The Arizona Diamondbacks not only still have life, but they could very well contend for the National League West crown.

ESPN MLB analyst Tim Kurkjian told Arizona Sports 620's Burns and Gambo Thursday don't look now, but here come the D-backs.

"The Diamondbacks have played themselves back into this thing," Kurkjian said. "If I were a fan of the Dodgers or Giants, I frankly would be a little bit worried right now."

Kurkjian points to the fact that the D-backs haven't even begun to click on all cylinders, yet they've positioned themselves as a viable contender in the division.

"The Diamondbacks haven't hit strides at all yet and there they are right there in the division race," Kurkjian stated.

While the Dodgers and Giants were out making blockbuster moves at the deadline, the D-backs made a smaller deal, but one that could pay dividends down the stretch.

"They got a red-hot player, which is a great thing," Kurkjian explained. "Sometimes you acquire a guy for the stretch run and he might play above his head, and [Johnson] might be that guy."

It is possible Johnson could fit that same mold for the Diamondbacks.

"This is baseball, funny things happen all the time," Kurkjian said. "A guy under the radar gets traded and suddenly becomes even better than we thought he was and that's certainly a possibility with Chris Johnson."

Kurkjian was surprised to see the Astros part ways with Johnson, a player they were once quite high on.

"I thought Chris Johnson was going to be the third baseman of the future for the Astros," Kurkjian said. "They started to question that last year when they sent him out. But when they brought him back this year, I still thought he was a pretty good player with a pretty nice future and now of course [the Astros] changed directions completely."

But what could be Houston's loss may very well be Arizona's gain.