With the trade deadline a week away, it seems like a good time to take a look back at Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen’s track record with these sorts of deals.
They haven’t all worked out, of course, but in his first seven seasons on the job, he seems to have fared pretty well when swinging late-July deals. His hits, at least, have been big ones — a frontline starter, a middle-of-the-order masher, and a reliable closer. As for his misses, yes, he has some of those, too.
Here’s how we lined them up.
The good
1. Zac Gallen
Type: Neither buy nor sell.
Date: July 31, 2019.
The deal: The Diamondbacks acquired right-hander Zac Gallen from the Miami Marlins for infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr.
This is not the sort of trade you think of when trade deadline deals come to mind. The Diamondbacks were not buyers or sellers in a traditional sense. They were just making what folks like to call a “pure baseball trade.” It was essentially a prospect-for-prospect swap, though Gallen was a little more advanced in that he had already made seven starts at the major league level while Chisholm was still in Double-A. Gallen has gone on to become one of the better pitchers in baseball, a dependable, front-of-the-rotation type starter. Chisholm’s career hasn’t been bad, but he has yet to deliver on the star-level tools he has in his arsenal. It was a gutsy trade, the sort you don’t see too often — teams don’t seem to like to deal prospects for prospects — but Hazen made an excellent one.
2. J.D. Martinez
Type: Buy.
Date: July 18, 2017.
The deal: The Diamondbacks acquired outfielder J.D. Martinez from the Detroit Tigers for infielder Jose King, infielder Dawel Lugo and infielder Sergio Alcantara.
You could argue Hazen’s best deadline deal was his first deadline deal, when he jumped the market by nearly two weeks to land Martinez. This was a strict rental; Martinez was an impending free agent. It hardly could have gone better for all parties. Martinez absolutely mashed for 2 1/2 months, hitting .302/.366/.741 with an astounding 29 homers in 62 games. He then hit the free-agent market and was rewarded handsomely, receiving a five-year, $110 million deal from the Red Sox. Of course, Martinez wanted to stay in Arizona, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the trade was a steal for Hazen, who never felt any regret over the three prospects he dealt.
3. Paul Sewald
Type: Buy.
Date: July 31, 2023.
The deal: The Diamondbacks acquired right-hander Paul Sewald from the Seattle Mariners for infielder Ryan Bliss, outfielder Dominic Canzone and infielder Josh Rojas.
A reasonable case could be made for this one to be in the top spot, as well. The deal transformed the Diamondbacks’ bullpen, turning it into a weapon that helped the club make an improbable run to the World Series. Sewald pitched well in the regular season, converting 13 of 15 save chances, then was dominant in the postseason until the Rangers got to him in Game 1 of the World Series (and again in Game 5 in a non-save situation). The jury is out on whether the players the Diamondbacks gave up are going to come back to bite them, but it basically doesn’t matter: Sewald helped them get to within three wins of a championship.
4. Tommy Pham
Type: Buy.
Date: Aug. 1, 2023.
The deal: The Diamondbacks acquired outfielder Tommy Pham from the New York Mets for infielder Jeremy Rodriguez.
The day after the Diamondbacks landed Sewald, they made a smaller deal with the Mets for Pham, acquiring him in exchange for one of the club’s top teenage prospects. Pham gave them a proven, veteran hitter, someone who took consistently tough at-bats, was in the midst of a strong season at the plate and had a track record of hitting. He also came with a spotty reputation, infamously slapping Joc Pederson before a game over a fantasy football disagreement. As it turned out, Pham not only performed at the plate, but many in the organization cited his off-the-field contributions as being just as important, saying he brought a strong work ethic and an emotional edge to his new team. Pham delivered a number of big hits as the Diamondbacks charged to the World Series.
4. Tommy Pham
Type: Buy.
Date: Aug. 1, 2023.
The deal: The Diamondbacks acquired outfielder Tommy Pham from the New York Mets for infielder Jeremy Rodriguez.
The day after the Diamondbacks landed Sewald, they made a smaller deal with the Mets for Pham, acquiring him in exchange for one of the club’s top teenage prospects. Pham gave them a proven, veteran hitter, someone who took consistently tough at-bats, was in the midst of a strong season at the plate and had a track record of hitting. He also came with a spotty reputation, infamously slapping Joc Pederson before a game over a fantasy football disagreement. As it turned out, Pham not only performed at the plate, but many in the organization cited his off-the-field contributions as being just as important, saying he brought a strong work ethic and an emotional edge to his new team. Pham delivered a number of big hits as the Diamondbacks charged to the World Series.
The bad
1. Starling Marte
Type: Sell.
Date: Aug. 31, 2020.
The deal: The Diamondbacks traded outfielder Starling Marte to the Miami Marlins for pitchers Caleb Smith, Humberto Meija and Julio Frias, who was added to the deal as a player to be named later.
