The trade deadline day may be the busiest for all 30 general managers in Major League Baseball. Trade proposals are flying around as teams decide on which direction they want to go with their club. Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen woke up with a 10% charge on his phone, but managed to execute two more trades ahead of the 3:00 P.M. deadline. In the following game, he joined the Dbacks TV broadcast in the top of the 2nd to discuss their strategy.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The focus on the deadline was to add pitching, especially to the bullpen. Arizona’s bullpen ranks 21st in Major League Baseball with a 4.21 ERA, but the season numbers don’t tell the story as the unit has settled down lately.
“I think the position player group, you look at them, they’re athletic, we’re young,” said Hazen. “We haven’t quite played all the way to where we could be, but we like this group. This group plays well together, they get along together, they play hard together, so the focus was going to be on the pitching, especially the bullpen.”
Two of the three trades Hazen executed addressed the bullpen. He added a shutdown lefty in A.J. Puk, who could pitch anywhere for the Diamondbacks in the final three innings. Puk has pitched in two games for Arizona, striking out four of the seven batters he faced in two scoreless innings. Then he targeted Dylan Floro, an experienced right-hander who could pitch anywhere between the fifth and eighth innings.
With those two additions to the bullpen, the unit is much deeper and experienced. In less than one calendar year, the Diamondbacks have gone from having one of the worst bullpens in MLB to one that is capable of fueling another postseason run. In each of the past two seasons, they’ve made significant additions to their bullpen at the trade deadline. That’s an approach Hazen says the team may need to do more often.
“I feel like that may be part of what we should be doing more often, having one bullpen to go through the entire season is probably not the right strategy to have. In the middle through August, re-looking at exactly how our bullpen comes together is something that we have to look to address every single year.”
In the postseason, having a deeper bullpen is pretty much a necessity. Starters aren’t pushed as much, in terms of batters faced, as managers are more focused on doing everything they can to stop the opposing team from building offensive momentum. That means relievers are coming into the game in the fifth and sixth innings. It’s a type of baseball Hazen isn’t necessarily a fan of, but sees that it’s possible to win in the postseason that way.
One trade that was borne out of necessity was the addition of Josh Bell. Christian Walker was placed on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday after suffering a “low grade” oblique strain in Monday’s game. Walker anticipates he’ll be out three weeks, with the average recovery time for a Grade 1 strain being 27 days according to MLB’s Health and Injury Tracking System. As soon as Bell cleared waivers, the Diamondbacks pounced on that opportunity.
The addition of Bell gives them more flexibility for what they can do with their infield. It frees up Kevin Newman to play more middle infield to spell Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo.
“That whole group together, we’re worried about Newman playing first base a lot, not being able to spell Marte and Domo. So those were kind of the things that we dealt with. And then the uncertain timeline on Christian, other than we got good news, there’s still uncertainty around exactly when he’s going to be back.”
Hazen called Walker the toughest player on the team, but notes the trickiness with oblique injuries. He wants his first baseman back and fully healthy for the stretch run into the postseason. It would not be a shock if Walker is back by September 1.
The Diamondbacks did not make any starting pitcher trades leading up to the deadline. Hazen described the market as “rough”.
“There weren’t a lot of guys out there, as you can imagine. The players we got asked for, that in some cases we didn’t have, to pull deals off, starting pitching was everything. In deals for relievers, in deals that we were involved in, the number one ask we got was upper-level, young starting pitching.”
The organization’s top two pitching prospects that fit that profile are Yilber DÃaz and Cristian Mena. Both players are one injury away from having to start games in the big leagues, so Hazen doesn’t want to be short with his rotation depth. The fact that he was able to pull off what he did without having to give up either guy is downright impressive.
Another player Hazen was asked for that he refused to part with is catcher Adrian Del Castillo. Del Castillo is in the midst of a breakout season, hitting .320 with 35 doubles, 22 home runs, 1.002 OPS with Triple-A Reno. Adding context to the level of offense he’s provided relative to the league, FanGraphs rates his production as 41% better than the league-average player with a 141 wRC+. That’s a number you want to see with a prospect with a MLB future. He was one injury scare away from getting promoted after starting catcher Gabriel Moreno took a foul tip to the left wrist.
“He’s our third catcher in Reno. And I can’t do that to the major league team, you know, as much as maybe improving the roster by going and making a trade. We love the kid. We think he’s going to be a really good offensive catcher.”
With the trade deadline now over, the Diamondbacks have put themselves in good position in the Wild Card race. They have won eight of their last nine series, going 19-8 over that stretch. They sit half a game out of a playoff spot, but are only a full game out of the top Wild Card spot. Home games in the postseason is a very realistic possibility for the team.
BREAKING: Diamondbacks acquire A.J. Puk from Marlins for two minor league prospects
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
