The offseason is naturally a boring time for baseball fans, and we try to hold ourselves over until Pitchers and Catchers Report Day through projections, prospect rankings, and offseason signings. But in the past few years, offseason signings have dwindled, and the dreary winter months have been more boring than ever. For the Dbacks, this has been more true than most teams, quite remarkably, because Hazen, three offseasons in, has yet to make a major splash in free agency. Each offseason has been highlighted by one major trade (Segura, Souza, Goldy), followed by a series of minor pickups that you will have forgotten in five years time.
Dback Pitchers Are Slowing Down—On Purpose?
Pace of play has become a controversial issue surrounding the sport ever since Commissioner Rob Manfred replaced Commissioner Bud Selig as the most powerful person in baseball. Manfred has wanted to speed up the game, which so far has meant a series of ineffective initiatives such as removing the four-pitch intentional walk and other tiny "time-wasting" aspects of the game. The debate on the topic remains heated, but regardless of your opinion—or even that of the players—larger reforms (a pitch clock, mainly) are coming. Everything is pointing towards a faster nine innings.
And The Beginning
In the last article, I wrote about the Goldschmidt Trade entirely from the viewpoint of what the Dbacks gave away, what that meant, and the end of the era. I intentionally ignored the return because the face of the franchise leaving is too large of a deal to not get its own spotlight. But the end of the Goldy Era has fostered the beginning of the next era, whatever that may look like, so now, I am going to look at the trade entirely from the opposite perspective: what we gained, what that means, and the birth of an era.
It's been wild ride for Weaver over the past couple of years. Before the 2017 season, he was ranked as the 7th best prospect in the Cardinals organization on account of "an easy plus change," but he lacked a third pitch that could keep him in a major-league rotation. He broke out to a 3.88/2.93/3.19 ERA/xFIP/DRA line in ten games started that season, but in 2018, in fifteen more starts, he was less valuable, as his DRA rose to 4.62, about three percent below-average. His strikeout rate fell 8.7%, his walk rate rose 2.1%, and he still is searching for that ever-so-important third pitch.
The End
Welcome to the end of the Goldschmidt Era, to the day we've all wanted to avoid. Regardless, the sun rose over the desert this morning, as it will on Opening Day this April. That first week Luke Weaver will pitch with Carson Kelly behind the plate, and somebody different at first base. The transition is going to be ugly, and Chase Field will be empty. Maybe, the organization has turned a corner, and the pieces acquired yesterday afternoon will hoist the trophy; maybe Goldy's talent won't be put to waste. But for now, all we know is that this is the end, and that we will never forget 44.
What You Can Buy With Seven Million Dollars
Escobar deserves more than seven million dollars, and if he chose to take the highest offer on the free agent market, Escobar would be paid a whole lot more than seven million dollars. Yet for some combination of reasons which we will never fully know, Escobar decided to sign with the Dbacks for three years, earning only seven million dollars every year. It's a strange scenario, and also a strange reminder that these are not robots trying to earn as much gold as possible before they break down. These are real players with real emotions, concerns, and interests, and somehow those lined up to where Escobar was willing to sign for cheap.
Envisioning a Rebuild
Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion over the direction the Diamondbacks should head in, and it is not hard to understand why. While the Dbacks missed the postseason by nine games, they showed extended flashes of postseason talent and held onto the division lead until September struck. However, some of that talent, in the form of A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin, will be leaving the team, or at the very least, will command a significant raise. Financially, the front office spent more on this season than they have for any prior team, and with the controlled players contracts set to rise, ownership may not allow the payroll to balloon for a team that barely finished over .500. Still, 2019 represents the last season that Paul Goldschmidt is under team control, and rebuilding means giving up on the hope of capitalizing on one of the best talents in the game. On the other hand, if the team goes for it in 2019 and fails to make the playoffs, they will lose a major opportunity to build the farm and could trap themselves at the bottom of the league, potentially preventing themselves from winning until the mid-late 2020s—or later.
2018 In Context
It's all over now.
Actually, it was over weeks ago, but now it's really over. No chance of making the postseason, no more ways to help the Dodgers succumb to that same fate, just three games against the Padres so that we can say goodbye. The month of September, which for over a month prior was expected to be a fun, exciting journey, turned out to be exciting for everybody but the Dbacks. Instead of a wild ride to the postseason, September has given the Dbacks a sole series win after it was already too late. The craziness of this year, the ups and downs, have subsided, the dust has settled, and the 2018 Diamondbacks are dead.
2018 Mid-season Top-15 Prospect List
The future and the present often contradict each other. Mike Hazen is tasked with giving the team the best possible shot to compete for the hardware this season, but he also must build towards a murky future. At the deadline, trying to balance these two extremes, Hazen chose to sacrifice whatever resemblance of depth the organization had in order to acquire "win-now players," but he held onto the top of the system, which is slowly but surely recovering from the Stewart Days. The draft ended up more disappointing than we had hoped for, with Matt McLain opting to honor his commitment to UCLA, but the team did ink several high-upside plays, like Alek Thomas, Blaze Alexander, and Tyler Holton, to go along with Competitive-Balance Pick Jake McCarthy. For this system—still lacking in every category—the brightest light may be yet to come: six new Day 1 picks could be coming next June. If so, one day next June will shape the organization for the next decade.
A Revamped Bullpen
You could sense that it was all coming to a close, but Archie was still out there. He didn't want the dream to end, and he was the only one qualified in the pen to be there. So, Lovullo ran him out there for fourty-eight pitches after he tossed fourty just two days prior. As the sun set on the 2017 season, everybody knew that Archie needed more help; he couldn't do it alone. Bullpens are so important in the postseason, and Bradley, essentially, was the Diamondbacks' bullpen. Now, having learned from his mistakes, Hazen seems resolved to put together a full team of relievers, ready for a second run to the postseason.
Dbacks Add Escobar to Fuel Stretch Run
The trade sends a clear, all-caps message to the rest of the league that the Dbacks are here to compete, as expected. It ensures that the team will not suffer from the Lamb injury, and once he is healthy, it improves the everyday offense while also providing at least one potentially potent bat off the bench to be leveraged for the stretch run. It allows Lovullo to use the platoon advantages of Escobar's switch-hitting abilities to better tailor lineups to the pitcher. Rather than the big, flashy production of J.D. Martinez, Hazen has decided to keep his top prospects while improving two spots in the lineup. While the competitive window is closing fast, the front office is ensuring it will be as competitive as possible.
Roof and Panels Open 