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D-Backs GM Mike Hazen Talks Trade Deadline

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The Diamondbacks dropped this afternoon’s series finale against the White Sox, falling to 41-39. They’re 3.5 games back with four teams in front of them in a crowded NL Wild Card picture. As Darragh McDonald and I discussed on this week’s MLBTR podcast, Arizona is one of the most interesting bubble teams five weeks from the deadline. They’re still in the race but have been battered by injuries, leaving them shorthanded as they enter a pivotal stretch of the season.

General manager Mike Hazen spoke with ESPN’s Jesse Rogers on Tuesday and said he has started to receive calls from opposing clubs gauging their interest in selling. Hazen jokingly likened the rival executives to sharks circling but noted that the D-Backs aren’t interested in dealing away talent at this point.

“We have good players, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to play good baseball and stay in this and then get those guys back and maybe be able to add on at the deadline,” the GM said, referencing the recent injured list placements to right fielder Corbin Carroll and catcher Gabriel Moreno. Arizona has also recently lost Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk, but none of them will be back this season. Hazen acknowledged there may eventually be “a critical mass of injuries” that forces them to reconsider but added he “still (thinks they) have every opportunity to be competitive.”

It’s what should be expected from a bubble team’s GM this far out. It’d be far more surprising if the D-Backs were already open for business. They’ll know more in a month about their place in the standings and on the statuses of Carroll (wrist fracture) and Moreno (broken index finger). Hazen conceded, however, that playoff spots will be tough to come by in a National League that has ten teams that are above .500 at the moment.

If they’re still within a few games of a playoff spot in July, they’ll be motivated to buy. The D-Backs narrowly missed the postseason a year ago. Ownership subsequently approved a franchise-record payroll to support an excellent lineup. Their pitching plans have largely been decimated by injuries and/or underperformance from their free agent acquisitions. That has kept them around .500 despite an offense that trails only the Dodgers and Cubs in runs — one year after they led MLB in scoring.

The ideal outcome is that the team plays well enough that the front office can add to the pitching staff, especially in the bullpen. If things go in the opposite direction over the next month, they’d have no shortage of veteran players to shop. Josh Naylor, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eugenio Suárez, Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks are all impending free agents. Gallen seems unlikely to re-sign, and it’s tough to see the Diamondbacks retaining both Naylor and Suárez while again blocking Jordan Lawlar’s path to infield at-bats. The D-Backs could consider a qualifying offer for any of the first four players, though it’s unlikely they’d QO all four since there’d be an argument for each of them to accept.

Naylor and Suárez have been middle-of-the-order run producers and would be among the top rental bats if the D-Backs made them available. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote this morning that the Yankees have shown some early interest in Suárez with a likely infield need. Acquiring a third baseman would free them to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to second base and move DJ LeMahieu to a utility role. Suárez is currently day-to-day after being hit by a pitch on Monday. He sat out the final two games of the Chicago series.

Gallen has had a poor season but has the pedigree to attract attention. The 36-year-old Kelly is churning out another low-3.00s ERA season while striking out a quarter of opponents. Miller, who is playing for barely more than the league minimum after signing an offseason minor league contract, would be a top bullpen target. He’s carrying a sub-2.00 ERA with a 27% strikeout rate while pitching his way into the ninth inning. Beeks has pitched well in a setup capacity and would be a target for teams seeking left-handed relief.

Corbin Carroll Placed On IL With Wrist Fracture

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June 24: The Diamondbacks officially placed Carroll on the IL, retroactive to June 21st, and recalled McCarthy today.

June 23: Corbin Carroll has been diagnosed with a “chip fracture” in his left wrist, manager Torey Lovullo told D-Backs’ postgame host Todd Walsh (h/t to Jody Jackson). It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action or whether there’s any consideration of surgery. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic had reported shortly before Lovullo’s announcement that the D-Backs would place Carroll on the injured list tomorrow. According to Piecoro, Jake McCarthy will be recalled from Triple-A Reno to take his spot on the roster.

It’s the latest hit to an Arizona team that has been battered by injuries. In this month alone, they’ve lost Corbin Burnes and top relievers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez to season-ending elbow surgeries. Starting catcher Gabriel Moreno went down with a broken index finger last week. They’ll now be without one of their top two hitters for what seems likely to be at least a few weeks.

