Here’s the latest from the desert…
- The Diamondbacks’ deadline trades are analyzed by several rival talent evaluators, who share their thoughts with Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Some scouts feel Gerardo Parra is on the decline and could’ve been a non-tender candidate since he’s on pace to earn between $6-7MM in arbitration this winter, so “getting even a decent piece for Parra is a great move,” said one American League source. Parra was dealt to the Brewers on Thursday.
- Catching prospect Peter O’Brien has power but his defense and ability to play in the NL drew mixed reviews from scouts, though the biggest benefit of his acquisition was that the Yankees took the roughly $25MM remaining on Martin Prado’s contract off Arizona’s books. Losing Prado, of course, removes the biggest piece from the Justin Upton trade, and Piecoro notes that the D’Backs have now traded several stars (including Upton, Prado and Parra, among others) when their value has been low, rather than selling high.
- One of those low-return deals could be the three-team trade between the D’Backs, Reds and Indians from December 2012, as Zack Meisel of the Cleveland Plain Dealer feels the Tribe look like the winners of that trade 20 months later. Arizona gave up a highly-regarded pitching prospect in Trevor Bauer (due to reported attitude issues with team management) and relievers Bryan Shaw and Matt Albers in the trade, and now Bauer seems to be turning the corner as a rotation staple while Shaw has been a valuable setup man for Cleveland. The Snakes, meanwhile, got back Tony Sipp, Lars Anderson and Didi Gregorius in the deal; they’ll regret this one if Bauer becomes an ace, though Gregorius seems like a promising enough young shortstop that I wouldn’t say Arizona made off poorly in the trade.
- Archie Bradley is pitching well at Double-A Mobile and, perhaps more importantly, is healthy after an injury scare in April, Jack Magruder writes for Baseball America. Bradley was shut down for a while to ensure that his right elbow was fit, and he has a 3.97 ERA, 7.4 K/9 and a 1.47 K/BB rate in 34 innings for Mobile (his numbers somewhat inflated by one particularly poor start). Magruder speculates that Bradley might get a late-season promotion if the D’Backs move to a six-man rotation.
Were those deals all made by the same Arizona GM? How many deals do you get to swing and miss on as a GM before you’re let go?
Why do you think we brought in La Russa to oversee things? Because Towers is too trade happy
Trade happy is fine, so long as your team gets real value back (this value can be present or future). Towers tends to trade for middle of career middling players, who cost a lot. Then, he extends them. The Dbacks would have been better had Towers never come to town. Just staying with their young players gives them a team that is better than the one now, almost no cost and with loads of upside.
The only move Towers came through is his extension for Goldschmidt.
I disagree about the winner of the three team deal. I think the real winner of that deal was the Reds. Bauer might turn into an ace, but at this point that is still just MIGHT. Cleveland could have won the division (and possibly the World Series) with Shin-Soo Choo instead of Drew Stubbs in 2013. The Reds got to the playoffs with him and got the #29 pick Alex Blandino this year as a compensatory pick.
Cleveland wasn’t winning the division in 2013. I know, I know, one game back. But Detroit sat all their guys the last week of the season.
Detroit has lost games when they play everyone before. At the very least there was a better chance of beating the Rays in the Wild Card game with him instead of Stubbs.
So, basically, we still need to fire Kevin Towers. Got it.
Yes. How has he lasted so long?
Most of the NL West just doesn’t understand how the GM position is supposed to work. That is why the Padres made really good trades without a GM this week and why Dan O’Dowd has been the Rockies GM since 1999 despite only 4 winning seasons (2 of those were barely over .500) in 15 years.