The day is June 1^st, 2014, and the D-backs are in last place. The night before, Johnny Cueto’s fastball found A.J. Pollock’s hand and fractured it. With Mark Trumbo out since April with a fractured foot, the D-backs were running low on outfielders, and they needed someone to face off against the Reds. The choice was a peculiar one: a former pitcher from the Cardinals organization who less than a year prior was playing in an Independent League. But when your club is racing towards baseball’s worst record, sometimes you just need someone to play some innings. Hence, David Peralta received his MLB debut.

Cut to the fourth inning. There’s two outs, with Martin Prado on first, a 2-0 count, and Peralta at the plate. Devin Mesoraco sets up for a sinker outside, but Alfredo Simon leaves it inside. The swing isn’t one that newer D-backs’ fans would recognize. Peralta starts with an open stance, the bat laying horizontally on his shoulder. He’s hunched over a bit, and the name plastered on his back is visible to the pitcher. As Simon begins his motion, David begins his, springing the bat up into a vertical position and lifting his front leg well off the ground. Over the years, all of these elements have been toned down or removed entirely. But what won’t surprise newer fans is the result. Peralta turns on it and shoots it just past second baseman Brandon Phillips for his first career hit and the start of a seven-game hit streak.

Since then, Peralta has become a reliable face in the D-backs lineup, playing in parts of nine different seasons, and being valuable in every one. His aggressive baserunning earned him the nickname “The Freight Train”, and he soon became a local favorite. He ranks third all-time among D-backs in games played, fourth in doubles, and sixth in home runs. He won a Silver Slugger in 2018 and a Gold Glove in 2019.

So naturally, when David Peralta was traded to the Rays for C Christian Cerda, it was a sad farewell. It hurts even more that throughout his lengthy tenure, the team brought him to the playoffs only once but put up the worst record in baseball twice. Realistically, the only way that the Freight Train would spend these next months in the desert is if the team was genuinely competing for the postseason. The club’s failure to do that over the past two decades has made these farewells all too common.

The Peralta trade, however, has a bitter-sweet element. The team has compiled an impressive group of outfielders, and this trade is a passing of the torch to the younger wave. Long-time top prospects Daulton Varsho and Alek Thomas have established themselves as major-league starters. Jake McCarthy, the club’s top signed player from the 2018 draft, has earned himself more playing time as of late. Behind him, their best prospect yet, Corbin Carroll, is in AAA, the team just drafted OF Druw Jones with the second overall pick, and Stone Garrett is raking in Reno. The point: the organization has created a surplus of strong outfielders, and the obvious move is to trade from that surplus to provide value elsewhere. 

Peralta was the obvious choice for a trade. His contract expires at the end of the season; hence, the D-backs had a choice to get something or nothing for him. Following this season, there isn’t enough room on the Chase Field grass to bring him back despite how beloved he is. With the D-backs not competing for a playoff spot this year, receiving a player that has some degree of potential to help a future playoff contender was the priority. Further, Peralta will be 35 in August, and while there are only limited signs of decline thus far, his production won’t last forever. 

Returns for mid-season rentals are never that impressive. Teams don’t want to mortgage the future for two-months of production from an outfielder in his mid-30s, but they will hand you a lottery ticket. There tends to be two paths that selling teams can pursue in these kinds of deals. They can either trade for an older, more seasoned prospect with significant flaws that need correction, or they can pick up a young, unproven guy who has more potential and more risk. The D-backs chose the latter.

Christian Cerda is a 19-year-old catcher who was born in New York but hails from the Dominican Republic. The Rays signed him for $325K, which suggests that he was a notable, albeit not top, international prospect. Reports from his signing suggest that he has a strong arm and power potential. In a small sample at the Florida Complex League, he’s impressed with a line of .315/.464/.519. He’s shown an impressive ability to draw walks both stateside and in the Dominican (although it becomes much more difficult to do so against more advanced pitching). The D-backs have far more information on him than the public does, and they’ve been interested in him for a while.

The team has several individual who could receive playing time following Peralta’s departure. In the outfield, Jake McCarthy will likely take on a full-time role for much of the rest of the season. Long seen as a likely fourth outfielder, McCarthy’s performance this year has earned an audition for a larger role. While Corbin Carroll is unlikely to be called up immediately, he may debut later this season, and Stone Garrett may get a shot as well. But the D-backs already have four outfielders rostered, so they could seek offensive help elsewhere. This could include giving Seth Beer his second hack at the majors. 

Ultimately, the Peralta trade will be remembered as the end of one of the best stories that D-backs’ fans have witnessed. While the story came to its natural conclusion, it’s still hard to say good-bye.