Why trading Jean Segura could make sense this summer

Jean Segura is in the midst of a career year. The Diamondbacks second baseman is batting .313/.363/.438 and is second in the NL in hits, making this his best campaign since his All-Star 2013 campaign.

This has been one of the few bright spots for the Diamondbacks this season, who continue to drift farther and farther into the abyss of the NL West. It’s clear that the team won’t be playing October baseball this year.

So with this being the case, the Diamondbacks should entertain trading Segura at the deadline– and pull the trigger at the right price.

Now, it seems unlikely that the team would do this right after trading several assets for Segura in January. And given the fact that he’s still under team control for two years, it wouldn’t make much sense for them to trade if they couldn’t get something fantastic back in return.

But Segura’s trade value may never be this high again. We’re talking about someone who had a sub-.300 on-base percentage in 2014 and 2015. He’s been much better this season, and he still has two affordable arbitration years before he becomes a free agent. That could make him very appealing to contending teams looking for an extra bat– or even teams that aren’t yet contending who want to build for the next two years.

It would be very difficult to imagine the Diamondbacks parting ways with Segura. But if a team offers you a top-tier prospect, it would make total sense to do just that.