The participants
"KT was real classy. He called me, earlier today around 2, and wanted to meet up, didn't want to do it over the phone, so I thought that was a classy move... I know it's part of the business: I'm not going to take any moves like this personally. I'll miss the guys... Living in Arizona has been great. The people in Phoenix have welcomed me with open arms. It's always going to be my home, I'm going to live here in the off-season. There's a lot of great people in Arizona - hopefully, they'll still be great to me now I'm a Padre!"
-- Ian Kennedy
"It was a shock. You read different things, but you just never know. But it's exciting to get traded, being in a pennant race is exciting. It's a chance to win. It's an opportunity. I'm looking forward to it. It feels good to be wanted, to know Kevin Towers was willing to pull the trigger on something like this, to have that confidence in me."
-- Joe Thatcher
I've heard nothing but good things about the Diamondbacks! Excited to be a part of the organization!
— Matt Stites (@matt_stites) August 1, 2013
The organizers
"[Thatcher] reminds me a little bit of a left-handed Brad Ziegler. Somebody that will take the ball each and every night, tough angle, as is Ziegler with the right-handers. Resilient, bounces back, you can probably pitch him in back-to-back-to-back nights, good breaking ball, good fastball. I think somebody that [Gibson] will have a lot of confidence in to get big outs late in the game... I tell you Stites is somebody we're very, very excited about. Somebody that we'll probably have in big league camp and someone we think in 2014 should be in a fixture in the back end of our bullpen."
-- Kevin Towers
"We gave up things we value to get Ian Kennedy. But in order to get the kind of starting pitcher who can do what Ian can do, we felt like this was the right value for us... He's had a down year for him. We scouted him a lot and watched him recently and tried to assess at age 28 why that is. We're hopeful he can come here and get back to performing like he can."
-- Josh Byrnes
The players
"It's good for Kennedy, too, to get a fresh start somewhere else. We all know he is better than this. He was probably putting a little too much pressure on himself. He's a great teammate, a great guy, and he's a great pitcher. I have no doubt. It is just one of those years. We all have years like that. I still believe he can pitch and is going to be good for a long time."
-- Miguel Montero
"Ian's one of the first guys I talked to when I came up, he helped a lot. He's easy to talk to, been around for a little bit, and I learned to be myself up here and go after these guys - that's one of the biggest things that I learned from him. All the guys here, especially the pitchers, loved Ian: we're going to miss him, and wish him luck. I don't think we've played our best baseball yet. Maybe they're trying to mix some things up. Hopefully we can get back on track, start winning some games."
-- Patrick Corbin
"It's tough. I don't think you have the right things to say. I think we both agreed that at least San Diego is a highly-desired destination for a lot of guys, and he's a Southern California guy. It is a business but you're still dealing with people, with families, with kids... I'm just hoping it's not too little too late. We felt good about the guys that we had in here. We're obviously on a cold streak right now, but baseball's very contagious and we just need to flip that... We need to make it work with what we've got."
-- Eric Chavez
The pundits
"The fate of this deal will ride on two outcomes: First, whether or not the Diamondbacks can edge out the Dodgers in the NL West thanks to improved late-game relief and second, if Kennedy ever returns to his ace-like form. The answer to the former will likely come much sooner than the answer to the latter."
-- Joe Lemire, SI
"At issue is whether the Diamondbacks got as much as they could’ve and should’ve, and ultimately they turned Kennedy into an older reliever, a younger proven reliever, and a pick. It feels like one of those trades where Kevin Towers didn’t work to get as many teams involved as possible. It feels like Towers sold low, and it feels like this offer should’ve been beat."
-- Jeff Sullivan, Fangraphs
"[Kennedy's 2011] was a mirage, in large part the result of being a severe fly-ball pitcher in front of one of the game's best defensive outfields that year... In San Diego, however, the fly-ball high-wire act might work better than it did in Arizona, as he's moving from a good home run park to one of the majors' worst .. The return for Arizona is slight, although it reflects the performance of Kennedy this year and the team's desire to just be rid of him."
-- Keith Law, ESPN