Prior to yesterday’s 6-5 loss to the Angels, the Diamondbacks placed left-hander Jalen Beeks on the 15-day injured list due to lower back inflammation, with a retroactive placement date of July 8. Right-hander Kendall Graveman was activated from the 15-day IL in the corresponding move.
It doesn’t appear as Beeks’ injury is overly serious, as manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro) that the hope is that Beeks will miss just the minimum 15 days, with the retroactive time and the All-Star break factoring into that number. This means Beeks should be able to return in plenty of time before the July 31st trade deadline, which is perhaps noteworthy if the 46-49 Diamondbacks end up being sellers.
Beeks is just a couple of days removed from his 32nd birthday, and he has a 4.39 ERA, 51.8% grounder rate, 22.9% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate over 41 relief innings this season. While the K% and BB% numbers aren’t anything special, Statcast has liked Beeks’ work on the whole, and his ability to induce soft contact and keep the ball on the ground have helped the southpaw deliver some respectable numbers. Beeks’ numbers are somewhat inflated by two nightmarish outings against in the Marlins in late June, which accounted for eight of the 20 earned runs he has allowed all year.
Should Arizona indeed decide to sell, Beeks is a natural trade chip as an impending free agent, and plenty of clubs should have interest in an inexpensive veteran lefty. The D’Backs signed Beeks to a one-year, $1.25MM deal just before Opening Day, after Beeks was released at the end of spring camp from a previous minor league deal with the Astros.
An IL stint this relatively close to the deadline could throw a wrench into Beeks’ trade candidacy, as he has now joined the long list of Diamondbacks pitchers sidelined by injuries. Graveman has been on the IL twice this season, first due to a lumbar strain and then this latest placement due to a hip impingement that cost him a little over a month of action. These two IL stints have limited Graveman to just 10 appearances and 9 1/3 innings this season. Graveman’s ERA is 8.68, though one six-run implosion against the Reds on June 7 is largely responsible for Graveman’s ungainly bottom-line statistics.
The D’Backs have faced such a swath of pitching injuries that it may impact their deadline plans as either buyers or sellers. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are both impending free agents and oft-cited trade candidates, yet according to the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Diamondbacks “are unlikely” to move both starters at the deadline for the simple reason that the club still needs to fill innings for the remainder of the year. The Snakes have already seen their starter depth depleted by Tommy John surgeries to Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, and Blake Walston, while Tommy Henry underwent an internal brace procedure in late June. A shoulder strain has also sidelined Cristian Mena until at least the second week of August, as per his timeline on the 60-day IL.
Gallen is in the last few months of his final arbitration-eligible season, while Kelly is in the last year of what has now become a three-year, $24MM contract when Arizona made the easy call to exercise its $7MM club option on the right-hander last November. Kelly has been the significantly better of the two pitchers this season with 2.0 fWAR to Gallen’s 0.1 fWAR, though Gallen is perceived to have the higher upside as a former front-of-the-rotation type. The Diamondbacks figure to receive plenty of offers for both pitchers prior to July 31, so the decision of who stays and who goes will just come down to which offer the Snakes prefer.
In another injury update, Lovullo said Shelby Miller will be visiting Dr. Keith Meister to get a second opinion about the forearm strain that sent Miller to the 15-day IL earlier this week. Lovullo said that surgery may well be an option for the reliever, but Miller is also still considering treatments that would allow him to return to action at some point in 2025.
At the very least, it certainly doesn’t seem like Miller will be able to return before the deadline, which reduces or (more realistically) wipes out his trade value. This injury has cast a pall over what had been an outstanding season for Miller, a minor league signing who has delivered a 1.98 ERA over 36 1/3 bullpen innings for Arizona.
Not moving Kelly because you need to “fill innings” makes no sense. If you think you are done who cares about those innings call up some guy from AAA and get what you can for Kelly. This is a Sellers market for pitching.
Or sign a washed-up vet like Dallas Keuchel or Zack Greinke to eat the innings.
Came here to say this. Sign some has been if you don’t want to expose AAA guys. Greinke would even sell a few tickets!
There’s almost certainly going to be a slew of DFA options to pick up as well around the trade deadline. It would be poor asset management for that to be the reason not to trade him.
Snakebit….
With top SP depth options Montgomery, Walston, Henry and Mena unavailable, the Dbacks don’t have much ready to go in Reno. Assuming he’s healthy, I’m guessing Diaz is next man up. I don’t know much about Lin or others in Reno’s rotation.
This can be one of the best opportunities for the D”Backs to trade Gallen and Kelly and restock the pitching for the future. And who is to say they will not re-sign Kelly and or Gallen as Free Agent this off season.
Not sure when the Diamondbacks became run by the Colorado Rockies, but it seems like ownership and GM is consulting with the Monforts on how to run a franchise.
Keep in mind, the comment that the Dbacks are unlikely to trade both Gallen and Kelly came from Ken Rosenthal, not Mike Hazen. Also, Rosenthal says “both” pitchers, suggesting one may be traded. Imo, and assuming they’re sellers, Gallen gets traded and Kelly is retained and re-signed this off-season. Disco replaces Gallen with Diaz next man up in Reno.
