Assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye shares which series made it clear the Diamondbacks were sellers

The Arizona Diamondbacks were in a funk heading into the MLB trade deadline.

Prior to the deadline, the Diamondbacks didn’t know if they would be sellers or buyers, but they knew they needed improvement.

To assistant general manager Amiel Sawdaye, the realization of what mode they would be in came after the Houston Astros swept the D-backs from July 21-23. Before the Astros series, the Diamondbacks had a record of 50-50 and were only five games behind the final Wild Card spot.

“The Astros series was the one that really affected me,” Sawdaye told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke. “Because we came out of sweeping the (St. Louis) Cardinals, it was a good team. We were at home, had good pitching performances, but we didn’t play very well. That was the one that really bothered me.

“That was probably a series in my mind that really swayed me one side.”

From July 25 until Aug. 3, the D-backs scored less than three runs in seven of nine games.

“I think deadlines do funny things to people,” Sawdaye said.

“There’s obviously a sense of pressure. It’s our job, the manager’s job, the coaching staff’s job to try and help them to get focused. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen our team in the past go into the deadline and struggle a bit.”

D-backs hang on to Zac Gallen

Many were surprised that starting pitcher Zac Gallen was not traded at the deadline. In the end, Gallen is still pitching for Arizona, and he said he had a feeling he’d remain with the team.

“The public perception of trading players seems a lot easier than how it is done behind the scenes,” Sawdaye said. “Teams don’t like giving up players. They’re fine giving up players they don’t like in their system. In some ways, having Zac for the next two months is going to be good for him and for us. We weren’t going to just give him away.”

Sawdaye mentioned that the deadline wasn’t just for the rest of the season. It’s also to be a contender next year.

“You obviously want to get the best value, but it was great that it lined up that Texas (Rangers) had players that we really liked that we felt are going to impact our team in 2026 and beyond. We were really satisfied with the returns we got in the sense that we need to rebuild our bullpen,” Sawdaye said.

Related

Part 2: The rest of 2025 will show if Diamondbacks can reload in 2026Part 1: The rest of 2025 will show if Diamondbacks can reload in 2026Diamondbacks putting onus on youth to show what they've got down the stretchDiamondbacks win season series vs. Dodgers for 1st time since 2018Reports: Diamondbacks adding pitcher Zack LittellDiamondbacks keep winning while best players are slumping. When will Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte get hot?