Diamondbacks Trade Rumors: Deadline Day

First of all, we can put the Brian Wilson speculation to bed. Not that there was really very much traction to that story, beyond us doing due diligence and apparently sending a scout to kick his tires. Wilson ended up signing with the Dodgers on a minor-league contract. This is perfectly fine for me, since it means my dislike for the man can continue unfettered. Hopefully, he'll catch whatever Carlos Marmol has out of the Los Angeles bullpen.

There was also be no Kevin Towers-Jake Peavy reunion, despite heavy speculation that this would be the case. I'd guess that a major impediment toward any thoughts in that direction was Peavy being owed about $20 million through the end of next season. There were apparently reports that we were trying to shift Ian Kennedy to make salary room, though that wouldn't even clear half the necessary resources to fund Peavy. There was talk of a three-way deal shipping Kennedy to the Angels, Peavy to us, and "pieces" to the White Sox, and we were apparently "front-runners" for Peavy. But he ended up being shipped to the Red Sox, fairly cheaply, part of a three-for, with the Tigers also involved.

The team does still appear to be interested in moving IPK, not that last night's performance will have done very much to provoke interest. Kennedy is now winless in his last ten starts, going 0-5 with a 5.82 ERA over that time - the team are 1-9 in those. Jon Heyman Tweeted that the Los Angeles Angels "would love him," and the Padres are also in. Much like Peavy, the deal would re-unite Kennedy with his former GM, Jerry DiPoto. It certainly seems like the Diamondbacks would be selling low on Kennedy, but this has been such a lengthy period of struggle that it's hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel for the pitcher.

There are several other pieces that Towers might be looking to move, with rumbling surrounding both Jason Kubel - not exactly anything new there - and, perhaps surprisingly., Jayson Stark of ESPN sayss that J.J. Putz has "suddenly been made available". However, the report quotes an executive as saying we "really want to move Kennedy all of a sudden," which can only come as a surprise to someone who has spent the entire season in Siberia. However, the interest in moving Putz could have been for salary reasons, if we were looking at getting Peavy - our ex-closer is due to be paid $7 million next year, a hell of a lot for a seventh-inning guy.

Now that we've missed out on Peavy, we may still look for another arm. Brian McTaggart Tweeted that we were one of three tams interested in Bud Norris, though it's not clear how a 28-year0old with a career ERA+ of 92 would provide any kind of significant improvement (though admittedly, that number is still better than McCarthy, Kennedy or Cahill have provided this season). Norris would also be under contract through the next two seasons as well, but one imagines there's no point in getting another pitcher unless we also get rid of one. Brian Smith writes that, while it's almost certain Norris will go, the team is waiting until the last minute to see if any better offers show up.

We'll be keeping an eye on all these rumors over the next few hours, to see if anything happens. However, I would caution you, don't expect too much excitement. As Stark put it: "This remains maybe the least compelling group of available players to make up the cast of characters for any trade deadline in recent memory. As one NL exec put it: "We keep staring at the names on our board and saying, 'That's it?!'"" It seems increasingly unlikely -not that it ever really was otherwise - that the D-backs will engage in any blockbuster trade that shifts the balance of power in the National League West.