D-backs' 2025 Problems Resurface in Frustrating Series Against Rockies
Recapping a turbulent weekend, as the Diamondbacks appear to be on the verge of structural collapse, thanks to problems that go beyond the field.
The Diamondbacks failed to capitalize on a road series against the Colorado Rockies, dropping three of four games. This further seals the 2025 season as a complete failure, ensuring there'll be no dead cat bounce or a sneak run into the postseason.
The harsh reality is this team never had a chance of repeating 2023, when they crawled out from a 57-59 record on August 12th and won 27 of their next 42 games to clinch a postseason berth. They don't have any frontline starting pitchers or lockdown relievers in the back of their bullpen like they did that season. Zac Gallen is a shell of his former self, Merrill Kelly is on another club, Paul Sewald is long gone, and Kevin Ginkel is on the shelf indefinitely with a shoulder injury.
Rants about misguided hopes aside, here are some of my takeaways from the Rockies series and the news that's been swirling around over the weekend.
Execution at the Margins Remains Inconsistent at Best
Even with the team taking on a younger look after the trade deadline, it still carries the same problem it has had all year. It's a team that can't consistently execute when it matters most. Offensively, defensively, or pitching, it doesn't matter.
On Friday, it came on the offensive side. The team was trailing in the game 3-2 and Brandon Pfaadt had given up a leadoff triple to Tyler Freeman. However, he induced a strikeout and a groundout to short to keep Freeman at third. It appeared he'd get out of the inning when Jordan Beck hit a lazy fly ball to center field. But Alek Thomas froze, then took one step backward before sprinting in to watch the ball fall in front of him. That run ended up being the run that beat them.
Even with that misplay by Thomas, they still had a chance to come back after Corbin Carroll broke up a sure double play. Jake McCarthy took advantage of the opportunity, ripping a single to right-center to make it 4-3. But on that same play, Gurriel was thrown out at third base by a comfortable margin by the strong-armed Brenton Doyle, with no clear idea if that was Gurriel's read or a bad send by Shaun Larkin, and the team never recovered. They struck out in eight of their final 11 plate appearances when they were one swing away from changing the game.
On Saturday, it was a bad misplay in left field from Gurriel that doomed the D-backs. Clinging onto a 7-6 lead, Andrew Saalfrank induced what should have been a routine lineout for the second out. However, a bad break followed by being able to secure the ball on a sliding attempt led to two runs scoring. It's bad enough to give away outs on the bases or in the field, it's doubly punishing when done at Coors Field, the most hitter-friendly park in MLB.
Inexperienced Bullpen Rears Ugly Head
The reality of the situation is that the D-backs have a very young and inexperienced bullpen. The club needed to add depth after what happened to the bullpen this season, and we're seeing the growing pains of that approach.
The saying goes, "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs". With five rookies on the roster, pitching in bigger roles than they probably should due to injuries, bad games are simply inevitable. These young players need the opportunity to fail, and they're going to fail a lot at first, so they can learn from it and succeed the next time they're in that situation.
Take Andrew Hoffman's outing, for example, in Saturday's blown loss. Pitching on a back-to-back at Coors Field, Hoffman struck out the first batter before melting down. He didn't retire another hitter, surrendering two doubles and walking two before taking the loss when Andrew Saalfrank turned a 7-6 game into a 10-7 game with two swings of the bat.
With that failure, Hoffman has learned a tough lesson. Falling behind and walking hitters doesn't play at the big league level, especially in a ballpark that insanely inflates offense like Coors. It's also a hard lesson in learning to trust his stuff, and he has great stuff, and using it to attack hitters aggressively.
The D-backs need to get as many games in as possible for pitchers like Hoffman, Saalfrank, Juan Burgos, Juan Morillo, Kyle Backhus, and Brandyn Garcia, so the team has a better idea of what they need in 2026 and beyond. They're still missing proven back-of-the-bullpen arms and are less likely to have a fully healthy one until 2027 at the earliest, when Justin Martinez finishes rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.
Torey Lovullo Discusses Recent Lineup Change
One of the major developments of the week has been a change at the top of the lineup. Manager Torey Lovullo has switched Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo in the order, with Carroll batting third and Perdomo batting leadoff.
You can read my analysis on the lineup change.
The key to lineup construction is optimizing the number of runs you score in a ballgame. That's the currency of baseball, since they decide who wins and loses games. Trevor May, a former major league pitcher who's developed his own successful media outlet, goes deep into that topic on his latest YouTube video. For a 10-minute video, you'll learn a lot about how teams build their lineups.
Lovullo went on Burns & Gambo for his weekly Friday segment and explained his reasons for the change.
"I just wanted to make sure that I put guys in the right position when they slug, there's a chance to put up a crooked number. I want to put Gerry in front of two guys that should be allowed to free swing and go up there and have a go mentality on a 0-0 pitch they can knock out of the stadium."
It's a move that Lovullo had been sitting on for a while, and was likely long overdue, given the development of Perdomo and Carroll's approach and results in 2025.
That makes sense based on the track record of the three hitters, as both Perdomo (.386) and Marte (.399) are in the top seven among qualified major league hitters in on-base percentage entering play on August 17th. Marte (.558) and Carroll (.545) are in the top eight in slugging percentage. It makes sense to have your best on-base threats at the top of the order, so they'll be on when your sluggers in the middle of the lineup come to the plate.