Carroll was injured during last Wednesday’s loss to the Blue Jays. Toronto reliever Justin Bruihl hit him on the left wrist with a 91 MPH sinker. The D-Backs lifted him for a defensive replacement in the following half-inning. Carroll hasn’t played since and wasn’t recovering as well as hoped. The Snakes sent him for an MRI that revealed the bone break. It’s unfortunately similar to the situation that played out with Moreno, who initially continued to play after a first round of x-rays didn’t catch the hairline fracture in his finger.

The 24-year-old Carroll has had a fantastic season, hitting .255/.341/.573 with 20 homers in 72 games. He got out to a blistering start, cooled a bit in May, and had rebounded to reel off nine extra-base hits in 13 games this month. Carroll has been a fixture in the top two spots in Lovullo’s batting order all season. They’ve bumped Geraldo Perdomo to the leadoff spot, at least against right-handed pitching, in his absence. Randal Grichuk has drawn into the lineup as the right fielder.

Grichuk is a solid role player but obviously isn’t going to come close to replacing Carroll’s production. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Diamondbacks still have a strong nucleus. A lineup including Ketel Marte, Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Perdomo should remain capable of scoring runs. They need an elite offense to compensate for the struggles of the injury-riddled pitching staff, though, and that’s much more difficult without Carroll at the top.

Arizona bludgeoned the White Sox for a 10-0 victory tonight. That brought them to 40-38 on the season. They’re in fourth place in the NL West but are just 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot. Few teams have more at stake over the next five weeks as they hope to remain in position to add at the deadline.

NL West Notes: Carroll, Glasnow, Garcia, Freeland, Black

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Corbin Carroll has missed the Diamondbacks’ last four games due to a sore left hand, after the outfielder was hit by a pitch in Wednesday’s 8-1 loss to the Blue Jays.  X-rays were negative and manager Torey Lovullo indicated today that Carroll’s hand was improving to some extent, but the skipper told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and other media that Carroll would undergo an MRI as an extra precaution.  “Just because it’s not progressing as quickly as we wanted it to, and because of what we’ve just gone through with [Gabriel Moreno] and several of the injuries that we’ve been taking on, we want to definitely get a baseline,” Lovullo said.

In Moreno’s case, what apparently seemed like a minor hand injury ended up leading to a much longer expected absence, as a second MRI revealed a hairline fracture in the catcher’s right index figure.  Such an outcome for Carroll would be devastating, as the young star has bounced back from a fairly ordinary 2024 campaign to hit .255/.341/.573 with 20 home runs in his first 323 plate appearances of 2025.  Only 12 players in baseball have a higher wRC+ than Carroll’s 148, so naturally even losing him for a few days has been a hit to Arizona’s lineup.  Losing Carroll to a more serious hand issue might well change the trajectory of the Diamondbacks’ season, as it would make it even harder for the Snakes to make up ground in both the crowded NL West or in the NL wild card picture.

More from around the NL West…

  • Tyler Glasnow and Luis Garcia each began minor league rehab assignments today, with Glasnow tossing two innings for the Dodgers’ Triple-A Oklahoma City and Garcia throwing an inning with the Dodgers’ A-ball affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga.  Glasnow has been on the injured list (first the 15-day and then the 60-day) since late April due to shoulder inflammation, and is expected to make at least three rehab outings before a potential return to the Los Angeles rotation.  Garcia has been out since late May due to an adductor strain and probably won’t need as much of a build-up to return to his bullpen role, so a return before the end of June seems possible.
  • Kyle Freeland is hoping to return from the 15-day IL when first eligible on Friday, the Rockies left-hander told MLB.com’s Thomas Harding and other reporters.  Lower back stiffness led to Freeland’s IL placement, but he said “everything felt great” after a 50-pitch bullpen session today.  The plan is for a shorter bullpen session on Tuesday as the final step in an abbreviated recovery process, and the extended 50-pitch outing today was meant to get Freeland into something of a simulated game environment without the need for any rehab starts.
  • Sticking with the Rockies, another quick return of a more unusual fashion may be occurring if Bud Black rejoins the organization.  Fired as Colorado’s manager on May 11, “Black is a strong candidate to rejoin the Rockies as a pitching director or special assistant,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.  While some managers are occasionally re-assigned to a new role within an organization in lieu of being altogether axed, such shuffling usually happens at the time of a managerial change, not a little over a month afterwards.  Black managed the Rockies to a 544-690 record over eight-plus seasons, as playoff appearances in 2017-18 gave way to six straight losing seasons, plus Colorado’s current 18-60 record under Black and interim manager Warren Schaeffer.

