The Pulse: Fans think Diamondbacks’ Aaron Hill next to go

Every day, ArizonaSports.com asks readers a question. It’s the Sanderson Ford Poll Question of the Day, and it can be found midway down the right side of our home page.

On Monday, we asked which Arizona Diamondbacks player is next in line to be traded — not necessarily whom fans want to be traded to most, but which D-back the team could legitimately move in the near future.

This question comes after a busy weekend in which Arizona completed two trades, shipping Joe Thatcher and Tony Campana to the Los Angeles Angels and Brandon McCarthy to the New York Yankees.

With 775 votes in, it appears our readers believe second baseman Aaron Hill is next in line to be dealt. Nearly 50 percent (340 people overall) of voters chose his name in the poll.

Hill, 32, has had some strong seasons since he came to the desert, but he’s batting .239 with 61 strikeouts in 326 at-bats in 2014. Despite his down year, fans — and other teams — must see that the 5-foot-11 infielder has value. This is a guy who slugged 26 home runs and 85 RBI while hitting .302 for Arizona two seasons ago.

The second baseman also might be a popular choice because of the weekend rumor that the Toronto Blue Jays are actively scouting him and third baseman Martin Prado.

Which brings us to the second-most popular option in the poll: Prado. One-hundred and seventy-nine (23 percent) of voters clicked the third baseman’s name.

Prado hit a home run Monday night against Miami, but it was just his fourth of the year, and his overall stat line has been lackluster at present, which is why he’s a popular trade candidate. Fans also must think other teams might see some value in a corner infielder who has hit .300 or higher in four of his nine MLB seasons.

We gave readers two other distinct options in the poll: reliever Brad Ziegler and outfileder Cody Ross. The latter came in third with 19 percent of people clicking his name, while Ziegler was chosen by just 7 percent of voters.

There was also a fifth option: other. That opened it up to any other player on the team that we might have glossed over. Not many people (3 percent, 23 overall) took this option; they mostly went with the players we listed.

If you’re wondering why starter Trevor Cahill wasn’t on the list, it’s because he’s in the minors at the moment, and it’s not likely that there’s much of a demand for his services before this year’s trade deadline.

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