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The 2022 MLB trade deadline is right around the corner on Tuesday.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are coming off a three-game winning streak against their NL West division rival San Francisco Giants at Chase Field and are now 5-1 after the All-Star break.
And don’t look now, but the back-to-back D-backs are starting to gain ground in the standings and go into Thursday 6.5 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot.
“I don’t think it changes our approach at all,” Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall said Bickley & Marotta of Arizona Sports in Thursday. “We’re trying to get this team ready for 2023 and beyond.”
“Whatever moves we make here at the deadline, they’re going to be to improve this team, this Major League roster,” he added. “Right now it’s not about acquiring young prospects. It’s about making moves that are buy and sell at the same time, which (general manager Mike Hazen) and his staff have been really good at the last couple of years.”
Many players currently on the D-backs roster are rumored to be candidates to be dealt at the deadline for various reasons, such as their contracts expiring or the opportunity to help a contender compete for a World Series.
If Hazen and Co. receive a matching offer, some of those names could include All-Star lefty Joe Mantiply, left fielder David Peralta, first baseman Christian Walker and lefty Madison Bumgarner, to name a few.
“We get calls for a lot of players, not just the ones that are being talked about. We get calls for players that are young that are making it,” Hall said. “There are a lot of problems but it is difficult, especially with some of these players that we have moved on from in the past.
“It hurts and it’s hard for the fans too. Is this the business? Yes, but it’s personal. We know their families, they know our families, they are part of the family. That’s always the worst part of doing a deal – saying goodbye to the player.”
Hall told a story about when former D-backs GM Kevin Towers had Hall join him in telling RHP Ian Kennedy he had been traded to the San Diego Padres in 2013, leading the trio to cry together .
Fortunately for Diamondbacks fans, however, Hazen was able to bring Kennedy back this past offseason via free agency for his second stint in the Valley.
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