The Arizona Diamondbacks closed the books Thursday on one of their more consequential deadline moves, officially sending right-hander Brian Curley to the St. Louis Cardinals as the player to be named later in the August 3 deal that brought outfielder Lars Nootbaar to Chase Field.
For Arizona, the final piece of the return is now public. St. Louis already received right-hander Daniel Eagen and left-hander Sandro Santana when the clubs made the swap.
Curley, a 23-year-old from Midlothian, Virginia, was the remaining name. The Diamondbacks had taken him in the third round, 92nd overall, of the 2025 draft out of Georgia, and he spent his first professional season climbing the system before the trade was completed.
That season offered a mixed but useful read. Curley opened at High-A and worked 69 2/3 innings over 15 appearances, 13 of them starts, posting a 4.52 ERA with 90 strikeouts.
Arizona bumped him to Double-A Amarillo in mid-July. The results were rougher there: a 6.41 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings across 10 starts.
He is a young arm with strikeout stuff and limited professional mileage, the kind of piece a club chasing a playoff spot can part with when a proven major-league bat is available in late summer.
Nootbaar was that bat. He arrived with six seasons in St. Louis behind him, a .241/.340/.402 career line, 61 home runs, 210 RBI and 9.8 wins above replacement.
Arizona paid for present help more than for a long-term cornerstone. Under club control through 2027 and earning $5.25 million this season, he gave the Diamondbacks a left-handed outfield option who gets on base.
In the desert, the production was solid if not spectacular. Nootbaar hit .244/.353/.409 with five home runs and 17 RBI after the deal.
The on-base percentage was the selling point, a .353 mark that fit a lineup looking for professional at-bats down the stretch. It was not enough to push Arizona into October.
The Diamondbacks finished with 86 wins and missed the postseason by a narrow margin, a result that will color how the trade is remembered even if Nootbaar himself was not the reason the club fell short.
Completing the deal with Curley clarifies the cost. Arizona gave up three pitchers, two of them already named and one a recent third-round pick whose first full season included a promotion and a rise in ERA.
In exchange, the club bought two months of a disciplined outfielder and another year of control.
Whether that exchange looks wise will depend less on Curley’s next start in the Cardinals system than on what Nootbaar produces in 2027, when Arizona still has him and St. Louis does not.
