Assistant GM: D-backs not feeling pressured to make a trade

The midseason point didn’t nip the hot-and-cold play off of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Out of the All-Star break, two losses that included poor D-back relief efforts were followed by three straight dominating wins. Less than a week from the July 31 trade deadline, it has Arizona’s front office in a weird place.

Do they seek out improvements or stand pat hoping a healthy roster finally puts it all together?

“We got all hands on deck in here right now trying to figure the market out, watch(ing) our team a lot,” D-backs assistant general manager Jared Porter told Doug & Wolf on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station. “We’re playing well, we have a lot of really good players.

“Sometimes the best move is the move you don’t make.”

Big names have already been moved in the trade market.

The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired former Baltimore Orioles infielder Manny Machado for a hefty price of five prospects. The New York Yankees acquired former Orioles reliever Zach Britton for three minor-league pitchers on Tuesday.

With many teams in both the American League and National League vying for playoff spots, maybe the market isn’t as buyer-friendly as it should be.

“We’re going to look to add some depth in the right areas,” Porter said. “Teams are always looking at pitching. It’s the easiest thing to slot in. Again, we feel good about our pitching.

“I think it’s going to be kind of opportunistic. Do we think someone can really impact our team? Not necessarily marginal, but can someone really impact our team? And we’ll go from there.”

Thin on the farm?

Porter doesn’t believe the Diamondbacks’ farm system is as depleted as it’s been made out to be.

ESPN’s Keith Law didn’t list a single Arizona farm-hand among his top 50 prospects list released during the All-Star break. While that’s due to the past front office group and the current one having sold off top prospects over the last several years, there is depth, Porter believes.

The assistant general manager said that talent is simply young. And overall, he believes that lack of top prospects hasn’t and won’t hamper the D-backs’ opportunities for trades.

“Keith is very smart, a good baseball guy,” Porter said. “Whether you believe in the validity in those rankings or not, very few of those top 50 prospects are going to be traded at the deadline anyways. So yeah, we certainly have a deep enough farm system. I think you’re going to start to see more Diamondback names on that list in years to come. We have a lot of interesting young players who aren’t quite, haven’t quite passed that prospect threshold yet where they become household names.

“But yeah, we certainly have prospects to make trades if the right trades come up.”

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