We saw that dynamic play out perfectly in Thursday's win over the Rockies. Perdomo and Carroll drew a walk in front of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who crushed a fly ball into the D-backs bullpen for a tone-setting three-run home run that allowed the team to get into a downhill baseball mentality before throwing their first pitch.
The combination of Perdomo 1, Marte 2, and Carroll 3 should be the default top third of the lineup moving forward. The only reason it should ever change is if there's a better hitter that joins the lineup, and even then, he might not bat higher than cleanup.
Ketel Marte Situation Will Define 2026 Rebuild
With Nick Piecoro reporting that some players are frustrated with Ketel Marte, the stakes are even higher. The fact that it's even out is a problem, meaning some players are willing to give it a voice. If left unaddressed, it has the potential to fracture the club and set it back years. And that's a situation that GM Mike Hazen, manager Torey Lovullo, Marte, and the rest of the club would like to avoid.
This is what we know: Marte has done things lately that have irked other players in the clubhouse. Marte is also 31 with a lengthy injury history regarding his back and hamstrings that require careful management to get him to play in as many games as possible. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo defended that particular practice in his segment on Burns & Gambo.
Lovullo talked about how each player requires different strategies. That may mean "special treatment" to keep Marte healthy and engaged for 150 games and 650 plate appearances every season. He is the best player on the team by a country mile, even if it's something that can be turned on and off, as some of his teammates might believe. When healthy and available for a full season, he's capable of taking home an MVP award.
I also think there are legitimate grievances by other players who believe Marte is taking advantage of his star status. It's one thing to ask for time off when he's not feeling 100% in a critical stretch of the season; it's another to be out of the country on a game day. The latter, to me, is the more unforgivable offense.
On August 17th, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported more details on what happened with Marte after the All-Star Break in his trade deadline column, and it's not good for the D-backs' All-Star second baseman. His action irked more than just his teammates, based on what Nightengale wrote. The team put him on the restricted list from July 18-20, for what we thought at the time was dealing with the burglary of his Scottsdale home. Instead, it was something worse, and the team reamed him out when he returned.
It appears the team will listen to offers on Marte this offseason, especially if they can get the frontline starting pitching and back-end bullpen help they desperately need to contend for the division again. There's no urgency to move him for less than fair value, and I don't view it as an "addition by subtraction" situation. But Marte needs to earn the good graces of the players he'll be sharing the clubhouse with if he remains in Arizona. That he owes, because this team will not be a serious contender without him anchoring the top of their lineup.
Marte has a five-team no-trade clause this offseason, and I don't know which five teams they are. He'll enter the 2026 season with a service time of 9 years and 162 days, meaning he'll gain 10 years of service time just 10 days into the season. With 10 years of service time, almost all of it in Arizona, Marte will gain 10-and-5 rights. That would allow him to veto any trade he chooses. So the decision is now, or never.
You can read my op-ed on the Marte situation, which also includes a postscript rant about how I feel about fans unfairly attacking Nick Piecoro for doing his job and reporting this situation. With more coming out, I think some fans owe Piecoro an apology.
Roster Moves Coming
The D-backs will be making some significant roster changes when they return home to Chase Field. Pavin Smith, Ildemaro Vargas, and Gabriel Moreno will have finished their rehab assignment with Triple-A Reno.
That will lead to some tough decisions regarding the DH spot and the catching situation. It's almost a certainty we'll see some significant roster shakeups as the team ponders its future and how it shapes the roster heading into 2026.
With the rotation, it's pretty clear that Nabil Crismatt has earned another start on August 23rd after a solid performance against the Rockies. There is no need to address the rotation until Anthony DeSclafani returns from the injured list at the earliest.
D-backs' Top Prospect Posts Insane Week
Ryan Waldschmidt, a first-rounder in 2024, is having an excellent first full year in the organization. He's already in Double-A Amarillo and is a consensus Top 100 prospect entering the 2026 season.
This week for Amarillo, he's 11-for-21 at the plate with five home runs, seven walks, and 11 RBI. He's almost assuredly going to win Texas League Player of the Week for his performance.
On the season, he's slashing .270/.410/.457 with 22 doubles, three triples, 15 home runs, and 23 stolen bases between Hillsboro and Amarillo, good for a 138 wRC+ (38% more offensive production than the average hitter would provide). He's shown an elite batting eye at the plate, with 82 walks compared to 88 strikeouts in 493 plate appearances. He projects as a top-five hitter in any lineup due to his strong on-base skills and power potential. He will be my No. 1 prospect when I release my next list upon the conclusion of the 2025 season.
Waldschmidt was selected with the pick the D-backs received in 2024 (No. 31 overall) when Corbin Carroll unanimously won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2023. Next year, they may be sharing the same outfield. His ETA is a year from now, which would allow the team to maintain his rookie eligibility entering 2027 and gain another Top 30 pick should he win Rookie of the Year.
Waldschmidt is expected to eventually take over in left field. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is the current starter, but he's experiencing a down year and is unlikely to opt out of the final year of his contract. Retaining Gurriel for 2026 is fine and doesn't necessarily block anyone, but the timeline is set for Waldschmidt to be the everyday starter in 2027.