Diamondbacks Sign James McCann

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The Diamondbacks have signed James McCann to a Major League contract, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.  McCann’s MLB.com profile page indicated earlier today (hat tip to the Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka) that the catcher had been released from his minor league deal with the Braves in order to facilitate the move to Arizona.  McCann is represented by the Ballengee Group.

As Rosenthal reported earlier this month, McCann’s Atlanta contract contained a rolling opt-out clause that would trigger if another team offered the catcher a guaranteed deal.  The Braves could then either keep McCann by selecting his contract to their active roster, or release him to his next opportunity.  Since Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin are both receiving regular playing time as Atlanta’s catching combo and both Sandy Leon and Jason Delay are providing further depth at Triple-A, it didn’t seem like McCann was going to get much of a shot in Atlanta, despite a .297/.331/.493 slash line in 160 plate appearances in Gwinnett.

However, Gabriel Moreno’s recent finger fracture suddenly left the D’Backs with a need for experienced catching help.  Moreno is expected to be on the injured list for “weeks, not days” in the words of manager Torey Lovullo, leaving Jose Herrera, Aramis Garcia and Triple-A depth options Adrian Del Castillo and Rene Pinto as the makeshift catching corps.  This group combined has far less MLB experience than McCann’s 11 seasons and 917 games in the Show, and the 35-year-old McCann will now slide right into at least a part-time role in the Diamondbacks lineup.

McCann’s big league career was highlighted by two big seasons with the White Sox in 2019-20, which included an All-Star selection in 2019.  His overall career slash line is a modest .241/.293/.380 over 3307 plate appearances, as McCann has only shown brief flashes of the offensive form he showed in Chicago.  McCann spent the last two seasons as Adley Rutschman’s backup with the Orioles, helping out as a veteran mentor for the up-and-coming star and with the Baltimore pitching staff.  The advanced metrics haven’t thought much of McCann’s blocking and framing work, though he is well-regarded for his ability to work with pitchers.

The signing is a fairly low-risk move for a D’Backs team that is hanging in with a 39-38 record, despite a swath of injuries and under-performance from the Arizona pitchers.  The Diamondbacks’ impressive offense is helping keep the team afloat, and McCann’s veteran presence might help coax some slightly more respectable results out of an increasingly makeshift rotation and bullpen.

A.J. Puk Undergoes Elbow Surgery; Gabriel Moreno Diagnosed With Fractured Finger

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June 21: MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert reports that A.J. Puk underwent internal brace surgery and not a Tommy John procedure. Tommy Henry, however, will require Tommy John. Gilbert adds that Justin Martinez, another D-backs pitcher in need of Tommy John surgery, will have his operation performed next week.

June 20: Diamondbacks reliever A.J. Puk underwent elbow surgery today, manager Torey Lovullo tells the Burns & Gambo show. Puk had visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache after experiencing recurring soreness as he tried to work back from a flexor strain. Lovullo didn’t have specific details as to whether he required a full Tommy John ligament replacement or some kind of modified internal brace procedure. Puk’s season is over in either case. He’s likely to miss most or all of 2026 as well.

Additionally, the manager told Burns & Gambo that catcher Gabriel Moreno has a hairline fracture in his right index finger. The D-Backs placed Moreno on the 10-day injured list yesterday but had initially called it a hand contusion. He has evidently been playing through an undiagnosed fracture for some time. A return timetable is unclear but will be measured in “weeks, not days.” Topping it all off, Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports that left-hander Tommy Henry is also headed for season-ending elbow surgery.

The news on Puk is terrible but unsurprising. He has been plagued by elbow issues for the past two months. He’d undergone Tommy John surgery once before in his career. The 6’7″ southpaw required the procedure in 2018 when he was a member of the A’s farm system. He missed that season and was limited to 28 combined appearances between the minors and MLB the following year.

Acquired from the Marlins at the 2024 deadline, Puk has been one of the most dominant relievers in the sport since getting to Arizona. He recorded 43 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings after the trade last summer, working to a 1.32 ERA in the process. He had fanned 12 more hitters against two walks while collecting four saves in his first eight appearances this year. Aside from a terrible stint in Miami’s rotation early last season, he has been generally excellent since the A’s traded him to Miami over the 2022-23 offseason.

