Game Recaps
Pfaadt, Tawa lead Diamondbacks past Padres in NL wild-card position matchup [ESPN]
Tim Tawa hit a three-run homer and Brandon Pfaadt carried a shutout into the seventh inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 5-1 Monday night in the opener of a 10-game homestand against NL West rivals.
The victory moved the Diamondbacks two games ahead of San Diego in the NL wild-card race. Arizona (60-53) is tied with Philadelphia for the final playoff spots.
Diamondbacks ride Pfaaadt mastery, Tawa
blast to big win over Padres by José M. Romero and Nick Piecoro [AZ Central]
The win was the Diamondbacks’ fifth in their past six games, and they improved to 15-6 since July 9. At 60-53, they are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the second wild-card spot in the National League.
Pfaadt gave up just one unearned run in 6 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, walking one and striking out three. In seven starts since rejoining the rotation in late June, Pfaadt has posted a 1.55 ERA with five walks and 21 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings.
Diamondbacks News
Mets nixed trade of starter to Diamondbacks, sources say by Nick Piecoro [AZ Central]
The Diamondbacks’ pursuit of a starting pitcher at the trade deadline hit a snag during the middle of the day on Monday, Aug. 3, when the New York Mets backed out of a potential deal that would have sent right-hander Clay Holmes to Arizona, multiple sources said.
The Mets called off the trade due to concerns they had after reviewing medical records of a Diamondbacks prospect.
The teams tried to rework the deal with different players involved but were unable to reach an agreement, sources said.
D-backs Counting on Return of Injured Players to Help Make Playoffs by Jack Sommers [SI]
Burnes has been throwing on flat ground and will throw a bullpen mound session on Tuesday. Burnes said after he throws that he’ll discuss with the training staff how many bullpens he needs to throw before he face live hitters.
“That’s part of the negotiation I’ve got with them,” Burnes said. “I’ll let you know maybe after the bullpen tomorrow. But they’re gonna say a number and I’m gonna cut it in half.”
Burnes is still pushing to come back by early September, but looking at the calendar and normal progression dates it’s hard to imagine he could be stretched out enough to provide five or six innings by early September.
D-backs will not be defined by tepid trade deadline by Dan Bickley [Arizona Sports]
The Diamondbacks already invest an admirable percentage of their revenue to payroll. Unlike the bottom 12 teams in Major League Baseball, no one can question their fiscal commitment to winning. But they seemed to have reached a glass ceiling.
Financially, many big-market teams can compete with the Dodgers and won’t. That’s greed. The Diamondbacks would but they can’t. That’s our reality. And given our recent history with lengthy injuries and stalled comebacks, waiting for reinforcements to emerge from the injury list seems like a dubious strategy at best.
D-Backs bolster outfield with trade for Nootbaar by Steve Gilbert [DBacks.com]
Max Kepler was signed by the Diamondbacks as a free agent on June 7 and joined the team a few weeks later, after his PED suspension ended. As a result of that suspension, Kepler is not eligible to participate in the postseason should the Diamondbacks make it.
“[Nootbaar] is a good fit,” Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen said. “We’ve had some issues as we’ve gone through the season against right-handed pitching, so we felt like [a left-handed bat] was one of the bigger needs that we wanted to address coming out of the deadline.”
Diamondbacks Pay Dearly for Nootbaar, and Not a Moment Too Soon by Michael Baumann [FanGraphs]
And after a hot (if delayed) start to his 2026 campaign, he has gone cold over the past five weeks. On June 30, Nootbaar was hitting .306/.400/.472. In 27 games since, he’s slashing .174/.276/.256.
Sounds like bad news for the Diamondbacks, doesn’t it? Even the fact that Nootbaar is under team control for another year would be cold comfort if you knew you were getting a third straight year of slightly below-average offense from a corner outfielder. Might as well non-tender him.
The reality is a little more encouraging. For starters, it bears repeating that Nootbaar’s plate discipline remains immaculate.
Around the League
Dizzying deadline alters landscape of playoff chase by Ian Quillen [MLB]
TOP 25 TRADES
14. Lars Nootbaar to the D-backs (Aug. 3)
- D-backs get: OF Lars Nootbaar MORE >
- Cardinals get: RHP Daniel Eagen, LHP Sandro Santana, PTBNL
D-backs outfielders entered Monday with a .696 OPS, a bottom 10 mark among outfield units, and that’s including Corbin Carroll’s .822 mark. Enter Lars Nootbaar, who owns a career .742 OPS and .340 OBP in 575 games. While Nootbaar has struggled with injuries in his career and has seen his OPS dip below .700 in each of the last two seasons, he’s still only 28 years old, is under control through next season and is an immediate boost in the OBP department for the D-backs. Eagen was Arizona’s No. 5 prospect, while Santana ranked 26th.
Tigers president Scott Harris defends return in Skubal trade by Alden Gonzalez [ESPN]
Harris also took exception to the notion that he should’ve waited until closer to the trade deadline to maximize Skubal’s return.
“We came into this very well prepared,” Harris said in a videoconference shortly after Monday’s deadline. “We came into this with a firm idea of the type of deal that we wanted to ultimately land. And we had a deep understanding of what every organization had to offer.
“I think there is a unique dynamic with a player like Tarik Skubal. Markets at the deadline for the top players are just different than the rest of the market. So, I understand the intuition that, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to wait until the very last second on a deal and then pull a trigger at the very last second to maximize a return.’ That’s not how markets for the top players work.”
Red Sox Give Rutschman New Birth in New England by Michael Baumann [FanGraphs]
The first reaction to this deal can only be one of astonishment, on multiple levels. The trade itself is audacious, from both teams’ perspective. Even with his trade value and reputation at a low ebb, Rutschman’s talents are gigantic, and the return reflects that.
But this trade’s on-field impact pales in comparison to What It All Means. Rutschman, the no. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft, was the Orioles’ franchise player as they emerged from nearly a decade in the wilderness to become (if only briefly) a power player in the AL East. Seeing Rutschman in any other team’s colors will be weird enough to inspire the heebie-jeebies.
Let’s deal with the tangible parts of this trade first. Rutschman, who has been limited to just 157 games over the past two seasons, is back on the IL with wrist inflammation, but he’s expected to return soon.
With the Red Sox somewhat unexpectedly back in contention, it is difficult to overstate how big an upgrade Rutschman is at catcher. It’s hard to find a good backstop these days; a few teams have basically punted the position, willing to eat three or four outs a game if it means they can pay a good receiver and blocker the minimum salary.
2026 MLB Trade Tracker by Tim Dierkes [MLB Trade Rumors]
This post lists all July and August pre-deadline trades for each of the 30 teams.
