Diamondbacks intend to buy at trade deadline despite 'really tough' National League race, says GM Mike Hazen

The Diamondbacks currently sit on the outside of the playoff picture, but there's plenty of time

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been on quite the roller coaster lately. They lost nine of their last 10 games to close out May, falling four games below .500. They've gone 9-3 in June, though, winning in ridiculous fashion Saturday night with a five-run ninth to walk it off. They've also this month lost ace Corbin Burnes for the season to Tommy John surgery. 

Entering Sunday, the D-backs are 36-34, which is 5 ½ games out in the NL West and 2 ½ games out of the third National League wild-card. That's contention (+130 to make the playoffs, per DraftKings), but there's also the chance they fall back before the trade deadline and end up sellers. They are one of the bigger teams to watch in these next few weeks to see how everything sorts itself out.

If the Diamondbacks do end up a seller in front of the trade deadline, they'd turn some heads. Pitchers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly along with corner infielders Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor are all free agents at the end of the season and could net a decent return. 

D-backs general manager Mike Hazen discussed the situation on MLB Network Radio Sunday.

"It's hard for me to watch how hard these guys are grinding every day and then take the trap door and rip it out from underneath them, honestly, and we kind of do these jobs to take shots and win," he said.

"As long as we're playing well and I believe that this team has the gas in the tank to go get it, we're gonna try to add to this team. I don't really find it all that fun to sit there in August and September and go to the ballpark every day knowing you're gonna get your butt kicked. That's not really exciting for me, to be honest with you. I've done that for a few seasons and that stinks. I have no real intention to go do that, in all honesty.

"Now, I'm not an idiot. I'm not gonna sit there and just throw bad money after bad. If we're not in a position, we take on more injuries, our depth gets thinned out to the point where it's going to be very hard for us to cobble something together to chase in the wild-card race where we're down behind five different clubs and -- let me just say this -- the National League is what it is. It's a really tough league and we know that. But I think we're tough, too, and I'm not sure when we walk into town teams are celebrating."

We're one month away from the All-Star Game and around that time, we'll have a better feel for what teams are sticking around in contention and what are falling a bit back. The Diamondbacks are one of those that could go either way. Hazen definitely sounds like he wants to be a buyer, but he's also likely going to be open to selling if they fall back.