The Diamondbacks got off to a slow start in the pandemic-shortened 60-game season and felt compelled to sell. Not only did they get rid of rentals like Robbie Ray and Archie Bradley, they also shipped out Marte, who was signed through 2021. They largely whiffed on what they got back. Smith brought a little value, mostly in terms of bulk relief innings, but stumbled in his rotation opportunities. Mejia was someone the Diamondbacks saw as a future rotation piece, but he was awful in the majors and found himself pitching in independent ball within two years. Frias never advanced beyond A-ball. The Diamondbacks have an excuse here in that they were under financial pressure due to the loss of revenue from the pandemic and knew they going to need to shed payroll. Still, they did not get enough back in return.
2. Zack Greinke
Type: Sell.
Date: July 31, 2019.
The deal: The Diamondbacks traded right-hander Zack Greinke to the Houston Astros for right-handers Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas, first baseman/outfielder Seth Beer and infielder Josh Rojas.
The Diamondbacks did a little of everything at the 2019 deadline, not only acquiring Gallen, but also adding right-hander Mike Leake in a deal with Seattle and surprising everyone by finding a taker for Greinke, who had four years and $77 million left on his contract. The positives of this were that the Diamondbacks shed about $53 million in payroll and found a useful player in Rojas. The negatives were that Martin, who had been seen as the key piece of the trade, never panned out, nor did Bukauskas or Beer. Hazen has said he was too locked in on acquiring major league-ready pieces that he likely would have had access to any number of prospects further down in the Astros’ system at the time, including the likes of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Jeremy Pena, among others. The money saved was meaningful (though they quickly squandered it by signing LHP Madison Bumgarner the following winter) but for a pitcher as good as Greinke, the Diamondbacks should have received more in return.
3. Eduardo Escobar
Type: Buy.
Date: July 27, 2018.
The deal: The Diamondbacks acquired infielder Eduardo Escobar from the Minnesota Twins for outfielders Ernie De La Trinidad and Gabriel Maciel and pitcher Jhoan Duran.
So, yes, this was a good deal, as we mentioned above, but it was also not an ideal trade in that Duran was a part of it. Now, the reality is, just about every team would agree to this sort of swap almost every time: a contending club acquiring a key rental piece for three low-level prospects, including a person who amounts to a lottery ticket. And the inclusion of this deal on this list speaks to the fact that Hazen hasn’t had too many misses at the deadline. But still, we can’t ignore the fact that Duran, for as risky and low-probability of a prospect as he was at the time, has blossomed into one of the better relievers in baseball since going to the Twins.
4. Jace Peterson
Type: Buy.
Date: July 31, 2023.
The deal: The Diamondbacks acquired infielder Jace Peterson from the Oakland Athletics for right-hander Chad Patrick.
On the same day they traded Rojas to the Mariners as part of the Sewald trade, the Diamondbacks acquired Peterson to ensure they had enough coverage on the infield going forward. Peterson did not perform, hitting just .183 in 106 plate appearances. As it turned out, he was playing through a knee injury that required surgery shortly after the season, but he didn’t look a whole lot better in 22 at-bats this year, either, prompting the Diamondbacks to cut ties with him a few weeks into the season. The prospect return on the deal is a little TBD; Patrick, who has since been traded to the Brewers, isn’t ranked on any prospect lists and it doesn’t look like he will bite the Diamondbacks. But Peterson cost the Diamondbacks about $4.5 million and ate up a roster spot all offseason and into the opening weeks of the season. This wasn’t a disaster of a deal, but it wasn’t a good one, either.
5. Eduardo Escobar
Type: Sell.
Date: July 28, 2021.
The deal: The Diamondbacks traded infielder Eduardo Escobar to the Milwaukee Brewers for catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel and infielder Alberto Ciprian.
Since we needed five to round out this list, the second Escobar deal makes the cut. As far as we know, his market wasn’t very strong and he was having more of a good year than a great year at the time, but the Diamondbacks took a shot on a couple of prospects and neither panned out. Hummel never hit in the majors while Ciprian, a lottery ticket, washed out after a couple years in the minors. Ideally, Hazen would have landed more value in return. We went with this over a handful of others. Lefty reliever Jake Diekman didn’t help as expected in 2018, but the Diamondbacks didn’t give up much. There was also the Archie Bradley deal (to Cincinnati for Stuart Fairchild and Josh VanMeter in August 2020), but Bradley wasn’t pitching well and probably didn’t have much value. Same with Robbie Ray, who was pitching much worse than Bradley when he was traded to Toronto a month before free agency. Jose Caballero has turned into a decent backup infielder after he was traded for Leake in 2019, but Leake pitched fine for the Diamondbacks. As for the Escobar deal, not turning two months of an average-ish veteran into prospect gold is hardly a sin, but, again, something had to rank fifth.
Coming up
Thursday: Off.
Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (7-5, 3.64) vs. Pirates RHP Luis Ortiz (5-2, 2.57).
Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks Brandon Pfaadt (4-6, 3.74) vs. Pirates LHP Marco Gonzales (1-1, 2.70).
Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Yilber Diaz (1-1, 5.40) vs. Pirates RHP Mitch Keller (10-5, 3.34)