The Arizona Diamondbacks addressed their biggest need on Thursday night, but General Manager Mike Hazen said he still hopes to further add to his roster ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline.

“We're going to continue to look at ways of (improving),” Hazen said. “This isn't, hopefully, the only thing we do. If it is, OK, because you never know what else is going to come around the corner. But we're still going to work pretty hard for the next four days to figure out if there’s other ways to make the team better.”

As for where other additions might come, that is not entirely clear, though Hazen did say he wasn’t finished looking into more help for his bullpen, which he already upgraded with Thursday night’s addition of lefty A.J. Puk in a deal with the Miami Marlins.

Hazen sounded fairly content with the state of his position-player group. He also said he was likely to roll the dice and not acquire a starting pitcher rental, banking instead on right-hander Merrill Kelly and left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez returning to health in the coming weeks.

He did leave open the door for the Diamondbacks to pursue a controllable starter, someone who could more firmly fit into the rotation plans next year, though those types of players are not easy to acquire.

He has also said in the past week that infield depth could be an area he addresses before the deadline, particularly after prospect Jordan Lawlar’s setback in his return from a hamstring injury.

Hazen said: “I still think pitching, A, adding talent to pitching and, B, depth for the rest of the season -- this is our last bite at the apple -- that's probably the larger priority (than position players). But we're working on all those things at the same time. Getting a deal done and in the book helps us to continue to focus even further on the specific needs we have.”

-Nick Piecoro

GM Mike Hazen says he is ‘not blind’ to upside of prospects he traded

Arizona Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen had nothing but praise for the prospects he parted with in Thursday’s trade with the Miami Marlins for reliever A.J. Puk, noting that a team has to give up good players in deals to get good players in return.

In slugger Deyvison De Los Santos, the Diamondbacks are giving up a young, power-hitting prospect, who has posted eye-popping numbers in Double-A and Triple-A this season. Across the two levels, he owns a .325/.376/.635 line with 28 homers in 372 plate appearances.

“The guy is dominating in Triple-A at 21 years old,” Hazen said. “We’re not blind to it. He has huge power. He has become a better hitter. We believe that he is going to be a very good baseball player. There’s no way around it: When you're operating as a buyer at the deadline, that you’re just going to be able to give up kids that aren’t performing or nobody’s heard of or aren’t good players to get good players.

“That’s just something you have to make peace with. It’s hard. It’s not something that you run into casually. It’s that we’re blind to what the upside could be in the future. It’s not like we're teeming with guys that have the potential to do what he can do. We understand all that.”

De Los Santos has drawn comparisons to slugger Miguel Sano as a big-bodied, bat-first player capable of hitting for huge power in the middle of a lineup.

Hazen also dealt away Double-A center fielder Andrew Pintar, whom he said the Diamondbacks added to the package to get the trade across the finish line. Pintar hit .304/.403/.516 in High-A, where he was old for the level for a prospect, then struggled in a small 10-game sample at Double-A following a promotion.

Pintar was in High-A in large part because he has battled injuries since the Diamondbacks drafted him in the fifth round out of BYU in 2022.

“This guy is an ultra-athletic centerfielder that raked in Hillsboro,” Hazen said. “We’re very high on him. But we added him to the deal to get the deal done. And I think Deyvison was probably the main piece as based on his performance and his age and where he's at, but Andrew was also a very big piece of this deal for us to push in to get this deal done now.”

-Nick Piecoro

Pirates slugger dents Chevy truck

Oneil Cruz is a mountain of a man who had 15 home runs for the Pirates this season going into Friday's game against the Diamondbacks. He hit two bombs in Friday's batting practice that caused a stir among the fans inside Chase Field about 90 minutes before first pitch.

Cruz rattled the large Coors Light Strike Zone high above right center field, then moments later put a dent on the passenger side of a red Chevy Silverado pickup truck parked above all of the seats in the first level in right field.

The imprint of the baseball's stitches from Cruz's missile were visible on the truck. Fans who heard and saw the impact of the ball hitting the promotional vehicle gathered around the truck to take pictures.

Longtime Diamondbacks fan Mark Buss of Glendale saw Cruz hit both objects with home runs.

"He'd been hitting the ball pretty deep already, because he hit one home run off the Coors sign," Buss said. "The ball seems to be carrying pretty well (Friday). He just hit the truck with a big thud."

Buss, who comes out for batting practice on weekends, hadn't seen a ball hit that far to right field since he caught a Steve Finley home run out there years ago. He said Cruz hit batting-practice balls onto the walkway where the truck is stationed.

-José M. Romero

Diamondbacks pitchers' injuries update

Lovullo had updates on starting pitchers Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez before Friday's game. Kelly threw 42 pitches in a simulation game on Thursday, and Rodriguez threw 44 pitches in his Friday simulation game.

Both are on the 60-day injured list with shoulder strains in their throwing arms, Kelly in his right and Rodriguez in his left. Rodriguez has not pitched in a regular-season game this season. Kelly will throw a bullpen session on Sunday and Rodriguez will do so on Monday.

Also, Lovullo said left-handed pitcher Blake Walston (left shoulder inflammation) threw live batting practice on Friday and got to 93 or 94 mph. Walston is on the 15-day injured list and is "still a little ways away" from a decision on whether he can pitch for the Diamondbacks at some point this season, Lovullo said.

-José M. Romero

Saturday’s Diamondbacks-Pirates pitching matchup

Pirates at Diamondbacks, 5:10 p.m., Cox, Ch. 34

Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (4-6, 3.74) vs. Pirates LHP Marco Gonzales (1-1, 2.70).

At Chase Field: Pfaadt is coming off a fantastic start against the Cubs last weekend in Chicago, where he gave up just one hit and one walk in seven scoreless innings, striking out seven. Over his past four starts, he has a 0.77 ERA (two earned runs in 23 1/3 innings) with three walks and 25 strikeouts. … Pfaadt used his change-up a bit more against the Cubs, getting four swings and misses with it. He got at least one whiff with each of his five pitches. … Pfaadt has never faced the Pirates. … Gonzales, who spent the previous seven seasons with the Seattle Mariners, was traded twice in the offseason, eventually landing in Pittsburgh. He missed time this year with a forearm strain and has made only five starts but has thrown competitively in all of them. He has yet to allow more than two runs in an outing. … Gonzales averages only 90 mph with his four-seamer and sinker, but he relies heavily on a change-up and cutter, as well. The change-up has gotten whiffs 37.1 percent of the time, which would be a career-high for him.

Coming up

Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Yilber Diaz (1-1, 5.40) vs. Pirates RHP Mitch Keller (10-5, 3.34).

Monday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Jordan Montgomery (7-5, 6.11) vs. Nationals LHP DJ Herz (1-4, 4.95).

Tuesday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (7-6, 4.85) vs. Nationals LHP Mitchell Parker (5-6, 4.34).

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: DBacks GM want to add more ahead of MLB Trade Deadline