Arizona Diamondbacks: Five players who should be traded
By Jason Evans
A power left-handed arm with multiple years of control will fetch all sorts of pieces back. That’s what the Arizona Diamondbacks have in Robbie Ray, who is just a year removed from an All-Star campaign of 2017, before struggling with injuries last season.
Either the New York Yankees or Philadelphia Phillies, who missed on signing Corbin, would be interested in bringing Ray into the fold. Other teams who are looking for starting pitchers would certainly want to target Ray.
Ray struck out 218 batters in 2016 and 2017, and led the NL in K/9 ratio back in 2017. His walk rate is pretty high, however, this is exactly the kind of trade chip you use to accelerate the trade process.
Ray won’t be a free agent until after 2021, so they should expect an even better return than the Seattle Mariners got for James Paxton, because Ray is controllable for one more season than Paxton is.
Like Paxton, Ray has his own injury history, as he’s only eclipsed 170 innings just once in his career and didn’t make the most of his two postseason opportunities.
However, if the right deal comes along, the Arizona Diamondbacks have to think about dealing Ray.