Did Diamondbacks Actually Get Better at the Deadline?

In reality — not much, if you’re an Arizona Diamondbacks fan. The 2026 MLB Trade Deadline came and went at 3:00 p.m. MST Monday afternoon, and the only deal the Diamondbacks were able to complete was a trade for St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar.

Arizona did not bring back any pitching and was forced to part with highly-touted pitching prospect Daniel Eagen (alongside minor league reliever Sandro Santana and a player to be named later) in order to acquire Nootbaar.

So, did the Diamondbacks actually get better at this year’s Deadline? Let’s take a look at the trade that went down — and the missed opportunities to address other areas of need:

Sep 6, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar (21) makes the catch on a fly ball to left field by San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey (14) in the second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images

Nootbaar, 28, is a left-handed hitting outfielder with plus contact skills and a bit of pop. He’s not going to be the infield power bat the D-backs might have hoped for, but he takes his walks, gets on base and puts up quality at-bats, regularly. He’s under affordable team control for one more season after 2026.

Nootbaar has only played in 48 games this year, beginning 2026 on the Injured List with a foot/heel injury. His .234/.333/.354 triple slash and .687 OPS are nothing special, and nearly identically match his numbers from 2025 in which he played in 135 games.

Outside those numbers, however, Nootbaar has been remarkably consistent. He has a .742 career OPS and double-digit home runs in every one of his 100-plus game seasons. His career 108 OPS+ is that of a solid, consistently above-average hitter.

Nootbaar rarely chases outside the zone (18.3% chase rate in 2026), limits strikeouts to around a league-average clip (20.3% career K rate) and is a very stubborn at-bat. He’s walked around 13% of the time for most of his career, and that hasn’t changed this season. For some context, Geraldo Perdomo has a 12.3% career walk rate and 15% strikeout rate.

Nootbaar is slotted in as the DH, and should get some looks there as 2026 continues. But he’s also a plus defender in the outfield. Mainly a left fielder in recent seasons, Nootbaar has been worth +14 career Defensive Runs Saved and +8 Fielding Run Value. His plus speed offers him plenty of outfield range, but it’s his high-power throwing arm that stands unique among Arizona’s outfield group. His arm strength ranks in the 89th percentile this year.

Nootbaar enters somewhat of a logjam, but will likely play every game against right-handed starters. It’s important to note that fellow lefty outfielder Max Kepler will not be eligible for a potential postseason roster due to the terms of his 80-game PED suspension.

In short, Nootbaar is going to be a regular offensive face, hitting in the middle third of the order and providing more of an on-base boost than a slug-heavy bat, alongside above-average defensive ability.

Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick near Scottsdale on Feb. 20, 2024.

In all likelihood, the reluctance of Diamondbacks fans to embrace this deal stems, in large part, from the return.

Eagen had been ranked Arizona’s No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline. He’d burst onto the scene with a 2.99 ERA season in 2025, including a 2.49 figure and 132 strikeouts in 97.2 innings with the Hillsboro Hops. Eagen was the D-backs’ third round pick in the 2024 Draft.

But he’s only slotting in at No. 17 among St. Louis’ top prospects. Whether this is an indictment of Arizona’s farm system or not, Eagen clearly isn’t as valuable to the Cardinals as he was to the Diamondbacks.

It’s also worth noting the 23-year-old righty hasn’t exactly been dominant since making the jump to Double-A. He posted a 5.49 ERA in four Amarillo starts in 2025, and has a 4.95 ERA there in 20 starts this season.

The Texas League is a hitter’s league, but Eagen is only about 10 points above the average Texas League ERA, which is 5.05. What stands out is his 109 strikeouts in 87.1 innings. The swing-and-miss is quite prevalent, though he’s also had a bit of a walk issue at times in his MiLB career.

Santana, meanwhile, was a promising relief prospect. He had a 2.14 ERA between Hillsboro and Amarillo this year. Though a more inconspicuous name in the system, Santana has quality stuff, and Arizona does not exactly have a wealth of southpaw relief prospects.

All of this to say, the deal does look like an overpay on paper in terms of objective asset value. But prospects are not major league players. Neither of these two arms were likely to help the D-backs this season, and possibly even next — if there is 2027 season, of course.

Whether or not the Cardinals can turn Eagen into a quality major league starter remains to be seen. He may not have progressed that way in Arizona, regardless.

The point is, this deal hinges much more on what the Diamondbacks get out of Nootbaar than what the Cardinals get out of Eagen and Santana. Prospects are often only as good as the system in which they’re developing, and the D-backs’ track record of pitcher development is not sparkling.

Arizona was not able to acquire a pitcher — starting or relief. It was not due to negligence on the part of GM Mike Hazen, whose subdued, frustrated demeanor was quite evident during his post-Deadline press conference.

Hazen was very clear; the Diamondbacks were “very close” on more than one pitcher. The processes simply did not go in Arizona’s favor.

“We had some things just not go our way, and it didn’t happen for us,” Hazen said. “We took some runs at a lot of the pitchers. We made a lot of players available. It just didn’t happen for us.”

Hazen said he had to draw the line at young major league hitters and reliever, most likely referring to former top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt, among some others. He was not afraid to part with some of the top talent in the D-backs’ farm. It wasn’t enough.

It even came out shortly following the Deadline, as reported by AZCentral’s Nick Piecoro, that the New York Mets backed out of a deal to send righty starter Clay Holmes to Arizona due to the medical records of a prospect involved in the trade.

As that transpired relatively late, alternative pitching options had already begun to dissipate, and the D-backs ended their Deadline festivities without pitching upgrades.

And that is the most glaring downside of this year’s Deadline for Hazen and the D-backs. It’s not Nootbaar, or even the price of Nootbaar that give pause to a more positive grade.

Arizona tried to do what was necessary to add pitching. But to rely entirely on returning, injured arms is no way to put a team in its best position to contend for a postseason berth.

The Diamondbacks’ major league roster got better with the addition of Nootbaar, but they did not complete their Deadline assignment — and that is a big risk as the stretch run looms.