Diamondbacks GM Explains Merrill Kelly Trade

On Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks' roster incurred heavy casualties as they sold off multiple key members of their roster at the July 31 Trade Deadline.

One such departure was long-tenured veteran right-hander Merrill Kelly, who was dealt to the Texas Rangers in exchange for three pitching prospects.

Kelly, 36, had pitched to a 3.22 ERA this season, and has been the model of consistency and professionalism in his time with the D-backs, endearing himself to fans and teammates.

Such a trade can be felt deeply. But ultimately, Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen felt the value of the return outweighed what Kelly would bring to Arizona now, and in the future were he to decline a qualifying offer.

Hazen met with the media on Thursday to discuss his Deadline endeavors, and addressed the Kelly trade in depth.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Mike Hazen Discusses Merrill Kelly trade

Hazen spoke positively about Kelly as a person and a pitcher, emphasizing the difficulty of parting with a player and person of his caliber.

"It's tough," Hazen said. "You develop relationships with these guys... somebody like Merrill who came back from where he was, grew up, established himself as a major league player, and then became one of the best starting pitchers in baseball under our watch. I mean, that's even tougher.

"Who he is as a person, his family. ... he had some experience underneath him, but I think as far as becoming a major league player and then growing up through that system, with us, there's a huge attachment and all he did for the community, all he did when he was here, he's going to be missed," Hazen said.

Of course, Kelly is an Arizona native. Speculation will circle about whether or not the veteran would welcome a reunion deal to come back to the desert.

Kelly was honest about that possibility in a recent interview with Diamondbacks On SI's Jack Sommers, saying he would harbor no ill will if traded, and would be open to a potential return.

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Hazen would not say if that topic was discussed in his communications with Kelly, but did seem to imply that question may have been broached.

"I won't get into the specifics of the phone call, but we definitely talked, touched on a few topics that may be in and around those areas," Hazen said.

"I begrudgingly make some of these trades, having to put the hat on to look at the longterm. ... but it comes at a cost, and that cost is losing people and players like Merrill Kelly, but who knows what happens in the future.

"We wish him the best. And I told him, 'Go out, win the world series with the Rangers,'" Hazen said.

Diamondbacks' Mike Hazen on New Pitching Prospects

Hazen also discussed the return for Kelly.

The Rangers sent their No. 5, No. 9 and No. 13 prospects to Arizona — all starting pitchers.

The return included left-hander Kohl Drake, left-hander Mitch Bratt and righty David Hagaman.

Drake posted a 2.44 ERA in Double-A, earning a recent Triple-A promotion. Bratt has a 3.18 ERA in 18 Double-A starts, and Hagaman has limited experience, with a 3.51 ERA in Low-A.

"The two left-handed starters at the upper levels, throw strikes, good stuff. I feel like they're going to be on the radar very quickly for us here in the next year," Hazen said. "And then Hagaman is a big arm that we got lower down in the system."

The D-backs have seemingly received nothing but pitching prospects, with the exception of first baseman Tyler Locklear from the Eugenio Suárez trade.

"Again, we're adding to the stable of arms that we have. And we felt like we needed to build that up," Hazen said.

"We have spent a lot of our capital in the draft over the last few years on position players, and recently we're taking some pitching, but we felt like building up where we're going to need our rotation and bullpen to be moving forward.

"We just felt like adding these guys to the stable, guys that we have, gives us the most chances to end up with the most robust pitching staff at the major league level."

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