Arizona Diamondbacks president talks MLB trade deadline moves, expectations

Arizona Diamondbacks president talks MLB trade deadline moves, expectations

[Music] Every week we talk to the president and CEO of the Diamondbacks, Derek Hall. He joins us right now on the Arizona sports line. Derek, good morning to you, sir. Derek, good morning, guys. It’s just another ordinary off day, right? Another ordinary off day on a Thursday. Uh, actually, we know that’s not the case. Uh, we appreciate, again, last week you were very open and honest with the direction of this franchise, what could happen, kind of setting the wheels in motion. We’ve seen some trades. the uh Gino Suarez trade just became official, but could you sum up just kind of the the reality of the emotions that go into a day like this because it is so disappointing? Oh. Oh, yeah. It is disappointing and and you know we we put ourselves in this position unfortunately and we could talk about it all day how we got here but uh you know the real realistic situation is we are here and like we said last week as a team and there are several teams and markets similar to ours that had high expectations that are doing the same thing today and and they’re having these conversations on radio as well. Um you know the the reality is when you are where we are you really do have to go back out into the market and be sellers. It doesn’t make any sense if if you look in the mirror and you ask yourselves if you really have a legitimate chance to make the postseason. Do we still have a chance? Absolutely. Can we turn things around? Sure. But does that mean that you hold on to expiring contracts in hopes of that to win you know a handful more games or or you know then you’re at the end of the season you’re you’re holding the bag and you’re thinking uhoh we didn’t get anything for for these guys and we probably should have. That’s where the responsibility comes into into all of this. But like I said last week too, you know, we we had to curb those expectations of what you’re going to get in return. I think every team would love to say, “Hey, they’ve got, you know, a former rookie of the year or they’ve got a guy that was an all-star this year.” Well, those teams that are collecting these expiring rentals are not looking to move their big chess pieces. They’re looking to win this year and so they’re not going to give you, you know, their key components of their roster and they’re not going to give you their biggest prospects either because it is just that, a rental. No doubt about it. All right. Uh I think it was the first game in Detroit where Gino let out that primal scream when he just missed barreling up a pitch and you it was sort of an insight into everything that was weighing on him. Um your thoughts on his time as a diamond back? Uh unbelievable. I mean the the ups and downs. We look back to that first half last year and we’re literally having conversations about what to do with him. Do we move him off the roster? Do we designate him for assignment? And then he turned it around like I’ve never seen. Um he’s a he’s a fan favorite and he should be. You know, he’s a household favorite of the halls. And he is not only one of the best individuals to put on a DVAX uniform, he’s one of the best individuals to put on a Major League Baseball uniform. And I I’ve said it before, I think if you ran a a poll or a survey on who the most popular player is, it’s going to be Gino Suarez because he is such a good person. So, it hurts. Um you know, he’s been he’s been a great person in the community. He’s been great with uh our staff. He’s been great with the young players, teaching them what it’s like to carry yourself as a a major league player, but but he just like the rest of the team just didn’t respond um you know on this road trip or even that that final series against the Astros and and maybe it’s our fault that we proclaimed ourselves sellers too early and that we made a few trades right away and it just sent a shock wave through that clubhouse and I think they’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Um you know just wondering, oh am I going to get traded? Says a lot about our franchise. I think people want to stay here. They want to keep our uniform on. They want to play in in Phoenix and in Arizona. That’s great. But, you know, you still have to go out and play. And and we just became a shell of ourselves and and the offense has been gone. Our starting pitching, they’ve had trouble. Our defense has been awful. We we’ve talked about it for at least a month, the three of us, about, you know, just sloppy baseball. And that’s a big reason why we’re in this position. Well, they continued it on this road trip. And there’s still a lot of baseball to be played. And there could be some exciting baseball. I look back guys, we were in a worse position in 2122. Um, not so much with with the feeling towards the club because we didn’t have any expectations, but we were going through a sellers mode and we were trying to acquire assets and trying to improve, but it gave us the opportunity to bring up young players like Corbin Carroll and like Alec Thomas and then we made the trade for Gabby and we had all these young players and our fans just love them and they still do and that that core like we’ve talked about is still there. We’ve got to go back now, get the pressure off our backs, you know, get the weight off of the world off our shoulders once this trade deadline is done today and thank goodness we don’t have a game today or or we may see more of the same. And we just have to rediscover who we are. I’m not saying go out and recreate or reinvent yourself, but just rediscover, bring back that style of baseball. I remember at the end of 22, all my counterparts at an owners meeting said, “We hate playing you. We did not like playing you the last couple of months.” Well, that was with a very young team of guys that we were bringing up. we have that opportunity again and for us to go out and and get a first baseman in Lleair who we’ve heard about for, you know, months and this guy’s hitting over 340 and he’s got nearly 20 home runs and he’s a good first baseman. He he’s plugandplay for us. That’s unusual for us to get a AAA pitcher in Burgos who’s got a little major league time as well. We’ve got a kid in in Kranton who throws, you know, 100 miles per hour. These are good moves for us for us to have Garcia up on the roster. These are guys that we’re going to be able to develop right before our eyes and hopefully our fans