Next in our Offseason In Review series, the Diamondbacks.
Major League Signings
- Brandon Webb, SP: one year, $8.5MM. Club option exercised.
- Adam LaRoche, 1B: one year, $6MM. Includes $7.5MM mutual option for 2011 with a $1.5MM buyout.
- Kelly Johnson, 2B: one year, $2.35MM. Arbitration-eligible for 2011.
- Bob Howry, RP: one year, $2.25MM. Includes $3MM club option with a $250K buyout.
- Total spend: $19.1MM.
Notable Minor League Signings
Extensions
- Justin Upton, RF: six years, $51.25MM.
- Mark Reynolds, 3B: three years, $14.5MM. Includes $11MM club option for 2013 with a $500K buyout.
- Edwin Jackson, SP: two years, $13.35MM.
Trades and Claims
- Acquired RP Aaron Heilman from Cubs for 1B Ryne White and P Scott Maine
- Acquired SP Edwin Jackson from Tigers and SP Ian Kennedy from Yankees, giving up SP Max Scherzer and RP Daniel Schlereth
- Claimed Rule 5 P Zach Kroenke from Yankees
Notable Losses
- Chad Tracy, Eric Byrnes, Alex Romero, Josh Whitesell, Trent Oeltjen, Tony Clark, Doug Davis, Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth, Scott Schoeneweis, Daniel Cabrera, Tom Gordon, Doug Slaten, Yusmeiro Petit, Bobby Korecky
Summary
This offseason Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes revamped his rotation and the right side of his infield, acquired a pair of veteran relievers, and added cost certainty with three extensions. Let's take a closer look.
You already know how I feel about the LaRoche and Johnson signings – they were two of my ten best free agent signings of the offseason. LaRoche is a clear upgrade over the players the D'Backs used at first base in '09, though Johnson's ceiling is the .298/.372/.448 second base line Arizona got from Felipe Lopez, Ryan Roberts, and Augie Ojeda. The team has good depth at second base, with Roberts and Ojeda still around and Tony Abreu in the mix.
Webb had August shoulder surgery and may miss all of April. Still, I feel that choosing the $8MM net price was the right move at the time and Webb will still provide 175 above-average innings. I'm not enthused by the Howry and Heilman additions; they may combine for a good number of devastating home runs allowed.
The D'Backs have a new-look rotation for 2010. Davis, Scherzer, Petit, and Jon Garland are gone after providing two-thirds of the team's starts in '09. The move from Scherzer to Jackson may actually be a more expensive downgrade. I like the Kennedy pickup, but maybe Byrnes would've been better-served trying to pull off a trade without the Scherzer-Jackson component. On the other hand, the D'Backs know Scherzer better than anyone.
Byrnes' arbitration buyout extensions have been a mixed bag so far, with Webb and Dan Haren on the positive side and Chad Tracy, Chris Young, and Chris Snyder on the negative. This winter, the Upton signing was a huge win, while the Reynolds extension didn't appear to bring significant cost savings.
The D'Backs did a solid job in free agency, and have crafted a lineup with few easy outs. Webb is the key to the season, as they'll open with Kennedy as the #3 starter.
It would have been cool if after every offseason in review the writer would have given a grade. A+ thru F.
lol. I agree, it’s easy for a writer to flame when you’re not putting anything on the line, like the general managers.
Tim and the other writers are pretty stand up guys. On many occasions I’ve seen Tim admit to a bad prediction and link back to his original thoughts on a topic.
While he didn’t provide a grade it’s pretty clear that the overall off-season is viewed positively.
One more note – while it’s possible to grade an off-season what does that tell you? The team could have an amazing off-season and still perform poorly (or vice versa).
Thanks. If there’s one thing I don’t do it’s flame…I just look at the offseason moves objectively and give my honest opinions on them. I think plenty is on the line, since MLBTR’s archives are forever. The grade idea is interesting, but I fear people would get hung up on the grade and maybe not read the article as closely or at all. Most offseasons are a mixed bag of good and bad in my opinion, so to try to slap some letter grade on it doesn’t do the nuances justice.
I think my comment was misunderstood, or I misspoke. Sorry. What I meant to say was that it would have been cool if after reviewing a team, like Tim has been doing, he would grade the team’s offseason to go along with his summary. Kind of like like at the end of a movie review the writer will give a summary of his opinions and then grade the movie A thru F. I made that comment because I feel the writers on this site are talented and I would love to see a grade given. Just my opinion. I’m sorry again for not wording my first comment correctly. Keep up the good work Tim and staff.
maybe i didn’t express myself that right. maybe not flame, but judge.
maybe i didn’t express myself that right. maybe not flame, but judge.
Edwin jackson makes the move from Al to the NL and should there for have a great season a head of him and have no problem beating Scherzers numbers. Scherzer in the AL though, I don’t want him on my fantasy team
I feel great about our chances in 2010, if Webb can get into form and Kennedy can turn out to be a solid number 4. As far as our fifth slot, Lopez and Benson hopefully can be decent enough to beat out whoever the Dodgers have coming out of that slot.