Depending on the nature of the surgery, there’s a decent chance this will end his time with the D-Backs. Puk has over five years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the final time next offseason. He’d earn only a modest raise on this year’s $2.95MM salary, but a full ligament repair would make him a non-tender candidate. Players usually require 14-plus months to return from Tommy John surgery, and that would be Puk’s second such procedure. He’s likely to be out through next year’s All-Star Break even if he “only” needed the internal brace procedure, though the D-Backs would happily retain Puk for around $3MM if they felt they could get half the season from him.

The news on Puk comes a week after the news that Justin Martinez, the team’s other top reliever, also needs to go under the knife. Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery have been Tommy John victims in the rotation. It’s difficult for any team to weather that kind of injury luck. Arizona has hovered around .500 despite having an elite offense because of their issues on the mound.

They’ll lose Moreno from that lineup for what seems like a decent chunk of time. There’s a significant drop off to light-hitting backup Jose Herrera. The Snakes selected Aramis Garcia to work off the bench behind Herrera. Adrian Del Castillo is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. He’s a far better hitter than either Herrera or Garcia but isn’t regarded as a great defender. Del Castillo won’t be an option in the immediate future regardless, as he landed on the Triple-A injured list today with what is expected to be a minor back injury. Moreno will be the clear starting catcher once he’s healthy, but his injury could lead the Snakes to pursue a veteran #2 who can provide more punch than Herrera offers.

Henry, 27, is a former second-round pick who has a 5.07 ERA over 37 career appearances. He has an ERA above 8.00 over 11 starts in Triple-A Reno this year. This is his final minor league option season and he seems unlikely to stick on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason. His elbow injury occurred in Triple-A, so he’s on the minor league injured list. He’ll continue to count against the 40-man for now. The D-Backs may place him on the MLB 60-day IL or simply decide to release him (which would save them a bit of money relative to putting him on the MLB injured list) once they need another roster spot.

Diamondbacks Sign Trevor Richards To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks have signed right-hander Trevor Richards to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Reno alongside lefty Anthony Gose, per the southpaw’s tracker. It was reported earlier this week that the Snakes would be signing Gose but it wasn’t clear if it was a major or minor league deal.

Richards, 32, has had some major league success but has been in poor form for about a year now. The Blue Jays dealt him to the Twins at last year’s deadline but Richards lasted only 13 innings with Minnesota before being outrighted off the roster. In that time, he walked 11 opponents, a rate of 18.6% of batters faced. He also hit two other batters and issued seven wild pitches.

Here in 2025, he has signed minor league deals with the Cubs and Royals, getting a brief look in the majors with the latter club. He has thrown 19 1/3 minor league innings this year with a 4.19 earned run average, 25.6% strikeout rate and 13.6% walk rate. In his quick major league stint with Kansas City, he allowed four earned runs in three innings.

Prior to those struggles, he had a good run in the big leagues. He tossed 201 innings over the 2021-23 seasons with a 4.61 ERA, 31.3% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate. He earned one save and 25 holds in that time.

The Arizona bullpen has taken a few punches this season. The relief group was supposed to be anchored by A.J. Puk and Justin Martínez but both are currently out of commission. Martínez recently required Tommy John surgery and will be out for the year. Puk is on the IL with a flexor strain and was recently shut down due to some renewed discomfort. In addition to those two, Kendall Graveman and Christian Montes De Oca are also on the IL.

Amid those injuries, the club’s bullpen numbers are unsurprisingly poor. Arizona relievers have a collective 5.39 ERA, which puts them ahead of only the Nationals and Athletics. If they stay in the playoff race, adding relievers will surely be a deadline focus. For now, they’ll take chances on guys like Richards and Gose while hoping for the best.

Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images

D-backs Place Gabriel Moreno On Injured List, Select Aramis Garcia

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The Diamondbacks announced Thursday that they’ve placed catcher Gabriel Moreno on the 10-day injured list due to a right hand contusion (retroactive to June 16) and selected the contract of fellow catcher Aramis Garcia from Triple-A Reno. Righty Christian Montes De Oca was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Garcia, who returns just nine days after being outrighted off the 40-man roster.

Moreno originally hurt his hand while trying to block a wild pitch earlier this month. He’s played just three games in 12 days since taking that errant pitch off his hand. Arizona was clearly hoping to avoid an IL stint, but things have reached a point where they’ll sit him down for the next week and get another catching option on the roster to complement Jose Herrera.

