The Commish
youknowhatimsayin?
Diamondbacks looking to '07
John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Dec. 26, 2005 11:09 AM
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The Arizona Diamondbacks were a couple of good relievers and a decent starter away from winning the National League West last season. Sure their division was the weakest in all of baseball, but somehow with the worst bullpen in the majors and no starter having won more than 14 games, the Diamondbacks, with 77 wins, finished just 5 games out of first place.
So what was the first order of business entering the off-season? To add the key pieces necessary to overtake division winner San Diego? No, not exactly. The Diamondbacks are in the midst of a mini-fire sale, trading off any high-priced player that another team may want. The only reason this isn’t a full blown fire sale ala the Florida Marlins is because A) The team can’t find takers for high-salaried players Luis Gonzalez (1 year, $11 million left on his contract) and Russ Ortiz (3 years, $24 million left on his contract) and B) The Diamondbacks actually have a plan to compete in 2007 while Florida’s timetable is a few years away.
In trading away Javier Vazquez and the final two years of his contract ($24 million) Arizona got back a centerfielder of the future in Chris Young, an aging starter in Orlando Hernandez whose contract expires after this season and a decent reliever in Luis Vizcaino. The also saved a boatload of cash. Even with the Dbacks paying $4 million to Chicago the team will save roughly $11.5 million in the swap and that includes keeping Vizcaino for the next two years.
The apparent Troy Glaus deal will save Arizona even more. Glaus is due to make $33 million over the next two years while the rumored players coming back, Miguel Batista and Orlando Hudson will combine to make about $6 ½ million next year. Batista, like El Duque, is in the final year of his contract and making $4.5 million. Hudson made $350,000 last year and should get closer to $2 million in arbitration this year. If you figure the Dbacks let Batista walk after this season and keep Hudson the total savings on this deal will come in around – drum roll please -- $23 ½ million. That’s assuming Arizona isn’t picking up any of the money owed to Glaus.
Now add in the expiring contract of Gonzalez, who is in the final year of his deal and Arizona goes forward after this season with $45 million dollars. But unlike Florida, the Diamondbacks actually plan on spending a good portion of the savings and 2007 is not a bad time to get into the free agent market with pitchers Barry Zito, Jon Garland, Jose Contreras, Jason Schmidt, Ted Lilly, Andy Pettitte, Mark Mulder and possibly Kerry Wood available.
The Diamondbacks master plan is to have a rotation that consists of two of those free-agent pitchers along with Brandon Webb, Ortiz and Dustin Nippert. The Diamondbacks can spend big on starting pitching because they will be fielding a relatively inexpensive team with youngsters Conor Jackson at first base, Hudson at second base, Stephen Drew at shortstop, Chad Tracy at third base, and Carlos Quentin and Young in the outfield. The veteran presence on the team will be Shawn Green in leftfield, Johnny Estrada at catcher and Tony Clark off the bench.
Arizona may believe that they are too young with everyday players and trade for another veteran, but the plan is to have a team that can make a five-year run at a World Series. One that will be in contention each year and one that the fans can get behind by watching some of the young talent from the farm system develop.
The team could have elected to take on some contracts and compete this year, but they may have had to move one or two of their prospects in order to do so. And a quick fix was not in the plans.
So 2006 is looking more and more like a throw-away year. And if Arizona is out of it by the trade deadline expect Gonzalez to be dealt to a contender for some additional savings. The plan is in place. It could work. But there will be a price to pay and that price comes this season when there will be some long and miserable nights at Chase Field and a lot of empty seats. [/FONT]
Just what myself and many others have been saying all along. While we all may agree we aren't getting market value back for some of our guys, there is still a cohesive plan for the future. Saving money and allowing our young guys to take the field is the direction this franchise needs to go. If people can't understand that then they simply don't understand the financial situation of the Diamondbacks and how to build a good team in the majors.
John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Dec. 26, 2005 11:09 AM
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
The Arizona Diamondbacks were a couple of good relievers and a decent starter away from winning the National League West last season. Sure their division was the weakest in all of baseball, but somehow with the worst bullpen in the majors and no starter having won more than 14 games, the Diamondbacks, with 77 wins, finished just 5 games out of first place.
So what was the first order of business entering the off-season? To add the key pieces necessary to overtake division winner San Diego? No, not exactly. The Diamondbacks are in the midst of a mini-fire sale, trading off any high-priced player that another team may want. The only reason this isn’t a full blown fire sale ala the Florida Marlins is because A) The team can’t find takers for high-salaried players Luis Gonzalez (1 year, $11 million left on his contract) and Russ Ortiz (3 years, $24 million left on his contract) and B) The Diamondbacks actually have a plan to compete in 2007 while Florida’s timetable is a few years away.
In trading away Javier Vazquez and the final two years of his contract ($24 million) Arizona got back a centerfielder of the future in Chris Young, an aging starter in Orlando Hernandez whose contract expires after this season and a decent reliever in Luis Vizcaino. The also saved a boatload of cash. Even with the Dbacks paying $4 million to Chicago the team will save roughly $11.5 million in the swap and that includes keeping Vizcaino for the next two years.
The apparent Troy Glaus deal will save Arizona even more. Glaus is due to make $33 million over the next two years while the rumored players coming back, Miguel Batista and Orlando Hudson will combine to make about $6 ½ million next year. Batista, like El Duque, is in the final year of his contract and making $4.5 million. Hudson made $350,000 last year and should get closer to $2 million in arbitration this year. If you figure the Dbacks let Batista walk after this season and keep Hudson the total savings on this deal will come in around – drum roll please -- $23 ½ million. That’s assuming Arizona isn’t picking up any of the money owed to Glaus.
Now add in the expiring contract of Gonzalez, who is in the final year of his deal and Arizona goes forward after this season with $45 million dollars. But unlike Florida, the Diamondbacks actually plan on spending a good portion of the savings and 2007 is not a bad time to get into the free agent market with pitchers Barry Zito, Jon Garland, Jose Contreras, Jason Schmidt, Ted Lilly, Andy Pettitte, Mark Mulder and possibly Kerry Wood available.
The Diamondbacks master plan is to have a rotation that consists of two of those free-agent pitchers along with Brandon Webb, Ortiz and Dustin Nippert. The Diamondbacks can spend big on starting pitching because they will be fielding a relatively inexpensive team with youngsters Conor Jackson at first base, Hudson at second base, Stephen Drew at shortstop, Chad Tracy at third base, and Carlos Quentin and Young in the outfield. The veteran presence on the team will be Shawn Green in leftfield, Johnny Estrada at catcher and Tony Clark off the bench.
Arizona may believe that they are too young with everyday players and trade for another veteran, but the plan is to have a team that can make a five-year run at a World Series. One that will be in contention each year and one that the fans can get behind by watching some of the young talent from the farm system develop.
The team could have elected to take on some contracts and compete this year, but they may have had to move one or two of their prospects in order to do so. And a quick fix was not in the plans.
So 2006 is looking more and more like a throw-away year. And if Arizona is out of it by the trade deadline expect Gonzalez to be dealt to a contender for some additional savings. The plan is in place. It could work. But there will be a price to pay and that price comes this season when there will be some long and miserable nights at Chase Field and a lot of empty seats. [/FONT]
Just what myself and many others have been saying all along. While we all may agree we aren't getting market value back for some of our guys, there is still a cohesive plan for the future. Saving money and allowing our young guys to take the field is the direction this franchise needs to go. If people can't understand that then they simply don't understand the financial situation of the Diamondbacks and how to build a good team in the majors.
