Houston, we have a seller.
After coming out of the All-Star break with a 3-game sweep over the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally getting back to .500 for the season, the Diamondbacks said hello to the AL West leading Houston Astros as they and old friend Christian Walker came into Chase Field for a 3-game set. With the deadline looming and not too many more games to persuade GM Mike Hazen into being a deadline buyer, the Snakes would need at least a series win (ideally a sweep) to truly change the tide and keep guys like Eugenio Suarez, Merrill Kelly and Josh Naylor (NOPE) in a Diamondbacks uniform for the remainder of the 2025 campaign. Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks players and fans, they would get swept by the first place Astros and fall back to 3 games under .500, which is great news for teams like the Mariners, Yankees, Tigers and Cubs, all of whom have been reported to be interested in 1 or more Dbacks players (most notably Eugenio Suarez).
Key Takeaways from this series
Naylor? We Hardly Even Knew Her!
Before the fellas could even sit down to dive into their thoughts on this series sweep, a Jeff Passan bomb dropped just hours before that the Diamondbacks would be trading first baseman Josh Naylor to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for 25 y/o LHP Brandyn Garcia (Seattle’s #11 prospect) and RHP Ashton Izzi (#19 prospect). Garcia, who touches 97 on his four seamer, would be joining the Reno Aces club but could potentially be called up later in the season, especially considering how depleted the bullpen is. Ashton Izzi, whose numbers on the page don’t jump out at you but appear to be better when looked at a little bit deeper, will join the Dbacks High A affiliate in Hillsboro. The fellas looked at the return package for the soon to be free agent first baseman in Naylor and discussed whether or not the Mariners “fleeced” (no trade can be classified as a fleece for a few years at least) the Dbacks, or if this is a solid return for only a 2 month rental for the M’s.
Walked away from Walker?
After the Naylor trade thoughts and a quick recap and general thoughts on what turned out to be both a disappointing and equally frustrating series, the fellas discussed some news from the beginning of the series, where it was reported that the Diamondbacks didn’t even really make an attempt to keep their gold glove slugging 1st baseman Christian Walker. The crew gave their thoughts as to whether or not this news was a surprise to them and if it was a bit of a slap in the face to someone who filled the Paul Goldschmidt shoes as best as he could.
Torey “I liked (Herrera’s) At Bat” Lovullo
The offenses lack of timely hits with runners on and in scoring position (6-26 w/ RISP and 26 left on base in the series) was a big reason why this team was swept by the ‘Stros, but a baffling decision by Torey Lovullo to leave “Jose Herrera” (Career OPS+ of 52 and .194/.279/.250 > .529 OPS with RISP in 2025) in with runners on 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out had the fellas and other Dback’s writers questioning the thought process by the Diamondbacks manager in that particular situation with James McCann and Adrian Del Castillo still on the bench, especially when McCann was used as a pinch hitter for Alek Thomas against Josh Hader in the 9th.
It’s Never Been More Geno-ver
With the Diamondbacks basically confirmed to be sellers of key pieces like Suarez, Kelly, Naylor (the first domino has fallen) and potentially Lourdes Gurrel Jr, the fellas asked each other if strong deadline moves by Mike Hazen and company (don’t hold your breathe, Hazen hasn’t always had the best return on investment when it comes to being a seller at the deadline) could have this team looking at 2026 as a bounce back year after some re-tooling, or if it is already looking bleak due to the amount of arms that won’t even return from Tommy John until after the 2026 All-Star break.
Ahoy Matey, Pirates On The Horizon!
With the disappointing series sweep flushed and behind us and the deadline position of this team basically all set in stone, the crew tried to be positive and look at their next series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with some optimism and blind copium in thinking that the team having no expectations going forward of making the playoffs could lead to a 2024 Tiger situation (sellers at the deadline but got hot and snuck into October), but with Sunday’s matchup of Zac Gallen VS Paul Skenes as the announced starters, it’s starting to look like that is going to be the baseball version of “Hydrogen Bomb VS Coughing Baby” meme.