To begin, Diamondbacks will explore trade market
The Diamondbacks’ top baseball operations executives sat down with owner Ken Kendrick last week, the first of what they expect will be several such meetings as the organization embarks upon an uncharted offseason.
“I think he’s open-minded to where we’re at currently, which is a little TBD,” General Manager Mike Hazen said. “I still think we are going to try to be creative to start. I don’t know exactly where that will take us.
“I think one of the takeaways for us was just to get a feel for what the trade market would be for various guys, evaluate the free-agent market as it comes out and see what happens, and reconvene.”
Hazen and assistant general managers Amiel Sawdaye and Jared Porter met with Kendrick and CEO Derrick Hall to discuss their offseason strategy last week in Aspen, Colo., where Kendrick has a home.
“There will be a succession of meetings that we’ll have,” Hazen said, “that will ultimately determine what decisions we make long-term and short-term.”
Fresh off a disastrous finish to their year, the Diamondbacks are entering what could be a pivotal offseason. They finished 82-80 and stand to lose two of their top players, center fielder A.J. Pollock and left-hander Patrick Corbin, to free agency. With slugger Paul Goldschmidt under contract for only one more year, there is a sense that a rebuild is coming. The question is whether it starts now or next year – and how aggressive the club will be with the wrecking ball.
The answer to that, it seems, is what the coming weeks will be about, as the team will try to gauge the trade value of its players. But the notion of “being creative” is one Hazen referenced multiple times, and it suggests the team is open to flipping veterans for younger players while also trying to fill holes on its big league roster.
Right-hander Zack Greinke is a possible example. He is owed more than $31 million a year over the next three seasons, and if the Diamondbacks were to find a taker – even if it meant paying down some of his contract – they potentially could bring back young talent in a trade and free up money to be spent strategically on smaller, upside plays in free agency.
The Diamondbacks’ offseason could end up being about shifting their focus. The past two years for Hazen’s group have been about trying to win without severely compromising the future. The goal might shift more toward the future while still trying to field competitive teams in the present.
That is, even if the Diamondbacks aren’t looking to tear all the way down, if opportunities arise to capitalize on value with a player or two they might try to take advantage of them. In addition to Greinke, other intriguing trade chips include Goldschmidt, who is owed $14.5 million on a club option for next year, and outfielder David Peralta, shortstop Nick Ahmed and lefty Robbie Ray.
“It’s hard to speak in absolutes in a hypothetical world,” Hazen said. “We know we’re going to have to do some work externally. It’s not a matter of just plug-and-playing guys from within our system to fill the holes we’re going to have. Being that it’s going to be determinant on others, we’re going to reconvene (with ownership) as we go through and we get updates from the market.”