will embrace them. Derek Hall, president and CEO of the Diamondbacks, our guest here on Bickley Marada Mornings. I wanted to elaborate more on Ller because you mentioned where I was going to go. I got the press release right in front of me. He’s not been optioned to the minor leagues. He’s on the major league roster. Is this a situation you think where Tyler Ller gets thrown into the fire right away? Is it a platoon situation with English? I know they’re both right-handed hitters. A and what the situation could be at the other corner infield spot at third base moving forward, Derek? Yeah, you know, Vince, for for first base, I think it makes a lot of sense for for him to to raise his hand and say, “I’m ready.” I mean, he is up at the big league level right now. And that’s after they traded for Naylor, so they thought this is a guy we need to play first base. Um, you know, especially in a platoon type situation, and they could DH Naylor. Well, he he’s ready to play at the big league level. Um, so I I could see that for sure. And and then when Pave is ready, now you’ve got your left right combination. Uh, of course, Paven can also DH. He can also play the outfield when you need him. third base. Um, you know, we’ve we’ve got options right now and and I think um eventually, like we’ve all said, we want Jordan to get up here. So, we got to get that hamstring right. I’m not sure the timing to be exact. Uh, but I know as soon as he’s ready, we’re going to get him up here and just say, “Take the pressure off yourself. You know, it’s yours. Go do it.” And show us what you’ve been able to do at the minor league levels that you’ve played at, you know, wherever you were. Every stop along the way, you’ve played great. Can you update us, Derek, on on the Mel Kelly, Zack Gallon situation? Are the phones ringing? are how how are you approaching the final hours of the trade deadline as it applies to both of them? Yeah, Vic, they are ringing a lot. Um, and Mike has been he and his staff, you know, you you you spread out who’s talking to which teams and over which players and and you’re constantly monitoring and you’re sharing that information and then, you know, Mike is on the phone with me every seems like every 15 20 minutes. It’s been busy for like that for about a week. Today it’s obviously this is it. So, it’s going to be really hot today. um there’s a lot of interest in those guys and and there’s some other deals that could happen as well. I would be surprised if if we don’t see at least you know one two more trades uh because there is so much interest. So yes, there there’s a lot going on and again you know if we were to part with with one or two of those guys that’s that’s sad too, right? And and all of this is sad. I feel bad for them. Um, again, expiring contracts. We have to do what’s right for us. And and I feel bad when we’re playing like we have this these last nine games. And it does feel like it’s been 3 months of this. However, you got to look back. We were actually there was a time where we were, you know, a couple games over 500. It was starting to click and Corbin Burns was pitching well. Would we be in this situation if we had Corbin Burns and Gabby and AJ Puck and and Justin Martinez? No, I don’t think we would be, but we are. Again, that’s why we have to do what we have to do. Uh, but I feel bad for, you know, our employees. I feel bad for our fans. I feel bad for you guys that have to cover us and talk about us each and every day. But we do have a lot of baseball. We could have some very exciting baseball. We are seven games under 500, which was our low mark. However, it’s just been a really bad stretch of about nine games and we’re not going to continue playing like that. We’re just not. Yeah. Love your attitude and you’re definitely doing the right thing. All right. I want to branch out to Major League Baseball because the big story from a few days ago was was Bryce Harper getting in the face of of Rob Banford and the whole idea of a salary cap in baseball. I would assume if you’re a Diamondbacks fan and you looking at the Dodgers every year and how they spend that you probably would would be inclined to be a fan of a salary cap. Where do you guys stand on this and and how do you think you you find some spirit of collaboration with the players union? Well, it’s it’s a good question, a great question. Um, you know, I think if I were to to comment on a salary cap, I think uh that the league would put one on me. So, I uh you know, all I all I would say is, you know, it’s a shame when when a star player and your commissioner uh you know, have what is now in the public airwaves an argument and confrontation in a clubhouse. That that shouldn’t happen and and it doesn’t need to happen. I think at the end of the day, we all know that we want to improve the economics of the game, the popularity of the game. We’re getting there. uh our our sport is so popular right now, we we can’t take two steps back. Um the most important thing is for both sides to realize it’s a partnership. That’s when it works. You see, when the other leagues have come together to say, “Let’s do this for each other.” It’s not one side trying to beat the other. It’s not a fight. It’s not who can win. It’s both sides have to win. We have to do this together and make the sport better together where we all benefit and we create parody and and better economics. It’s uh it sounds simple, but we just haven’t been there really ever as a partnership with that with the other side and they feel the same way about us. Derek, thanks for the time for the insight as always on a tough day and we’ll talk to you again next week. You got it guys. Thank you. Look forward to it. Thanks, Derek Hall, president and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Our weekly guest here on Bickley and Marada Morning. Thanks for watching Bickley and Marada. Click to see the latest Bickley blast and hit the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.

The Arizona Diamondbacks traded star third baseman and fan favorite Eugenio Suarez to the Seattle Mariners ahead of Thursday’s MLB trade deadline. In return, Arizona will receive first base prospect Tyler Locklear and two pitching prospects. Bickley & Marotta react to the trade and ponder which players will be left on the roster once the deadline passes.

Diamondbacks trade star 3B Eugenio Suarez to the Seattle Mariners: https://arizonasports.com/mlb/arizona-diamondbacks/eugenio-suarez-15/3590779/

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