Diamondbacks season ticket holders might be puzzled with the direction the team is taking and perhaps a little frustrated over being charged for the first quarter of the 2021 season just hours before some of their favorite players were traded for a new group of players who have yet to make a name for themselves in the big leagues.

Archie Bradley, who made his debut with the Diamondbacks in 2015, was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for utility roster player, Josh VanMeter, and outfielder Stuart Fairchild as well as $100,000 to cover the remaining salary still left on Archie Bradley’s contract.

Starling Marte, who was only recently traded to the Diamondbacks from the Pirates in early 2020, was dealt to the Marlins for two pitchers, Caleb Smith and Humberto Mejia as well as a player who will be named at a later date.

The last, big name, big budget player the Diamondbacks bid farewell at the deadline was left handed pitcher, Robbie Ray, who was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for left handed reliever Travis Bergen, who previously played for the San Francisco Giants.  Bergen was placed on assignment by the Blue Jays this season and had only made one start with Toronto before the trade.

The trades come at a time when the team is struggling mightily for wins, having lost 13 of their last 15 games.

On Monday night, following what many characterized as fire-sale type trades, Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen issued a letter to season ticket holders.  The letter sounds like an attempt to reassure them that the moves were made with the intention of rapidly improving the team.

“We want to keep our fan favorites and those drafted and developed here, but given the way this year went, we were not in a position to do that right now, Hazen wrote in the letter.  “We started this season with every expectation of making the playoffs so today is certainly disappointing. But we are well positioned to improve even further during the offseason and put a team on the field in 2021 that competes hard every day and makes you proud.”

Even though Hazen’s letter seems to look optimistically forward to next season, some of the verbiage he used makes the current season look like a lost cause.  A detail which was not lost to D-backs shortstop Nick Ahmed.

“That’s infuriating,” he said Tuesday, according to arizonasports.com.  “Hopefully, Mike stops making comments like that. No one is packing in the towel, no one’s saying we’re giving up on the season. As a player, that pisses me off big-time.”

“There’s no one with that type of attitude,” Ahmed reportedly added.  “I don’t know exactly what Mike’s words were or comments were, but there’s no one with an attitude of like, ‘Hey, we’re giving up.’ That’s nonexistent in the clubhouse.”

The D-backs scratched out a win on Friday in their first game of their last series of the season against San Francisco.  The four-game series continues through Monday.

Dbacks.com reports that former Giant, Madison Bumgarner, will return from the 10-day injured list, having recovered from a mid-back strain, to face his old team tonight.  Bumgarner’s last start was Aug. 9, a 9-5 loss against the San Diego Padres.