D-Backs Could Win Trade Deadline Just by Getting Healthy
The Diamondbacks have several key players who could return at just the right time in 2026.
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It’s no secret just how many injuries the Arizona Diamondbacks are dealing with already that occurred last year.
Four key injuries to the central core of their team have hindered their offseason and their sights on competing from day one of the 2026 season. It will make for a very tough start to the season, but if they can survive, they could wind up having a strong season and even make playoffs.
After all, it’s hard to overcome an offseason budget that has roughly 25% of its payroll tied up in players that are expected to miss a large chunk of the season. However, since these four players — Corbin Burnes, Justin Martinez, A.J. Puk, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. — are such important parts of their team, when they return, it could provide a boost of refreshing reinforcements to help Arizona contend for the playoffs.
Considering they would be getting back an All-Star and Cy Young-caliber starter (Burnes), an All-Star-caliber bat (Gurriel), and two very good late-inning relievers (Puk, Martinez), Arizona could win the trade deadline just by getting healthy.
Hold On Until Reinforcements Return
For now, Arizona is attempting to do a patchwork job on their rotation and bullpen to hold serve until they get these players back.
They re-signed Merrill Kelly, and they also brought in Michael Soroka to serve as the No. 5 starter. Arizona is also depending on bounce-back seasons from Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez in order to keep close enough to a playoff spot in the first few months of the season.
The same is true of the bullpen, where they haven’t added a premier talent yet this offseason. They’ve added some high-upside, low-cost players such as Derek Law or Jonathan Loáisiga who could be major contributors if they stay healthy and return to form.
They have plenty of youth in the bullpen, too, ranging from Brandyn Garcia to Andrew Saalfrank to Drey Jameson, Andrew Hoffman, Juan Burgos, Phillip Abner, and Juan Morillo, just to name a few.
However, as the issue often is with relying on youth, they are unproven and not battle-tested as much. While they’ve had good moments or months, they’ve yet to prove they can handle a whole season against MLB competition.
Thus, the hope is that the Diamondbacks get one to two of them that break out and establish themselves as worthy late-inning or critical-situation relievers.
Then, Arizona is betting big that two veteran relievers return to postseason form, or how they pitched before 2025, and are able to stay healthy. Those two are Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel.
Both of these vets dealt with injuries and rough performances in 2025. If they can stay healthy and fulfill expectations, Arizona’s bullpen might have the pieces needed to sustain until they get their top two arms back.
Pitchers on the Mend
The Diamondbacks could get some major pitching upgrades around the deadline. They just need to hold their staff together until they get there.
As mentioned above, getting healthy performances, even at 75-80% of what they were the last few years, from Burnes, Martinez, and Puk would catapult Arizona into the thick of the wild-card race and give them a much-needed jolt in the arm.
Speaking on Burnes’ potential impact, when he’s healthy, he is by far Arizona’s best pitcher. He can lead the staff into the playoffs as the ace if he can return strong or pick up close to where he left off in 2025.
Burnes could be one of the two X-factors that could launch Arizona into the playoffs. Last year, over 64.1 innings and 11 starts, he was worth 2.0 bWAR with 63 strikeouts to just 49 hits and 26 walks. While his advanced metrics had him closer to a mid-3.00s ERA and FIP, he was by far the team’s most reliable starter and highest-upside pitcher in the rotation.
If he can come back and be that consistent six-or-so inning pitcher with a mid-3.00s ERA or better, he could help lead Arizona into the playoffs by giving them a lot of strong outings. Then in the playoffs, they would have their ace to lead them.
Justin Martinez has the makings of being an All-Star closer someday with a lightning fastball/sinker, a hammer of a split-finger, and a dynamic slider. While the risks are clear with his returning from a second Tommy John surgery, if he can manage it like he did the first time, he is by far Arizona’s best reliever.
His split-finger might be the best pitch in baseball, with a .000 batting average against it with a whiff rate over 58%. Meanwhile, he throws one of the hardest fastballs in the game, which only serves to set up that split-finger that is roughly 10 mph slower than the fastball, meaning it’s around 88 mph per offering.
88% of his outs came via strikeout or ground ball, which is usually an indicator of a strong season for pitchers. Martinez was solid in 2025, albeit with less success than expected.
The risk is that Martinez won’t be able to return to form, as it usually takes pitchers a while to get back to form. Martinez won’t have many outings, but those outings could all be important appearances that give Arizona an extra win or two to get back into the playoffs.
In October, Martinez is the type of pitcher that teams dream of having to be able to shut down the opponent’s best hitters.
His partner in crime, Puk, is nearly as strong of a pitcher, and in a league with many elite left-handed batters, there’s an argument that Puk is as valuable — if not more — than Martinez.
The giant left-hander is nearly unhittable against left-handed batters. He’s set to be a free agent as well after 2026, which means that he will be on a mission to play as well as he can to prove he’s effective and healthy for a good contract, whether that’s from Arizona or another team.
Plus, he should be back sooner than Martinez, as he had a brace procedure done. That could help him round into form quicker, too.
Puk’s statcast is full of red, as his four-seamer, sinker, and slider combination is extremely tough to handle at the plate. The expected batting average on the four-seamer was just .183, while the slider came with an xBA of .223.
Overall, if Puk can continue where he left off with a high-2.00s or low-3.00s ERA and continue to pitch in the later innings, he could pick up some additional saves and get through the best part of opposing lineups for manager Torey Lovullo, whether that’s in the 8th or 9th inning.
Then, Arizona can have a dynamic duo of Martinez and Puk in the playoffs, a duo that would be near unhittable given how well they compliment one another.
Should all three of these pitchers come back at even 80-90% effectiveness, they would immediately be some of the best pitchers on Arizona’s roster. If they perform that well, and Arizona is close enough to a postseason spot when they come back, they could make the Diamondbacks one of the favorites to sneak into a playoff spot.
Once they’re in, well, anything can happen. With a trio of pitchers as lethal as these three, magic could occur.
Don’t Forget About Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Of course, one can’t forget about All-Star left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who could help rejuvenate the lineup when he returns. That could happen as early as mid-May, thanks to his incredible recovery from a torn ACL in September of 2025.
He would give the D-Backs a great top five with Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, and Gabriel Moreno.
He could slot in at designated hitter to start, while getting work in the outfield slowly to save his legs and help him get back sooner. 2025 was a down season for Gurriel, but he’s playing once again for a contract and still had plenty of bright spots in 2025.
He struck out at a very low rate of 13.9%. He didn’t whiff much and squared up a lot of balls, too. With a full season of rehab and recovery, he could be in even better shape to have another good season as he did in 2023 or 2024.
Gurriel is a potent bat capable of homering in clutch situations or driving in runs with runners on base. As an added bonus, for a team that has struggled against lefties, getting his .782 OPS and .296 batting average against them in the lineup will only help the team even more.
The Diamondbacks could win the trade deadline season just by getting healthy. Not many teams, if any at all, could compare to getting four high-quality-or-better players at one deadline, let alone getting them without giving anything but roster spots up.
If they perform well, Arizona could get the jolt they need to get back into October baseball and see if they can summon some 2023 magic once again.
Written by
Jake Oliver is a Baseball Reporter covering the Arizona Diamondbacks for Just Baseball. He is a former reporter and prospect writer for Diamondbacks On SI and…