The 25-year-old Moreno is enjoying another solid all-around year. The former top prospect’s .270/.324/.414 batting line isn’t elite but is firmly above league average (106 wRC+). That’s big production from any catcher, a position that is regularly manned by below-average hitters, but it’s especially nice for a player with Moreno’s elite defensive grades. He draws plus marks for his framing, blocking and throwing alike. Since 2023, he ranks as the game’s third-best defender behind the plate, by measure of the Defensive Runs Saved metric, and the seventh-best in MLB according to Statcast. Because Moreno’s IL stint is backdated three days (the maximum allowed under MLB rules), he’ll be eligible to return a week from now.

As for Garcia, he’s a 32-year-old journeyman who was briefly up with the Snakes in the wake of the original injury to Moreno. He only appeared in one game, however, and didn’t take a plate appearance before being designated for assignment and passed through waivers. He’s played in parts of six big league seasons and carries a career .211/.248/.325 line in 327 trips to the plate during that time. He currently sports a .250/.399/.524 line in 38 Triple-A games and is a career .235/.306/.430 hitter in parts of seven seasons at that level.

Presumably, Garcia will see a bit more game action this time around. Herrera, who’ll serve as the primary catcher with Moreno down, has played eight games in 12 days since Moreno was originally banged up. It’s a heavy workload for any catcher but particularly a glove-first backup who’s hitting .171/.284/.244. Herrera is up to 101 plate appearances this year — already just 23 shy of his career-high in the majors, where he’s a lifetime .199/.279/.256 hitter.

The 60-day IL move for Montes De Oca was an inevitability. The 25-year-old righty landed on the injured list earlier this month due to elbow inflammation, but the D-backs announced five days ago that he was headed for surgery to repair a stress fracture in his lower back. That surgery was likely to take him out for most or all of the remaining season anyhow — a miserable turn of events for a young hurler who’d tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in his MLB debut just days prior to landing on the injured list.

D-backs To Sign Anthony Gose

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The Diamondbacks have agreed to a deal with lefty reliever Anthony Gose, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Gose has spent the season thus far with the Mets organization, but the MiLB transaction log reflects that he was quietly released yesterday. Whether that was an opt-out clause, an upward mobility clause or a straight release remains to be seen, but Gose is headed to a new organization. If it’s a big league deal, the Diamondbacks will need to make a corresponding move, as their 40-man roster is currently at capacity. The team has not yet formally announced the signing.

Gose, 34, began his career as an outfielder back in 2008, when the Phillies selected him in the second round of the draft. He quickly became one of the game’s top prospects and wound up seeing action in parts of five major league seasons as an outfielder — all between the Blue Jays and Tigers. Gose’s career looked to have stalled out, but the former two-way star in high school reinvented himself as a relief pitcher back in 2017-19 and has now pitched in parts of three MLB seasons — all with Cleveland.

Gose made his major league debut as a full-time pitcher in 2021 and has now pitched 32 MLB frames with a 4.78 ERA, a 29.7% strikeout rate and a 12.3% walk rate. Injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery, have limited his time on the mound and impacted him when healthy. He’s also missed time with a triceps strain, a calf strain and shoulder soreness since moving to the mound.

Between those injuries and the fact that he’s now approaching his 35th birthday, perhaps it shouldn’t be all that surprising that Gose’s heater has lost some life. When he first moved to the mound, he was brandishing a blazing four-seamer that averaged better than 99 mph and reached triple digits at times. He sat 95.7 mph in both Triple-A and the big leagues last year, and he’s dipped further to an average of 94.6 mph in 2025.

Gose has pitched 23 innings with the Mets’ affiliate in Syracuse and logged a 4.30 ERA, 24.5% strikeout rate, 13.7% walk rate and 30.6% ground-ball rate. He started the season pitching quite well, yielding a 3.31 ERA through his first 16 1/3 innings, but he’s been hit hard over the past few weeks; dating back to May 17, Gose pitched in six games and was rocked for seven runs (five earned) on nine hits and three walks with seven strikeouts.

The D-backs are starved for arms, having recently lost Justin Martinez to Tommy John surgery, Christian Montes De Oca to back surgery and Kendall Graveman to a hip injury. Lefty A.J. Puk has been out since early April due to elbow troubles. Over in the rotation, Corbin Burnes recently suffered a UCL tear that necessitated Tommy John surgery as well. The D-backs have added righties Anthony DeSclafani and Tayler Scott in recent weeks, and Gose will now add another left-handed option to the depth chart.

