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Daniel Hudson has certainly had a season he'll remember, albeit not perhaps for the best of reasons. Through mid-June he was utterly dominant, with a 1.55 ERA over his first 30 appearances and 29 innings. He was holding opponents to a .130 batting average and .463 OPS. And then, inexplicably, it all fell apart, in a calamitous way. He has made 12 appearances since then, throwing eight innings. His ERA in these games? 22.50. Opponents are batting .531 with a 1.419 OPS. I don't think I've ever seen such a complete switch in a player's fortunes, and it has been all the messier because of to whom it happened.
For Daniel Hudson is the team's longest serving player, having been with Arizona since he was part of the Edwin Jackson trade in July 2010. Since then, he has been through not one but two Tommy John procedures, and the process of his return made him a beloved character among most D-backs fans. His return to the major-leagues in September 2014, after more than two years of rehab, was a genuinely emotional appearance. Hudson is also perhaps its most vocal member on social media. Which is fine when all is going well, but the negative side increasingly showed up as Huddy's struggles worsened; he deleted his Twitter account over the weekend.
Hudson is also due to be a free-agent at the end of this season, and as the team fell out of playoff contention, thoughts obviously turned to the possibility of him being dealt, especially after Brad Ziegler was traded to Boston. The downturn in form seemed to have pushed this onto the back-burner, but this afternoon, things seem to have stepped up again. Here are a few of the Tweets on the topic from various sources:
Hearing that #Dbacks are getting close to a deal for RHP Daniel Hudson.
— Steve Gilbert (@SteveGilbertMLB) July 28, 2016
The #Dbacks are drawing lots of interest in Shelby Miller, and are listening. They also have 3 teams aggressively pursuing Daniel Hudson.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 28, 2016
Don't know yet where Daniel Hudson is going. Three possible fits, per source: Mariners, Indians, or Nationals.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) July 28, 2016
While the #Dbacks are drawing heavy interest from 3 teams on Daniel Hudson, they are not expected to make a deal today.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 28, 2016
So it seems that we may still be a little way from his final day as a Diamondback. Of course, his departure would not necessarily prevent him from re-signing with the team again, as a free agent over the winter. But that may well also depend on whether or not a change of scenery for Hudson helps cure what ails him, and returns Huddy to the dominant arm he was over the first two and a half months of the 2016 campaign.