The Arizona Diamondbacks are down to the wire, and the issue staring them in the face is the same one that has kept them from pulling away in the National League Wild Card race: starting pitching. General manager Mike Hazen has already spelled out the front office’s priorities, calling a controllable starter and a left-handed bat his “1 and 1A” needs before Monday’s 3 p.m. MST deadline.
If Arizona is going to make one move that fits the moment, Reid Detmers looks like the call.
The Angels left-hander has become one of the more appealing names on the trade board this summer. After returning to the rotation following a year in the bullpen, Detmers has put up a 4.03 ERA in 22 starts.
He turned 27 in July and is making $2.6 million this season, with two more years of club control running through 2028. That combination of production, affordability and team control is exactly what a club like Arizona needs, especially with injuries thinning out the rotation and no appetite for a rental who could be gone by October.
Los Angeles has already begun the sell-off. Earlier in the week, the Angels sent Logan O'Hoppe and Chase Silseth to Texas.
Jose Soriano went to Toronto today. Detmers is expected to move before the deadline passes, and rival executives have linked the Cubs, Dodgers and White Sox to him as well.
But Arizona’s need is the most immediate, and this front office has already shown it’s willing to pay for rotation help, just as it did in last summer’s Merrill Kelly deal with Texas.
The good news for the Diamondbacks is that they have a path to get it done without touching their big-league core.
A workable framework would send left-handers Kohl Drake and Mitch Bratt to Los Angeles for Detmers. It’s the kind of deal that turns value already built up in the Merrill Kelly trade into something more useful right now.
Both Drake and Bratt have seen the majors this year. Bratt made his MLB debut in June and struck out three batters in three innings against St.
Louis. Drake, a 25-year-old lefty with a projectable 6-foot-5 frame, would give the Angels a controllable arm for their own rebuilding rotation, while Bratt brings another left-handed prospect who has already shown he can miss bats at the highest level.
For Arizona, the price is manageable. These are depth arms the club has not fully locked into rotation spots, and giving up two extra years of a proven big-league starter is a fair trade if the goal is to stay in the Wild Card hunt. Hazen has made it clear he’d rather land a controllable pitcher than a pure rental, and Detmers fits that ask cleanly while allowing the Diamondbacks to keep their MLB-ready core together.
For the Angels, the return also makes sense. Two lefties with big-league experience is the kind of package a selling team wants when it moves a player it’s already shopping. If Hazen wants to keep Arizona in the race, Drake and Bratt for Detmers is the last move that lines up.
In Other News...
Guardians Just Entered A Trade Deadline Path Fans Will Notice
The Marlins have started reshaping their deadline conversation in a way that should register around the league, with Miami now putting more focus on catcher Liam Hicks and first baseman/outfielder Kyle Stowers as the deadline nears. For clubs like the Diamondbacks, that matters because Stowers has quickly become the kind of controllable bat teams keep circling when theyre looking for impact without renting a player for just a few months.
Arizona has already been tied to the broader market for help, and Stowers fits the profile of a player who could command a meaningful return if Miami decides to move him by the August 3 deadline. He is under team control through 2029, which gives any suitor a lot to weigh beyond the immediate push, and it is exactly the sort of situation that can force a front office to decide how aggressively it wants to chase offense before the market tightens. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Suddenly Have A Trade Deadline Name Fans Need To Watch
With the trade deadline closing in, the Diamondbacks are still poking around for ways to tighten up a roster trying to stay in the postseason chase. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that Arizona has interest in adding pitching help and first-base support, with the front office weighing upgrades for both the bullpen and the rotation while also keeping an eye on a possible move at first.
One name that has surfaced is a Washington Nationals infielder, a reminder that Arizona is not limiting itself to one lane as August 3 approaches. The D-backs are looking for value wherever they can find it, and that kind of broad search often turns into the most interesting part of deadline season, especially when a club is trying to patch multiple holes at once. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Just Gave Diamondbacks Fans A Brutal NL West Reality Check
Tarik Skubals move from Detroit to the Dodgers is the kind of transaction that lands like a gut punch in the NL West, especially for Diamondbacks fans watching the division arms race from a distance. Any time Los Angeles adds another frontline player, it sharpens the same old question in Arizona: how much room is really left for the rest of the division when the Dodgers keep stacking talent?
For the Diamondbacks, the reaction has been less about one trade than about what it suggests for the months and years ahead. Fans have already been voicing concern about competitive balance and what this keeps doing to the shape of baseball in the West, with the Dodgers once again setting the bar the rest of the division has to chase. [Read more 🡒]