Diamondbacks Sign Anthony DeSclafani To Major League Contract

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TODAY: The D’Backs announced that DeSclafani signed a big league deal, and he has been added to the active roster.  To create roster space, right-hander Bryce Jarvis was optioned to Triple-A and Justin Martinez (who will miss the rest of the season due to UCL surgery) was shifted from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL.

JUNE 12: Right-hander Anthony DeSclafani has opted out of his minor league deal with the Yankees and is joining the Diamondbacks, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. It’s unclear if he’ll be signing a major or minor league deal with Arizona.

DeSclafani, 35, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees about a month ago. He has since made five starts at the Triple-A level, allowing 4.50 earned runs per nine in his 20 innings. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 10% clip and getting grounders on 42.4% of balls in play. All those rates are fairly close to typical big league averages.

It’s a small sample of work but DeSclafani has a lengthy major league track record. The larger question in recent years has been health, or the lack thereof. From 2015 to 2021, he posted a 3.97 ERA over 791 major league innings. That was enough to get him a three-year, $36MM deal from the Giants going into 2022.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to provide much return on that investment. Right ankle inflammation hobbled him throughout 2022, limiting him to five starts with a 6.63 ERA. In 2023, he logged 99 2/3 innings with a 4.88 ERA but didn’t pitch after July due to a right elbow flexor strain. He was traded to the Mariners and then the Twins ahead of the 2024 season but required season-ending flexor tendon surgery in March.

DeSclafani is now almost two years removed from his most recent major league game but appears to be healthy now. He has averaged 92.5 miles per hour on his fastball so far this year. That’s a bit down from a few years ago, as he averaged between 93 and 95 mph during his best years, but he might still be ramping up after a lengthy layoff.

Unsurprisingly, the Yankees didn’t have a fit for him at the big league level. Despite several injuries, their rotation is in decent shape. They have Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Will Warren and Ryan Yarbrough. They could get Marcus Stroman and JT Brubaker back soon, as both are on rehab assignments. Luis Gil is tossing bullpens and could be on his own rehab assignment in the coming weeks.

The Diamondbacks have a shakier rotation. They recently lost Corbin Burnes to Tommy John surgery. Jordan Montgomery has been out all year due to that same procedure. That leaves them with Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodríguez and Ryne Nelson. Kelly has been good but he’s the exception. Each of Gallen, Pfaadt and Rodríguez has an ERA north of 5.00. Rodríguez also just returned from an IL stint for shoulder inflammation. Nelson’s ERA is at 4.60 but he’s largely been in a long relief role this year. He just returned to the rotation in the wake of the Burnes injury but allowed seven runs in three innings against the Reds on Saturday. Potential replacements like Cristian Mena and Blake Walston are also on the shelf.

In short, DeSclafani has a far better chance to returning to the big leagues with the Snakes than with the Yanks, so this is a sensible move for him. If he is jumping right into the big leagues, the Diamondbacks would need to make corresponding moves to get him onto the active and 40-man rosters. If it’s a minor league deal, he’ll presumably report to Triple-A Reno to continue ramping up there.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images.

D-Backs Sign Matt Foster To Minor League Deal

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The Diamondbacks signed reliever Matt Foster to a minor league contract. The move was announced by their Triple-A club in Reno.

Foster, 30, had been pitching for the Algodoneros del Unión Laguna in Mexico for the past month and a half. He thrived in that extremely hitter-friendly setting, allowing only two runs (one earned) through 13 2/3 innings. The righty punched out 13 and didn’t walk any of the 51 batters he faced. It didn’t take long with that kind of production for the Alabama product to find his way back to affiliated ball.

The D-Backs are only the second MLB organization of Foster’s career. He was drafted by the White Sox in 2016 and pitched parts of four seasons for Chicago. Foster’s best season came in 2020, when he turned in a 2.20 ERA while striking out 28% of opponents across 28 2/3 innings. His production tailed off between 2021-22 and he underwent Tommy John surgery early in 2023. Foster missed the entire season and only managed 6 2/3 big league frames late last year. Those came with a 91.9 MPH average fastball velocity that was down two ticks from where he’d been sitting before the surgery.

Arizona’s bullpen has been decimated by injury. Justin Martinez, Cristian Mena, A.J. Puk, Kendall Graveman and Christian Montes De Oca are all on the shelf. Martinez and Montes De Oca have undergone surgeries, and Mena is out for multiple months. Puk was recently shut back down from throwing and is headed for further evaluation due to lingering soreness as he rehabs a flexor strain.

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