Injured D-Backs Are Fighting for Their Lives as the Deadline Looms
This season has become a disaster for the Diamondbacks, who are currently fighting to stay in the race, but look like they should be sellers.
It wasn’t too long ago that the Arizona Diamondbacks were three wins away from winning their second World Series in franchise history. We see the core of a team that was ready to consistently win, even in a division as tough as the NL West.
With Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly leading their rotation, and Ketel Marte and Corbin Carroll leading their lineup, there was a clear window to win in Arizona. Last year, the D-Backs put together a strong season but fell just short of getting a spot in the Wild Card on a tiebreaker a day after the season.
After being left helpless but to watch the postseason from their couch, the D-Backs made big splashes this winter to improve their roster to make another run. None larger than signing the top ace on the market in Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million deal.
Now, here we are six months later, and Burnes is on the shelf for all of 2025, and likely most of 2026, and suddenly we are talking about this team as a potential seller at the trade deadline.
How did we get to this point where Arizona has gone from a real playoff contender, to a team that may be folding up shop in a month? The answer is simple, it is goes far beyond just losing their newfound ace to Tommy John surgery.
D-Backs Keep Getting Snake-Bite By Injuries
It has been the season to forget as a whole for the snakes.
We’ve reached a point where the injuries sustained have become far too much to overcome.
As it currently stands, the Diamondbacks have Corbin Carroll (IL – fracture in wrist), Josh Naylor (DTD – shoulder discomfort), A.J. Puk (IL – elbow), Gabriel Moreno (IL – hand contusion), Justin Martinez (IL – sprained UCL), and Corbin Burnes (IL – torn UCL) amongst some of the players out right now.
All of them came into the season as key pieces to what should have been another season trending towards a second trip in four years to the World Series.
Can the D-Backs Get Back in the Race with a Month Left?
At this point of the year, and with how the rest of the National League West has been performing, along with the rest of the teams battling in the National League as a whole, it is hard to find a way for the Diamondbacks to find themselves in the battle for a playoff spot. It truly might be too little too late.
The D-Backs would need to get through the rest of the season unscathed, and even then, it might not be enough. With so many key players out and needing to decide what to do in three weeks when the deadline arrives, it’s hard to see a way for the rest of the teams around them to falter enough for them to sneak in.
It becomes even harder to justify a turnaround when their offense has been performing near the top of every statistical category in all of baseball, but their pitching staff as a whole ranks as one of the league’s worst.
The injury to Burnes plays a huge role, but the injuries to Martinez, Puk, and the big-time struggles from Zac Galen have set them back. Not to mention the inconsistencies from the rest of their rotation, outside of Merrill Kelly. What once looked like a clear strength for Arizona has taken a complete 180 and has been the biggest contributor to their demise in 2025.
Will 2026 Look Any Different?
The future for the Diamondbacks core is still bright.
Their core is one of the stronger young cores in baseball, to go along with one of the better farm systems as well. It all boils down to how they will now look to rebound their pitching staff, and replace the pieces who are either traded at the deadline, or walk in free agency.
Will ownership be willing to continue to dish out money for a team that is staring down the barrel of giving new contracts to some of their young guys who are looking to get paid?
They have shown to be aggressive in the past, but every owner has their threshold where they just aren’t willing to spend anymore before realizing it is not doing them any favors.
This off-season will be very interesting for the former National League champions. Nonetheless, the pieces are still there to at least remain fairly competitive.
2025 just seems far too gone at this point.
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Cristian has been at Just Baseball since 2021, when he first started writing about prospects. He spent eight years working in Major League Baseball with the…