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbar. Noot did miss a good chunk of time to start the season due to injury so his .234/.333/.354 line with 3 HR and 16 RBI might not seem like the most exciting numbers to Dback’s fans, but some of his underlying metrics give fans some more hope that he could be a solid addition for a team that is still well in the wild card race.
Disappointing Deadline
While the addition of Nootbar does at least improve the roster by bringing in a guy who has a solid walk rate and low chase % (also would mean we have a player who can slot in for Kepler should we hold onto that playoff spot), the Diamondbacks biggest needs going into the deadline was more Starting Pitching and an answer to their lackluster production from the first base position, Lars Nootbar’s addition addresses neither of those issues.
Gabe and I in a few episodes before the season even got underway that we would not be surprised if Mike Hazen and the front office use players like Corbin Burnes and Justin Martinez, who would be expected to return sometime around the All-Star Break/Trade Deadline, as reason to not be as aggressive at the deadline because “that’s as good or better than any trade we could make”. Even with us already being prepared for that to be the case, it didn’t make this lack of moves at the deadline any less frustrating from a fans perspective, especially considering the other Wild Card contending teams like the Padres and Cubs made not just one but multiple acquisitions to their clubs.
The fellas and I did agree that getting Burnes, JMart and Puk back are indeed huge additions and potentially better than names that could have been available at the deadline, but the risk of relying players who haven’t pitched in over a year to come in and be the boost/savior to the team can be a decision that could either prove to be the right call, or could blow up in the DBacks face and potentially even cost Mike Hazen his job as the DBacks GM.
Keep On Trucking
This team showed that with their current roster they indeed have the talent to compete with the other playoff caliber teams, they just need to take Mike Hazen’s trust in them and the players returning from the IL and use it to fuel their playoff hunt and hope its enough to get them not just a spot in October but hopefully enough momentum to make a run at a title.
