The Trade Deadline has come and gone, but nothing happened in Arizona. The Diamondbacks, refusing to give up high-end prospects, found themselves stuck between trying to make the playoffs and building for the future. Some reports, hopefully false rumors, actually had the Diamondbacks discussing a trade to bring Jayson Werth back after trading him to the Cubs. It's starting to look like the failure to bolster the team has cost them a shot at the playoffs. The team is just outside the cutoff (6th in the NL, 58-52), but the offense has struggled just as their rotation appears to be improving.
The big news at the plate is Carlos Santana, who seems to have remembered that he has some power. Santana managed to hit 14HR in June and July after hitting 6HR in the two previous months, he has also spent the last two months hitting .300+ after hitting well under .200. His 20HR now knock Paul Goldschmidt off his statistical perch. Goldschmidt continues to power the team on offense, but the disappearance (injuries) of Aaron Hill and Chris Owings have left the Diamondbacks shuffling players around. Domonic Brown has found himself on Kirk Gibson's hate list and is now riding the pine in favor of Peter Bourjos at CF and David Peralta in LF. Arizona desperately needs Owings to come back and give the team more speed on the base paths.
On the mound it's become the Arrieta-Alvarez-Kennedy show with Gio Gonzalez looking like he isn't 100% yet, he might not even be 50% with the way he has been lit up recently. Gonzalez has sandwiched a decent ND start (7.0IP 8K ER) in between two losses where he couldn't even get out of the 4th inning. Pat Neshek continues to be excellent, but the rest of Arizona's bullpen has turned into BP machines. Nobody is getting it done, not even Joakim "The Mexicutioner" Soria, and rumor is that Jim Johnson and his horrible contract will be placed on waivers. The team is starting to circle the drain, and a rapid dismantling of this roster could start as soon as this next week.
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