Diamondbacks trade OF Alek Thomas to Dodgers
The Diamondbacks acquired a 17-year-old prospect from the Dodgers for Alek Thomas.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks traded center fielder Alek Thomas to the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers for outfield prospect Jose Requena on Tuesday.
Steve Adams from MLB Trade Rumors first reported the deal.
Requena is a 17-year-old prospect from Venezuela, a right-handed hitter listed at 6-foot-3. The newcomer will head to the Dominican Summer League, according to the transactions log.
Arizona designated Thomas for assignment on Friday amidst offensive struggles for the outfielder and the team as a whole. The D-backs opted to make a change by calling up top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt.
Thomas had a minor league option left. General manager Mike Hazen opted to take a more extreme measure for a player who was once considered a top prospect and who became a postseason hero in 2023.
“He has no prior outright, so if we end up outrighting him, if we don’t trade or clear his waivers, then I feel like we’ll get a better version of him when he is down there,” Hazen said on Friday. “I feel like if we just optioned him feeling like he’s buried, sitting down there biding his time until he gets another opportunity, I wasn’t sure that we were going to get the best version.”
Hazen mentioned that he had already started receiving trade calls.
When a player gets DFA’d, he can be traded within seven days. The player can also be placed on outright or unconditional release waivers.
Thomas’ Diamondbacks tenure officially ends in disappointment.
Thomas had not taken the necessary offensive strides to remain the club’s starting center fielder, despite his abilities on defense. He hit .181 this season, and his 3% walk rate was amongst the lowest in the league.
He and D-backs fans will always have the Game 4 home run during the 2023 National League Championship Series to look back on.
Waldschmidt has started two of the four games since Thomas’ departure in center field, with Jorge Barrosa another option for those reps. Outfielder Jordan Lawlar is working his way back from the injured list.
The Dodgers DFA’d outfielder Michael Siani on Monday to open a roster spot.
Los Angeles has seen a lot of Thomas over the years, as he has played 45 games against the Dodgers, including the postseason.
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Comments
38 Comments
Alek Thomas is a defensive gem and base stealer, who can't get on base with a career BA around .200 and can't even draw walks. This 17 year old kid won't be immediate, but he is talented, 6' 3", and we have a WBC championship kid barely 20 from Venezuela now who is 6" 3", hits for average and power, and will be our full-time 1B or 3B in a year or so based on his current play. Still needs time, but maybe the 17 year old has similar markers and the DBacks see it. AND, the Dodger do not groom talent. They buy it. Othani will make a quarter of a billion dollars in retirement from this contract which ends when he turns 40. $230M in retirement. $470M over the 10 years he's playing. Dodgers owner(s) use both revenue money and their own without any salary cap. Do the math. Personally, I put our DBack owner in the same category as our Cards owner. Profit first, team second. Just my quarter out of a dollar take. Thomas became a liability at the plate.
Seems like our Entire lineup minus 3 guys are hitting below .210, maybe we have a coaching issue?
The Dbacks fans and management has the 'once in the lifetime' hero syndrome.
Thomas hit the home run in the 2023 playoff which endeared him to the fans and management. Instead of looking at the facts, they look at the home run on why he should be a Dback.
Pfaadt pitched decently in the 2023 playoff which endeared him to fans and management but he has totally sucked pitching in the regular seasons of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 as a starter. The fans and the talking heads on 98.6 thinks that he is a great pitcher with lifetime ERA of 5.16. He was one of the nine worst starter in MLB for the 2025 season.
How about the .152 hitter known as Tim Tawa. He hit the grand slam this season and the 98.6 talking heads thinks that he is making a major offensive contribution to the team for the entire season.
The real problem is that most fans and media has low standards. I was listening to the Wolf & Luke show were they were giving out awards for the first 25% of the season. One of the talking heads gave Adrian Del Castillo the unsung hero award for his key hitting...HE IS HITTING .202...one hit for every 5 ABs!