The Arizona Diamondbacks have been a tough read this season.
Entering the season, things were looking a bit more positive for the club. The team cemented its management structure, bringing in Chip Hale at manager and Dave Stewart at general manager. The D-Backs also scored in free agency, bringing in the most coveted international free agent Yasmany Tomas with a mammoth six-year, $68.5 million deal. And the front office was aggressive in changing the starting rotation, adding Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster and Jeremy Hellickson.
Arizona didn’t position itself as a contender, but being proactive meant at least trying to improve the club, even if it wasn’t working.
The team’s offense hasn’t disappointed. Arizona has produced runs at a healthy rate, scoring the seventh-most runs in the league (344). Tomas has played solidly in his first year with the club. He’s only hit four home runs, but has slashed a .314/.357/.440 line, and has gotten better as the season has progressed. At 24, he looks like a legitimate piece to build upon going forward for the club. Paul Goldschmidt has played like an MVP this season, putting up video game numbers with 20 home runs, 15 stolen bases and a .352/.467/.637 line. The Diamondbacks have also received solid contributions from outfielder A.J. Pollock, Ender Inciarte and Dave Peralta.
It’s the pitching which has struggled. The team’s 26th-ranked ERA (4.30) has been bloated, mostly due to the team’s inconsistent rotation. Outside of Chase Anderson (3.66) and Robbie Ray (1.98 in six starts), no D-backs starter has an ERA below 4.69. Josh Collmenter’s return to the rotation lasted 12 starts before he was returned to the bullpen, and Hellickson has been lit up, allowing 13 home runs and a 5.38 ERA. The team has embraced a youth movement recently, as super prospect Archie Bradley (before he got injured) and Webster have both made multiple starts for the team.
:PHOENIX, AZ – APRIL 06: General manager Dave Stewart and manager Chip Hale #3 of the Arizona Diamondbacks talk on the field before the Opening Day MLB game against the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field on April 6, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Midway through the season, the direction the team intends to take still isn’t clear.
Arizona gave up Tyler Skaggs and Adam Eaton to acquire slugger Mark Trumbo, only to flip him at 75 cents on the dollar to the Mariners. Last week, the team traded their sixth-ranked prospect Touki Toussant to the Atlanta Braves for essentially nothing. The move was universally panned and brought into question what exactly the team was doing. Giving up a young, controllable prospect who’s only going to get better for cap relief is a bizarre move for a team that doesn’t necessarily need the cash.
Stewart’s comments on the trade didn’t exactly inspire confidence. He mentioned Toussant’s fastball decline (which isn’t true) and the fact he won’t be ready for a long while as reasons for the trade. From Ken Rosenthal’s column:
“The truth is we did not know what Touki’s value would be if we shopped him. There is a lot of speculation on that. People are assuming it would have been better, but we don’t know.”
“There was an opportunity to make a deal that gave us more flexibility today as well as next year. We took that opportunity. It’s tough to say we could have gotten more. He was drafted at No. 16, given ($2.7) million. In my opinion, that’s his value.
“To this point, he has pitched OK, he has pitched well. But guys are mentioning that he throws 96 mph. He hasn’t thrown 96 mph since he’s been here. We haven’t seen 96 once. There is some inflation of what people think Touki is.
“We think he’ll be a major-league pitcher. We don’t see it happening in the next three or four years. Maybe five or six years down the road, he’ll show up and be a major-league pitcher. But that is a long ways down the road.”
For a team that’s not in win-now mode, you’d think they’d be patient in developing young arms. Five or six years isn’t that long for player drafted as recently as Toussant. The move shows incompetence.
Are the D-Backs going for it this year? Are they rebuilding for the future? Who knows? Giving up assets for free and trying to save money midseason won’t help them with either endeavour. The D-Backs are in baseball winning purgatory.
