GM Hazen: Diamondbacks’ play will determine MLB trade deadline approach

More than a month and a half ahead of this year’s trade deadline, General Manager Mike Hazen sits in a sort of wait-and-see position with his Diamondbacks team. He would love to buy, but he needs his team to play well enough to justify that approach.

“The team is going to dictate how we’re kind of looking at things,” Hazen said Tuesday. “I want to win as many games as possible. I want to compete until the end of the season for a playoff spot.

“You know, we’re going to have to be mindful of where we stand in the world — in the division and what that might mean with the extra playoff spot. That’s great; it affords us more than it had in the past, especially with the way our division is shaking out. But I think it’s going to be a little bit before I can really give a firm answer on that.”

At 29-34, the Diamondbacks are playing far more competitively this year than they did during their miserable, 110-loss season last year. However, they are not clear-cut contenders, even with an extra playoff spot; they entered Tuesday 9 1/2 games back in the division and 6 1/2 games back of the third and final wild card.

To be clear, were the Diamondbacks to become buyers, it would not mean they would trade top prospects for rentals, Hazen said. He noted that he has never made a deadline deal that involved an elite prospect, with the exception of the July 2019 trade in which he sent infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the Miami Marlins for right-hander Zac Gallen in what was, more or less, a prospect-for-prospect type deal.

He believes an added benefit of playing meaningful games late into the year is in the experience it provides to his young players.

“Not just playing in pressure (situations), playing in winning environments,” Hazen said. He then referenced Monday night’s 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, saying, “As tough as losing games like last night are, playing in games like those every single night are critical. The conversations you have after those games center around the little things, the little lines between winning and losing. You’re not having those conversations last August and September to the same degree.”

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Hazen did not offer many specifics. He referenced a desire to find more balance among his position-player group, which is heavily left-handed, and acknowledged that the easiest path to that might be on the infield, though he said adding another right-handed-hitting outfielder remains a possibility.

In addition, if the Diamondbacks were to be buyers, the club could always look to add to the pitching staff, either in the bullpen or the rotation.

If they went the other way, they have a few notable veterans on expiring deals who could attract interest. Right-hander Ian Kennedy has logged a 3.42 ERA in 23 2/3 innings, working primarily as a setup man. Right-hander Zach Davies, who has a mutual option for next season, has pitched capably at the back of the rotation, posting a 4.21 ERA in 62 innings across 12 starts.

Outfielder David Peralta is another potential trade chip, both because of his contract status — he is in the final season of the three-year extension he signed prior to the 2020 season — and because of the construction of the roster.

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Peralta is surrounded by young, left-handed hitting outfielders, and the club has several more coming up in the minors behind him, most notably in top prospect Corbin Carroll. As such, moving Peralta could be justifiable in both buy and sell scenarios.

Hazen said trade discussions throughout the league are in their infancy, with most conversations still in the information-gathering stages. He said his group has touched base thus far with less than a third of teams, though he expects they will have spoken with most of the remaining 29 clubs by the end of next week.

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As it stands, their situation is reminiscent of 2019. That was the year the Diamondbacks hovered around the .500 mark for the first four months of the season. Hazen opted to wait as long as possible before determining his course of action, ultimately leaning more in the direction of a seller. Though he added pieces, he also shipped out right-hander Zack Greinke, then the club’s top starter.

Hazen said Tuesday that as he considers his options this year, he would keep in mind how well that club played after the deadline, going 31-22 in August and September.

“I still think we have some time,” Hazen said. “We need to keep the gas pedal down and try to play as good as we can to try to put ourselves in a certain situation.”

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: GM Hazen: D-Backs’ play will determine trade deadline approach