Arizona Diamondbacks: Five players who should be traded
Now that Patrick Corbin and Paul Goldschmidt are gone, who should the Arizona Diamondbacks move next?
Within a 24 hour span, the Arizona Diamondbacks number two starter and their face of the franchise will be playing in different uniforms. Patrick Corbin signed a six year deal with the Washington Nationals and Paul Goldschmidt was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for a package of prospects and a draft pick. Useful utility player Chris Owings, who was non-tendered also agreed to a deal with the Kansas City Royals.
The Arizona Diamondbacks now have seven of the top 70 picks in the 2019 MLB Draft. It’s fair to say that they are the NL’s version of the Seattle Mariners, except they made the playoffs two years ago, unlike the Mariners.
These two can’t be the only pieces out the door though. The Arizona Diamondbacks need to back up the truck and continue to offload pieces and #trusttheprocess. It’s hard to imagine a club losing Corbin, Goldschmidt and most likely, A.J. Pollock, really competing for a playoff spot, so instead of being stuck in the middle, it’s time to tank and then come back, no matter what their GM says.
This is a club that spent plenty of time in first place last year, only to see everything fall apart in September and drop out of the race. That means that there are plenty of pieces to move, to help them land more process and get set for the next contender in the desert.
The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to be at the top of the division, and with their combination of money and prospects, should be at or near the top for a while. The Colorado Rockies have Nolan Arrenado for one more run. The San Diego Padres are gearing up for a run with a loaded farm system that’s bubbling up prospects left and right while the San Francisco Giants are right in the middle of a decline.
It was the perfect time for the Arizona Diamondbacks to go all out. Now, who should be next out of the desert? Let’s take a look.
While the Arizona Diamondbacks are undergoing a reboot, they have to find a way to shed most if not all of the salary of Zack Greinke. The 34-year old made his fourth All-Star team in the past five years, and was a 15 game winner.
The problem with Greinke is his 15 team no-trade clause and his massive salary. Greinke is due to be paid $104 million over the next three seasons. The Arizona Diamondbacks are going to have to eat some of the money on that deal in order to make it more palatable for another team to take, plus, possibly take on a bad contract that team has.
On the plus side, even though Greinke is an older pitcher, he doesn’t rely on velocity, so even as he gets older, he should still be successful.
For a team that isn’t a big market club, having one player take up so much of the payroll doesn’t make sense. Even though they may try and compete this year, having this albatross doesn’t help.
Maybe they can attach another asset to help facilitate a Greinke trade, like the Seattle Mariners did by adding Edwin Diaz into the Robinson Cano trade with the New York Mets.
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.
If a team that is looking to upgrade their outfield fails to get Bryce Harper, A.J. Pollock or someone like that, maybe they should turn their attention to trying to make a deal for David Peralta. You know what? The Arizona Diamondbacks should certainly listen if that is the case.
Peralta comes with two years of team control and is coming off of his best year since 2015. Peralta hit .293 with an .868 OPS, and posted career highs in homers with 30 and RBI with 87 and won his first career Silver Slugger Award.
If you’re going to rebuild, this is the kind of piece you should trade now at its peak and while the team getting him gets the most value.
Peralta hasn’t had this kind of power and production season in a few years and its an opportunity to sell high on a player.
The Arizona Diamondbacks don’t have a ton of outfield depth, however, maybe one of the pieces that comes back could be someone who could step in and replace him. For example, if the Philles lose out on Harper, maybe they use Nick Williams to get Peralta.
If you’re going through a rebuild, having a shiny closer is like having brand new rims on a car where the transmission and the engine doesn’t work. This is why the Mariners dealt Edwin Diaz in the Robinson Cano trade. This is also why the Arizona Diamondbacks should explore dealing Archie Bradley in their tear down.
Teams will pay a premium for power relievers to help close games, especially with multiple years of team control, like Bradley who will be a free agent after the 2021 season.
Bradley is coming off of a down season in comparison to what he did two years ago. He still struck out over a batter per inning, he just gave up a couple more hits than he did in 2017. His hard hit percentage went up 9%, but the rest of his numbers are in line with how he pitched in 2017.
He’s not a closer, but a reliever that can go multiple innings and pitch in multiple roles is certainly valuable and someone that can add a few pieces on a rebuild. Any team that thinks they are in contention and looking for bullpen help may just part with some prospect collateral to get Bradley into their bullpen.
SS- Nick Ahmed
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There are plenty of shortstop options in the free agent market, but few if any are going to combine the production on both sides of the ball that Nick Ahmed would offer a team. Like Peralta, trading Nick Ahmed, coming off an offensive breakout and with two years of team control, could be a sell high opportunity for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Ahmed’s 21 DRS was tied with Andrelton Simmons for the most of any shortstop in baseball. His 16 homers were 11th among shortstops last season. Even with a .234 batting average, he set career highs in homers and RBI and set a career high in games played with 153 and he’ll be entering his age 29 season.
Ahmed’s value is never going to be higher. They could move Ketel Marte over to short and sign one of the many second baseman in a crowded free agent market as a placeholder and someone that they could potentially flip as a trade piece at the deadline.
Next. Welcome to the world of the rebuild. dark
After losing three of their top players on a team that barely finished over .500 thanks to a September swoon, it’s tank time for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Trading the five above players can add some exciting young talent to a system that is going to have a boatload of picks in the 2019 draft and a couple of very interesting prospects on the way. The next couple of years may be a struggle, but the future could be very bright in the desert.