After a series of tumultuous years under former GM Kevin Towers and ex-manager Kirk Gibson, it looks like the Arizona Diamondbacks have turned the corner and are heading for greener pastures. Arizona is just 21-25 this season, but last year, the team fell four games below .500 on April 3rd, and never got to that level again. Framed in that context, a 21-25 record is downright miraculous, especially considering that the club is just a game behind the San Diego Padres (who had an incredibly active and attention-grabbing offseason) in the NL West standings.
Coincidentally, it was a little over a year ago when Tony La Russa came into the Diamondbacks front office as Chief Baseball Officer. La Russa (and Towers, to be fair) began tearing down the team last summer, dealing Tony Campana, Brandon McCarthy, Gerardo Parra, Martin Prado, and Joe Thatcher in four separate trades. Only one player received in those four deals, pitcher Vidal Nuno, has reached the majors, but Arizona was able to bolster their farm system without giving up anyone that looked like a long-term building block. In fact, Parra is the only one of those five players that is still with the team the Diamondbacks dealt him to less than a year later – now that’s how you move some talent.
This winter, the Diamondbacks and new GM Dave Stewart kept wheeling and dealing. They acquired out of favor Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson for a pair of prospects still in A-ball. They sold high on shortstop Didi Gregorius, currently driving Yankees fans up the wall, and brought in more pitching depth in ex-Tiger Robbie Ray. Arizona finally absolved themselves of Miguel Montero’s contract, and while the team has gotten absolutely nothing from behind the dish, they gained plenty of long-term financial flexibility.
That flexibility allowed the Diamondbacks to make a massive free agent splash and sign Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas. The Diamondbacks also traded Wade Miley to the Red Sox, and have watched him get outpitched by Rubby de la Rosa, one of the three players that came back in the deal. Furthermore, Arizona also cut bait on underperforming veterans Trevor Cahill and Cody Ross, eating $17 million in the process.
Where are the Diamondbacks now? They’ll only have four free agents this winter – a pair of relievers (David Hernandez, Oliver Perez) and a pair of bench players (Gerald Laird, Cliff Pennington), while two other players (Bronson Arroyo, Brad Ziegler) have club options that look likely to be bought out. The only players getting regular playing time over the age of 30 are stopgap catcher Tuffy Gosewisch and infielder Aaron Hill (who the team desperately tried to dump this offseason). The team has used just two pitchers over the age of 30 this year – the aforementioned Ziegler and Perez.
That young talent is also thriving – a healthy Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .329/.440/.611 with 12 homers. Tomas has just one homer in 33 games, but is slashing .345/.397/.436. Mark Trumbo has a career low strikeout rate, has homered eight times in 41 games, and is hitting .265/.311/.517. A.J. Pollock, David Peralta, and Ender Inciarte have all been defensive assets in the outfield, and are holding their own (at the worst) offensively.
ST. LOUIS, MO – MAY 25: Starter Chase Anderson #57 of the Arizona Diamondbacks pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning at Busch Stadium on May 25, 2015 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
The pitching staff has been more of a mixed bag, as three of those young starters (Archie Bradley, Josh Collmeneter, Jeremy Hellickson) have ERAs over 5.00. But Chase Anderson and de la Rosa have both shined, and the organization’s strong level of starting pitching depth can allow someone like Nuno or Ray to slide into the rotation in the second half in the event of continued struggles from the aforementioned struggling starters.
Let’s not be too hasty here – the Diamondbacks aren’t going to make a run to challenge the Dodgers or Giants in the NL West this season, and they may not even make a run at the division crown next year either. But the foundation for future success has been established, and Arizona is in a better position now than they were after the 2012 season, when Towers blew up a team that was just one win away from the NLCS a year earlier so they could get more gritty or whatever.
La Russa, Stewart, new manager Chip Hale, and the rest of the new regime in Arizona have given Diamondbacks fans hope in a pretty quick period, and while you may disagree with some of their assessments, we all have to admit this organization is a lot more intriguing now than it was last season.
