D-backs’ Stewart: Padres asked for Goldschmidt in Kimbrel talks

The Arizona Diamondbacks tried to make a trade to pick up a closer at the trade deadline, which expired Friday afternoon, but were unable to do so.

The bulk of the talks were with the Cincinnati Reds about flame-throwing Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman, but their asking price of three top prospects was too close for the D-backs’ blood.

Instead, Arizona general manager Dave Stewart opted to stand pat, with Brad Ziegler closing out games.

There was also discussions with the San Diego Padres about closer Craig Kimbrel, but according to Stewart, those talks didn’t get very far due to their demands.

“We really did not get a very positive response for trying to acquire Kimbrel,” Stewart told Burns and Gambo Friday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Popular thought is that teams don’t want to make trades with division foes, but that’s not what held the talks up.

“I don’t know that it was not wanting to trade within the division, but I can tell you the quality of players that they asked for — including our first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt…”

Stewart couldn’t finish his sentence as he was interrupted by Gambo.

“They asked for Paul Goldschmidt,” Gambo asked.

“Now you get it,” Stewart responded while laughing.

“I’ve had some dealings with that club at the Winter Meetings, but you can’t fault the club for asking,” Stewart said. “You never know, on a given day, maybe I was injected with a drug that would make me say ‘yes.'”

Goldschmidt, a three-time All-Star, leads the National League in batting with a .347 average entering Friday’s game against the Houston Astros. He’s second in the senior circuit in RBI and fifth in home runs.

Kimbrel, whom the Padres acquired from Atlanta before the season, is third in the National League with 30 saves in 31 opportunities.

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