PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks got an early start on the trade deadline by sending first baseman Josh Naylor to the Seattle Mariners on Thursday evening.
Whether that launches a full-on firesale or a more nuanced buy/sell deadline is uncertain, as general manager Mike Hazen said “any outcome is on the table.”
Hazen said the Diamondbacks have received a lot of offers since their loss to Houston on Wednesday dropped them back to 50-53. With several highly coveted players hitting free agency, there are going to be opportunities to continue restructuring the roster and bringing in prospect hauls.
Arizona already added a pair of pitching prospects from Seattle: 25-year-old Brandyn Garcia and 21-year-old Ashton Izzi.
Hazen’s club has six games to play before next Thursday’s deadline.
“I haven’t decided on what it’s gonna look like, honestly. I’m open-minded to a number of different things,” Hazen said Friday morning.
“We’re still in the controllable player market on the buy side. We’re listening to what people have to say and what people have to offer and we’re gonna do what’s best for the long-term good for this organization.”
There is a lot of intrigue around the league in All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suarez, as Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported 12 teams had inquired as of Thursday.
One of those clubs, the New York Yankees, made a move for Colorado third baseman Ryan McMahon on Friday, likely taking them out of the sweepstakes. Seattle and Cincinnati have been reported to have a lot of interest in a reunion with Suarez, as he played for both clubs before coming to Arizona.
Starting pitchers Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen could also be on the move for the right price.
“Until we make trades, I wanna see this team continue to play and continue to fight and continue to show us that just taking it down to the studs is not the world we should be living in,” Hazen said. “And I’m open-minded to that. … We still have a lot of really good baseball players on this team. The offers are certainly going to play a role, there’s gonna be a line.”
Qualifying offers provide another way Diamondbacks can recoup value
There is a wrinkle unique to baseball that plays a significant factor here.
If the Diamondbacks pushed forward with their players on expiring contracts, they would have the option to present a qualifying offer at the end of the year. If the Diamondbacks lose a player who declined their qualifying offer and signed a $50+ million contract elsewhere, Arizona would receive a compensatory draft pick at the end of the first round — or a pick after the second round if the player signs for less than $50 million.
That is how the Diamondbacks netted Louisville pitcher Patrick Forbes No. 29 overall in the 2025 MLB Draft after Christian Walker departed.
Hazen pointed out 2024 draftees Slade Caldwell and Ryan Waldschmidt as some of the more valuable assets in baseball having been picked in the range of these compensatory draft slots.
“The opportunity to possibly qualify guys and get draft picks and clearing that level of compensation is gonna matter,” Hazen said. “I’m not making trades to save money. So just making trades and not having somebody on our team for the second half when I expect us to play good baseball in the second half, that’s gonna matter too.
“I’m not just gonna trade somebody to trade them to another team. It’s gonna have to make sense for us and see the value versus what those draft picks may look like.”
The Diamondbacks entered Friday five games out of a playoff spot with 59 games remaining. If the front office opts to keep the team mostly intact for an unlikely run at the playoffs, they would not necessarily lose these players for nothing if they sign with other teams later. That’s a bar trade offers will have to clear.
Why would the Diamondbacks consider buying?
The Diamondbacks potentially buying would not look like teams in the throws of a division race, for example, buying. Adding rentals does not make much sense at this point, but going out and acquiring major league talent under team control beyond this season might when looking at competing in 2026 and 2027.
For example, Hazen brought up the A.J. Puk trade. A year ago, Arizona sent two prospect to Miami for Puk, a reliever who remains under team control through 2026.
Hazen said if that trade came up again, he’d do it.
“I could wait until the offseason to try to make trades for controllable guys, but if there are players I could see on the 2026 team, and I have access to that player now and they’re gonna trade them somewhere else, which means I won’t have access to them in the offseason, then I think it makes sense for us to at least stay engaged to find out what that’s gonna cost us,” Hazen explained.
“We are willing to trade prospects to put more major league players on our roster. … My goal is to build a major league team. If I could do that now and get ahead of that for the offseason, then that’s where it makes sense.”
These trades may be difficult to find due to the number of teams with playoff hopes that may not want to take away from their big league roster.
There are 20 teams with at least a 10% shot of making the postseason, per FanGraphs, with the D-backs right behind that group at 8.7% entering Friday. This is a seller’s market.
The dominoes have started to fall following the Naylor trade.
Not only did the Yankees trade for McMahon, but the New York Mets have dealt for Baltimore relief pitcher Gregory Soto.
Every year, contending teams can use more pitching, and that universal need is why the pitching market will look different than the position players. Gambadoro noted that he expects Kelly to net the greatest return, followed by Suarez, Gallen and Naylor.
Without many sellers presenting the top-end talent Arizona has to offer, Diamondbacks benefit from having options for how they want this to look down the stretch.