My best guess is this too assuming they sell. Or, they trade Kelly and offer Gallen a QO which he probably rejects and Dbacks get a draft pick.
I can really see the D’Backs trading Gallen, Kelly, Suarez, Naylor, plus whatever you can get for Beeks. It would not surprise me though if Hazen had offers for Gurriel too.. The D’Backs will still have Perdomo, Carroll, Marte, Moreno. So, the reload by Hazen will depend on what talent he gets for these players, who is not to say they will not resign one or two of these players this off season. Can’t wait to see the competition for these players when it comes to other teams on what they offer, I have a feeling they won’t be let go for just anything, Hazen will have his list of players and prospects he wants, just hoping he don’t just settle for what these teams want to give him, that he sticks to his wants. When you have 3 and 4 teams wanting the same player, usually the price is high in return, just how bad to these teams want a Suarez, Gallen, Kelly, or Naylor. This upcoming trade deadline can make the D’Backs for the next few seasons.
What can you get for quality rentals like Suarez, Naylor, Gallen and Kelly these days? Anyone know of comparable trades at last years deadline to serve as a reference point? Might the Dbacks go for quality over quantity by packaging a couple of guys like Suarez and Gallen?
Kikuchi might be a good comparison for Gallen or Kelly. The Astros sent back RHP Jake Bloss, the Astros No. 9 prospect as ranked by MLB Pipeline, INF/OF Will Wagner (No. 13) and INF/OF Joey Loperfido
2023 a similar trade
Orioles acquire RHP Jack Flaherty from Cardinals for INF César Prieto, LHP Drew Rom and RHP Zack Showalter
Not seeing any rental hitters up to the quality of Naylor or Suarez in the last two years
The price for Suarez alone is going to be much higher than a normal rental 3b. Why the Yankees, tigers and cubs biggest need or one of their biggest needs is 3b. Usually the top bat on the market is a position where it doesn’t fit on the top teams. I don’t think the Yankees necessarily match up with what the dbacks need but the cubs or tigers might.
Arizona might come out of this deadline the biggest winners if braves hold and twins.
Sell and find a decent manager and pitching coach
Lovullo is a terrible manager. He just wants to be buddies with all the players. I am tired of hearing him say “they are grinding away” or I left the pitcher in because I wanted to give him confidence. Another huge joke this year is the pitching coach who is nothing more than an athletic trainer. Time to revamp the coaches and get rid of the overpriced or under performing and the free agents. Keep Kelly, dump Gallen, Suarez, Gurriel, Thomas.
Fans of other teams who post here about the Dbacks desperately hope the Dbacks trade all 4. But I highly doubt that will happen. I predict only Naylor for sure and Suarez maybe. Both would go to contenders, so the return will be prospects.
I don’t expect the Dbacks will trade any pitchers. I do expect the Dbacks with trade prospects to non-contenders this year to get high leverage relievers.
Having predicted that, my caveat is that if they continue to lose going into the trade deadline, then anybody could be traded. I just don’t expect a total collapse.
Do you think Thomas or McCarthy could be traded for prospects or high leverage RPs?
Angels
Yes, OF is the one position of replaceable depth on the team. So if the Dbacks go after a closer from a non-contending team, I think it highly likely that 1 of them would be included in the package.
I feel like fans are equally divided on Thomas vs McCarthy. Personally, i prefer McCarthy. He may be a tick below Thomas defensively, but i believe he has more offensive upside.
Nobody wants any of the DBacks minor leaguers. There’s obv interest in Suarez and the 2 SPs but don’t think for a minute any of them will bring in a haul because they are all 35% of season left rentals
If Shelby Miller needs surgery he just needs to go ahead and retire because there is no way he can regain the strength in his arm again
Alek Thomas should be traded to sweeten any deal. I will never understand why the Dbacks think he is so great. Watch him dance and back off in the batters box all the time. Also, Gurriel is waaay overpaid for what they are getting.
With all the articles that have been printed on this site, it sounds like there are at least 6 teams that would want Suarez, Yankees, Mets, Detroit, Seattle, Cubs, and Philadelphia. Naylor has interest from at least Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Gallen and Kelly should be hot commodities for any GM playoff bound team before the trade deadline, GM’s are always quoted as saying they are looking for started pitching. So, unless MLB trade rumors are just making articles up to get people to read them, I guess you have to take it at least face value that there is a lot of interest in what the D’Backs have.
I’d add Toronto to that list of teams who would probably be interested in Suarez. We could really use some right handed power in the middle of the lineup
Blockbuster with Red Sox coming:
Sox get:
Gallen
Kelly
Naylor
DBacks get:
Duran
Yoshida
Garcia (OF Prospect)
Early (LHP Prospect)
The D’Backs are saying they want ML ready pitching prospects on their radio station today. Outfield prospects they have a lot of that they really like.