Diamondbacks Accepting Their Fate As Sellers At MLB Trade Deadline

The Arizona Diamondbacks left Pittsburgh on Sunday knowing that multiple key players could be with other teams by Thursday night.

The Diamondbacks lost two of three games to the Pirates in a weekend series at PNC Park as their slide out of contention continued. That followed the Diamondbacks getting swept in a three-game series by the Houston Astros in Phoenix that signaled general manager Mike Hazen was going to be a seller rather than a buyer by Thursday’s MLB trade deadline.

It’s a difficult situation to digest for Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo. The Diamondbacks had high hopes for 2025 after signing ace right-hander Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210-million contract as a free agent over the winter.

Injuries Help Dash Diamondbacks’ High Hopes

The Diamondbacks believed they could return to the World Series for the second time in three years after losing to the Texas Rangers in 2023. The Diamondbacks missed the postseason last year on a tiebreaker.

Burnes, though, made 11 starts before undergoing season-ending Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery in June. He leads a list of 11 Diamondbacks pitchers on the injured list.

The Diamondbacks scored only one run in three games in Pittsburgh and their record is 51-55. They trail the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers by 10 games in the National League West and are six games behind in the race for the third wild card.

“Everybody in baseball’s clearly aware of the things that are going on around the Arizona Diamondbacks right now, including the players,” Lovullo said.

Josh Naylor Becomes First To Go

The Diamondbacks’ selloff began last Thursday when first baseman Josh Naylor was traded to the Seattle Mariners for rookie reliever Brandyn Garcia and a pitching prospect.

Outfielder Randal Grichuk was traded on Saturday in a unique circumstance. He was removed from a 2-0 loss to the Pirates after the fourth inning when the Diamondbacks struck a deal with the Kansas City Royals for rookie reliever Andrew Hoffman.

“We put ourselves in this position,” Lovullo said. “So, I’m probably more upset at that because I think we’re a better team. I know that we’ve taken on some injuries but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have executed to win some baseball games.

“I feel like we were a much better team than we should. So that’s where I lose sleep. My mindset is I have a responsibility to this team to go out there and be myself and manage the best way I can and not be a distraction by complaining about things or saying we can’t or won’t I want us to get up and get two hands up in the middle of the ring and fight it out. That’s the space we live in every single day.”

The Diamondbacks didn’t put up much of a fight over the weekend against the Pirates, the last-place team in the NL Central. The Diamondbacks eked out a 1-0 victory in 11 innings on Friday night in the series opener then were shut out in the last two games.

Diamondbacks Likely To Deal More Stars

Likely to come are trades involving three of the Diamondbacks’ marquee players – right-handers Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen and third baseman Eugenio Suarez. They are all on expiring contracts like Naylor and Grichuk

Kelly has spent his entire seven-year career with the Diamondbacks after starring in South Korea. He has an affinity for the Diamondbacks because he grew up in the Phoenix area. However, the 36-year-old acknowledges that a trade seems inevitable.

“I understand the nature of the beast, and the business aspect of it, and the idea of if I do get traded,” Kelly said. “If I go somewhere else, it will be to a team that’s contending right now and has a good chance of going to the playoffs and a good chance of going to the World Series. At this point in my career, I’m open to that. I don’t know how many more years I have left, hopefully enough, but at this point in my career, I think anything could happen.”

Until it does, the Diamondbacks clubhouse is a little on edge waiting to see exactly what happens.

“The one thing that we do in that clubhouse is we identify with how we’re doing and feeling, and we talk about it,” Lovullo, the Arizona Diamondbacks manager, said. “I don’t like to bury things. I don’t want anybody to wonder. If you have a question, you ask it, I’ll give you an answer, though you might not like it. I’m going to be as brutally honest as I possibly can.”