{"id":668915,"date":"2026-04-07T18:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668915\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T18:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:42:18","slug":"diamondbacks-select-luken-baker-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668915\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamondbacks Select Luken Baker – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Diamondbacks announced that they have selected the contract of first baseman Luken Baker<\/a>. He\u2019ll take the active roster spot of fellow first baseman Carlos Santana<\/a>. Santana has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 6th, with a strained right adductor. To open a 40-man spot for Baker, outfielder Jordan Lawlar<\/a> has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic<\/a> previously reported that Baker had a locker in the Arizona clubhouse.<\/p>\n

Baker, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. His profile is limited, since he only plays first base and isn\u2019t a burner on the basepaths. His time in the minors has shown that he can hit, however. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has taken 1,284 Triple-A plate appearances with 84 home runs. His 23.5% strikeout rate in that time is pretty close to average while his 15% walk rate is huge. For that span, he has a combined line of .259\/.371\/.555 and a 131 wRC+.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals gave him minimal big league playing time over the past three years. In 189 plate appearances, he produced an underwhelming .206\/.317\/.338 line and 87 wRC+. He was put on waivers in August. The Dodgers claimed him and quickly outrighted him. He became a free agent at season\u2019s end, which led to his deal with the Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n

Arizona has a large number of players on the injured list already, with their first base depth having been hit particularly hard. Tyler Locklear<\/a> injured his left elbow and shoulder late last year and is still recovering from surgery performed in October. Pavin Smith<\/a> hit the IL a few days into the season due to left elbow inflammation. A couple of days ago, Santana was removed from a game with groin discomfort, which led to today\u2019s IL placement.<\/p>\n

Utility guys Jos\u00e9 Fern\u00e1ndez<\/a> and Ildemaro Vargas<\/a> have each picked up starts at first base in recent days, while catcher Adrian Del Castillo<\/a> has picked up some starts in the designated hitter slot. Baker gives the club a more straightforward first baseman, which could allow Fern\u00e1ndez and\/or Vargas to play elsewhere. Baker\u2019s right-handed bat could also be a nice complement for the lefty-swinging Del Castillo. Baker\u2019s big league numbers aren\u2019t impressive overall but he has a .244\/.357\/.390 line and 113 wRC+ against lefties.<\/p>\n

Baker is out of options, which could lead to a squeeze in the future. Santana, Smith, Locklear and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.<\/a> will be coming off the injured list in the future, meaning other guys will have to make room.<\/p>\n

As for Lawlar, he landed on the 10-day IL a few days ago after he was hit by a pitch and suffered a right wrist fracture<\/a>. Manager Torey Lovullo said Lawlar would miss six to eight weeks. This 60-day IL placement will extend that timeline slightly. If he is healthy before the 60 days are up, he can go on a minor league rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Diamondbacks announced that they have selected the contract of first baseman Luken Baker. He\u2019ll take the active…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,1717,543,1892],"class_list":{"0":"post-668915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-carlos-santana","10":"tag-jordan-lawlar","11":"tag-luken-baker"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116364898912301948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}