Diamondbacks still looking to add after acquiring reliever A.J. Puk

The Diamondbacks checked off their most important trade deadline to-do item on Thursday night by landing left-handed reliever A.J. Puk in a trade with the Miami Marlins. In return, the Diamondbacks sent Triple-A infield prospect Deyvison De Los Santos and Double-A outfielder Andrew Pintar back to Miami.

After an unsuccessful stint as a starter to open the season, Puk has been among the most dominant relievers in baseball. In 30 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this year, he has a 2.08 ERA, 0.76 WHIP and 33 strikeouts compared to six walks.

Over his past 14 appearances with the Marlins, he was virtually unhittable: 16 2/3 innings, four hits, zero earned runs, three walks, 25 strikeouts.

Puk will give the Diamondbacks another backend option alongside Paul Sewald, Kevin Ginkel, Ryan Thompson and Justin Martinez. He will also give the club a much-needed lefty to pair with Joe Mantiply. Puk could be a member of the Diamondbacks for a while, as he is under club control through the end of the 2026 season.

“This was a target of ours for a while,” general manager Mike Hazen said in a conference call on Friday morning. “The power, left-handed is something that we don’t have a ton of right now, and trying to round out what the backend of that bullpen looks like to maximize the weapons that Torey has at his disposal, this was a fit for us.”

While adding a backend arm was the Diamondbacks’ top priority at the trade deadline, Hazen suggested that more move(s) could be coming.

“This isn’t hopefully the only thing we do,” Hazen said, “We’re still going to work pretty hard for the next four days to figure out if there’s other ways to make the team better.”

When asked about his priorities, Hazen said that pitching outweighs position players. Even after adding Puk, he said that he is interested in adding to the bullpen. Hazen also said that he will remain engaged on the starting pitching market, even with a pair of well-respected starters in Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez expected to return from shoulder injuries in the coming weeks.

In terms of adding a starter, the Diamondbacks’ urgency appears to be relatively low. Hazen said that he has spent a lot of time at Salt River Fields watching Kelly and Rodriguez rehab and talking with them. Both have been progressing well in his estimation, with no signs of setbacks. Of course, there are no guarantees that they will instantly look like their past selves. Still, Hazen said that is “probably gonna have to roll the dice and not acquire a starting pitcher.”

The fact that the starting pitching market appears to be very thin is, of course, also a factor.

“Frankly,” he said, “[Jordan] Montgomery, E-Rod and Merrill pitching at their best, there’s not that many guys on the market right now that are truly available that are better than those guys.”

Hazen said that any conversations about starters in the coming days are more likely to be centered around controllable players than rentals.

On the position player side, Hazen said that he will look to make improvements. He also feels good about where the Diamondbacks are now.

“I’m not saying that everybody can’t upgrade where they need to upgrade,” Hazen said, “but we have a pretty strong position player group that’s pretty diversified in its talents and its handedness.

“I don’t know that we’re overly exposed in either direction from righty-lefty. I think we have some versatility defensively. I think some of the guys that we’ve had have played very well for us. [Eugenio Suárez]’s been smoking hot in July. Kevin Newman has been great. Obviously, [Geraldo] Perdomo does what Perdomo does for us every single day. From an outfield standpoint, Jake [McCarthy]’s having his best season. Alek [Thomas] is probably one of the best, if not the best defensive center fielder in baseball. There’s just a lot of talent out there in a lot of different ways that I really, really like.”

On paper, the Diamondbacks are more lacking in infield depth than outfield. Hazen told PHNX Sports in our trade deadline primer over the weekend that he is more so looking for left-handed hitters than right-handed, but that he expects left-handed bats to be difficult to find.

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How Diamondbacks’ A.J. Puk deal came together

The Diamondbacks and Marlins finalized the Puk-De Los Santos-Pintar trade five days before the trade deadline, and it was the first significant move across the league leading up to the deadline. Hazen said that he saw a benefit in moving quickly.

“I feel like it’s harder for some of the teams that are shooting for starting pitchers to focus on both starting and relieving at the same time,” he said, “just with the resources you have to deploy.

“We felt like attacking the relief market early could be to our advantage. We’ll see. You never really know what the prices are ultimately end up going to be at the deadline. But you can’t just say that you want to go and improve your team and then not go and do it.”

Hazen said that adding Pintar into the deal is ultimately what pushed the deal across the finish line.

The centerpiece, of course, was De Los Santos, a 21-year-old slugger whom the club lost in the Rule 5 draft over the winter and then reacquired this spring when he failed to make the Cleveland Guardians’ Opening Day roster. De Los Santos has had an impressive season in the Diamondbacks’ farm system, slashing .325/.376/.635 slash line with 28 homers and 84 RBI in 87 games split between Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno.

“He has huge power,” Hazen said. “He has become a better hitter. We believed that he was going to be a very good baseball player.

“It’s not that we’re blind to what the upside could be in the future. It’s not like we’re teeming with guys that have the potential to do what he can do. We understand all that. But our commitment that we made this offseason and into this year — the team has shown at this point that we need to push some of our chips in here to make this team a better team, and we’re committed to doing that.”

While De Los Santos’ numbers in the minors are eye-popping, he was not without his potential flaws as a player. The Diamondbacks moved him from third base to first base this year after he struggled at third. Even at first, questions remain about his defense.

De Los Santos also has a hyper-aggressive approach at the plate. This year in Triple-A Reno, he chased 43 percent of pitches outside the strike zone. Among Triple-A hitters who have seen 400 or more pitches outside the zone this year, that is the third-highest chase rate in the league. He will need to continue to his refine approach in order to hit in the majors.

While Pintar was more a complementary piece in the deal, Hazen said that the Diamondbacks were high on him, too. “This guy’s an ultra-athletic centerfielder that raked in Hillsboro,” Hazen said.

Pintar, 23, slashed .304/.403/.516 this year for High-A Hillsboro before being promoted to Double-A Amarillo on June 18. He wound up spending 16 days on the injured list shortly after arriving in Amarillo due to a hit-by-pitch suffered in his final game in Hillsboro. Pintar played only 10 games in Double-A, hitting .184/.289/.237 in 46 plate appearances.

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