D-backs recall personal impact of Trade Deadline deals

This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Trade Deadline is less than a week away, so I thought for this newsletter I would talk to Diamondbacks folks who have seen the Deadline from different perspectives and discuss what the days leading up to it can be like. For the second straight year, the Diamondbacks are playing a series in Pittsburgh leading up to the Deadline.

LHP Brandyn Garcia

It was a little more than a year ago that Garcia walked into the visitors' clubhouse at PNC Park and didn't know anyone. Traded to the Diamondbacks as part of the package for first baseman Josh Naylor, Garcia made his debut for his new team a few days later.

"It was a lot," Garcia said of the experience. "It was a lot because my scenario was a lot different than a lot of people's because I debuted [in the Majors with Seattle] July 21, and then three days after that was traded. So it was like I was with a new team, new guys, trying to remember everybody, like the staff, the coaches, everything like that. And it was just like three days after that, 'Hey, we're going to trade you to the Diamondbacks.'"

It may have been overwhelming at first, but here he is a year later, a big part of Arizona's bullpen.

Garcia said the Mariners had shifted him to the bullpen last summer to fast-track him to the big leagues, and the only notion he had that he might be dealt was when he and a buddy were looking at social media and saw a post about the Diamondbacks seeking pitching.

"Everybody would always tell me there's no way I'm getting traded," Garcia said. "So, I didn't really expect it. Funny enough, me and my buddy, we saw somebody put out something with the Diamondbacks that they want young, controllable pitchers at the Deadline. We said, 'Wow, like that'd be cool going in there.' And then, sure enough, it happened."

1B Tyler Locklear

Locklear was part of a second trade with the Mariners last year that sent third baseman Eugenio Suárez to Seattle.

The Mariners had just wrapped up a road series with the A's, and the Diamondbacks were headed to Sacramento, so Locklear just stayed where he was.

"It was a little bit crazy," Locklear said. "It was something new, obviously. The first time I ever got traded and just how it all worked out, how we were all in the same city and just had to flip locker rooms. Just one of those things. Part of the game, and you just have to live with it. And then coming into this locker room, it's been awesome ever since. So very happy how it went."

Closer Paul Sewald

Sewald has been a part of two Trade Deadline deals, and they were very different in nature.

In 2023, with the Mariners out of the race, he was a much-sought-after closer and exactly what the Diamondbacks needed to stabilize their bullpen and make a run all the way to the World Series. Then last year, he was dealt from the Guardians to the Tigers for future considerations.

The Mariners had played in Arizona just prior to the deal going down, but the Sewald trade didn't go down until after that series.

"I left Arizona thinking, 'I guess I'm not going to get traded,'" Sewald said.

But then he did, which caught him a little by surprise, but last year he had some warning from the Cleveland front office.

"Two totally different trades," Sewald said. "One where I was the focal point, and one where I got traded and couldn't really help the team. So it's just one of those things. It's crazy. It's stressful for people with families and people who are comfortable where they are. It's a lot. So just thinking of all the families that are really stressed out with this right now."

It has given Sewald a perspective of how much the weeks leading up to the Trade Deadline can change everything as teams try to decide whether to buy, sell or hold.

"These weeks from the All-Star break to the Trade Deadline are the most important weeks of the season," Sewald said. "And I would say I would even include those in September because you can go one way or another so quickly. Everyone feels it from front offices to coaches to the manager."

Manager Torey Lovullo

As Sewald mentioned, even the manager can feel the uncertainty in the days leading up to the Trade Deadline.

Lovullo has been on both sides of things in his 10 years at the helm in Arizona. He's welcomed new players expected to help in a pennant push, and in other years he's had to tell players to pack up and head elsewhere.

"Everybody sees this day is coming, and you're always wanting to be a buyer," Lovullo said. "And I've told [GM Mike Hazen] every year it's going to be my job to make sure that we're a buyer at this time of the year. So, I think we're in a good spot. I want to make sure that our players are focused and not worried about coming or going."