Arizona Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall told FOXSports.com (as reported by Jon Paul Morosi) that GM Kevin Towers has the green-light to add payroll leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.  With that said, the team could fulfill a team need in the bullpen.

“We’ve got the flexibility,” Hall said. “Our ownership group is willing to invest in this team. We’ve told KT, ‘If we’re in it, we’ll do whatever it takes to support you.’”

The team is currently in second place by 2 1/2 games, but that’s not bad given that they had the sixth-smallest payroll at $53.6 million to open the 2011 season.

One team that could be a trading partner are the NL West rival San Diego Padres.  Morosi says the Padres have a surplus of relievers and Towers is familiar with the organization since he was their GM through the 2009 season.  However, given that they are in the same division, it may take more coercion (read: money) to make a deal happen.  Another alternative is the Minnesota Twins’ Matt Capps.

Image by Ken Lund under the Creative Commons License.