PHOENIX -- The scout section behind home plate at Chase Field was more crowded than usual Monday night with the Trade Deadline approaching and D-backs left-hander
Losing three of four over the weekend to the Brewers certainly hurt the players’ chances of convincing management to keep this team together.\n\nMonday, though, was the beginning of a seven-game stretch in which the D-backs play three games against the last-place Orioles and four at the Marlins, who have the worst record in the National League.\n\nHazen was asked what would happen if the team runs off six or seven wins.\n\n“We’ll see what happens when it happens,” Hazen said. “We’ll tackle that at the appropriate time. We’re going to make a determination on where we stand, what we think moving forward. We’ll factor that part in. We’ll have to see what our competition does, as well. If we’re standing in a playoff spot eight days from now, it’s probably a little harder to make certain decisions. But up to this point, we haven’t done that.”\n\nRay is eligible to become a free agent after the 2020 season, and a left-handed starter with swing-and-miss stuff and a live fastball is certainly attractive to a team loading up for the postseason.
In addition, outfielder
While the goal is to have a perennial World Series-contending team, Hazen doesn’t want to shortchange what the D-backs have accomplished the past two seasons. In 2017, they captured the first Wild Card spot and beat the Rockies in the Wild Card Game.\n\nLast year, they led the NL West until a September collapse cost them a postseason spot. This year, they have stayed in the postseason race despite injuries to key players like