Grading the Diamondbacks’ relatively quiet trade deadline

Yes, the Arizona Diamondbacks believe they will receive reinforcements from the injured list to keep themselves in the NL Wild Card race.

The star players already on the roster can swing the trajectory of the second half if they play up to their standards.

It’s also true that when every other team in contention for an NL Wild Card spot does something and the D-backs do not, there are alarm bells fairly ringing.

The three teams bracketing them in the standings at the moment — the Cubs, Phillies and Padres — all were busy making win-now moves at the deadline. The view on the D-backs depends on a little perspective. Overall, however, the lack of trade action beyond adding outfielder Lars Nootbaar had fans and even general manager Mike Hazen wanting more.

How are we here at Arizona Sports and other baseball insiders reacting to Arizona’s trade deadline?

Let’s get into the grades and evaluations:

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale

The Diamondbacks got Nootbaar, but look at what the three teams did who they’re battling for a wild-card berth:

Let’s see, the Phillies traded for a three-time batting champion. The Padres grabbed two front-line starters. And the Cubs acquired multple starters and relievers.

The Diamondbacks just might be going into this wild-card war with a squirt gun.

The Athletic’s Grant Bisbee

They got Lars Nootbaar, and bless him for finally getting out of St. Louis, where the Cardinals were never entirely sure what to do with him. That fills a clear need for an underperforming Arizona team, but the Diamondbacks were always going to need a lot more run prevention to compete in a packed wild-card scrum, and they were never going to cough up the prospects to be there.

I’m not sure what the Diamondbacks’ actual window is, but therein lies the problem: I don’t know if they have a clear idea, either.

Arizona Sports host and columnist Dan Bickley

They will be defined by the late-stage greatness of Corbin Carroll, Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte. They will be defined by the late-season productivity of players returning from injury, from Corbin Burnes to Justin Martinez to Jordan Lawlar. They will be defined by how they react to the moment at hand, how they deal with the Padres and Dodgers in the next seven days.

The team’s lack of activity at Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is both unsettling and understandable. The Diamondbacks need a playoff berth to validate their manager, their 2023 World Series appearance, and the slogan starting to ring tired and hollow in the Valley. The virtue of “Diamondbacks Baseball” means nothing with one playoff berth in the past nine years.

Arizona Sports D-backs reporter Alex Weiner

Nootbaar can handle all three outfield spots, but left field is where he has spent most of his time this year. He and Max Kepler will gets reps out there, likely while the other starts at designated hitter against righties. What that means when Jordan Lawlar and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. get back is something they will have to piece together since they do have an outfield surplus now.

The price was high, as was the case for many trades in a seller’s market at this deadline. Daniel Eagen has been on a roll in Double-A Amarillo after a tough April after he was dominant last season in High-A Hillsboro. For an organization without many top-end pitching prospects, that is a tough piece to part with, but the D-backs had to do something to help a team that fought to be buyers. Did they do enough to keep up with the other Wild Card teams is another question.

Arizona Sports host Kellan Olson

The Nootbaar trade lacks much juice to provide to the lineup. And perhaps even more relevant to the conversation is the price they paid, a prospect in Eagen rated as Arizona’s best pitcher in the system by Fangraphs and second best by MLB Pipeline, all for an OK righty-focused bat under control for just another season-and-a-half.

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