But not all
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The Diamondbacks are in a very interesting and highly fluid situation as they head towards the trade deadline. Coming out of the All-Star break, with two weeks to go, they seemed all but set to be sellers. But Arizona then swept one of the teams ahead of them, and looked really good in doing do, outscoring the Cardinals by a total of 22-7 across the three victories. They’re still tenth in the NL, and remain 4.5 games back of the last wild-card. But they may have at least put off a final pronouncement until after the next series or two.
Which is why I wonder if the results of this survey might be different now, than when it was taken last week? Fan sentiment is a fluid creature, and the team’s results might be reflected in them holding on to more players, in order to make a postseason push. On the other hand, the remarkable surge of Eugenio Suárez might make the team MORE willing to cash in on the seller’s market for his services. Who can say? But regardless, here are the actual results from last week’s survey!
Most people seem to think there will be a moderate path taken. Three-quarters of respondents think two or three of the Big Four (Suárez, Josh Naylor, Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen) will be dealt, meaning at least one will remain. The specifics of this will be a complex situation, depending on things like potential replacements, as well as what is offered by other teams for their services. The team will still have more than fifty games left to play, after all. Somebody has to pitch and hit in them!
However, there is a skew towards the “Everything must go!” camp. Fifteen percent of people said the entire quartet would be sold, compared to four percent who thought none of them would go, with another six percent believing just one player would be sold. For what it’s worth, the results work out at an average of 2.46 being sold at the trade deadline. I’m not sure how you manage to sell .46 of a player, but if anyone can manage it, I imagine Mike Hazen can! Here are some of the comments people made, explaining their responses:
- AZNailgal520: 2. I think Suárez is the best candidate to trade and possibly wait on Naylor, to offer him a QO.As far as pitching, I think Gallen is the sexier name to trade at the deadline rather than Kelly. We love Merrill, but not sure if other teams value him the same as we do.
- Dano_in_Tucson: 2. I don’t see either Kelly or Gallen moving—our pitching is so depleted at this point, with a whole lot of nuthin’ in terms of reinforcements waiting at AAA, I don’t see us selling from what we have left.
- Webb_Gemz: 3. Gallen I think will be the lone pitcher. Kelly could probably net a better return, but I’m not sure it’d be worth potentially hurting our chance to re-sign him by shipping him off when there’s other pieces to move.
- piratedan7: 4. the team takes it on the chin and attempts to restock and I would not be shocked if they went total retool and if there is enough interest in McCarthy, Thomas or even Gurriel… I wouldn’t be shocked to see Grichuk go either.
- BeTeaBaseball: I only question whether the return for Zac will be better than the QO draft pick but my vote was all 4. I think this will be a transformational period for the D-Backs, reloading several good, controllable players.
- DBacksEurope: Suarez is the easiest player to trade as he is a pure rental and plays a corner outfield spot where many teams can use an upgrade. I am sure one of Naylor, Kelly and Gallen will be gone too, hence my bet on 2. My bet is Naylor