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Diamondbacks assessing trade options
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By
Jerry Crasnick
ESPN Insider
Archive
DALLAS -- Arizona general manager Josh Byrnes made out well on two fronts Wednesday. He picked up an affordable switch-hitting catcher,
Johnny Estrada, for a pair of middling relief pitchers. Then he held a press conference with Atlanta GM John Schuerholz to announce the details of the trade.
If you're going to reflect on your first deal 20 years from now, it might as well be with a Cooperstown-caliber partner.
"John Schuerholz is certainly the best general manager of my lifetime and maybe of all time," Byrnes said. "I'd be lying if I said that's something you don't think about."
Byrnes, hired from Boston at the end of October, spent much of his first month on the job adding depth to the Diamondbacks' front office hierarchy. He hired Jerry Dipoto for help on the scouting side, brought in Peter Woodfork for input on the money and statistical side, and added former big-league catcher
A.J. Hinch to oversee the farm system. The Diamondbacks even hired a new trainer Wednesday.
Now comes the fun part -- and the first big challenge for the new Arizona regime.
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Vazquez went 11-15 with a 4.42 ERA in 33 starts last season for the Diamondbacks.
Two weeks after pitcher
Javier Vazquez issued a trade demand so he can play closer to his home in Puerto Rico, the Diamondbacks are painstakingly sifting through offers from 8-10 teams. Vazquez figured to have an active market given he's 29 years old and has averaged 33 starts and 220 innings over the past six seasons. But trade talks are even more active than anticipated now that he's regarded as downright reasonable.
When
A.J. Burnett signed for five years and $55 million and reports of four-year offers for
Kevin Millwood began surfacing, the two years and $24 million left on Vazquez's deal suddenly didn't seem so onerous. The Diamondbacks have already made it clear to trade partners that they won't pick up a cent of the contract.
Vazquez submitted a list of six teams where he can decline a trade. It consists of Seattle, Texas, Toronto, Detroit, Baltimore and Philadelphia. His concerns range from location (Seattle) to hitter-friendly ballpark configuration (Philadelphia, Texas and Baltimore) to the hassle of passing through customs (Toronto).
So who are the frontrunners? Washington is sure to be a player, because Jim Bowden likes big splashes and the Diamondbacks like outfielder
Ryan Church. The Mets are another potential fit, but they'd probably have to move both Kaz Matsui and
Kris Benson to squeeze Vazquez onto their payroll.
While St. Louis and Atlanta both make sense for a lot of reasons, Vazquez appears be outside their financial comfort zone. It's not outlandish to think the Astros could get involved now that they've declined to offer salary arbitration to
Roger Clemens, but Houston GM Tim Purpura appears to be more interested in adding a bat.
As the process shakes out, Byrnes is making sure to keep an open mind.
"Our approach with Javy is, 'Let's get the best return possible and build a team and an organization that gets to a real high level and stays there,' " Byrnes said. "It's not precision aiming at this point, because we're not one player away.
"We've been hit from all sides. We've been offered equal salary guys, guys in the middle financially or aggressive prospect deals that give us financial relief and young talent. We've sort of considered all angles."
While Byrnes assesses his options on Vazquez, he's simultaneously working to ease another roster glut. Arizona has seven corner infielders or outfielders --
Troy Glaus,
Luis Gonzalez,
Shawn Green,
Chad Tracy,
Tony Clark and prospects
Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin -- and it's likely someone will be moved between now and spring training.
The inevitable speculation has focused on Glaus because he has three years and $33 million left on his contract, but Byrnes said there was absolutely no foundation to a rumored three-way deal that would have sent Glaus to Boston,
Manny Ramirez to Anaheim and prospects to Arizona.
"That had a lot of rumor fuel because there were some big names involved," Byrnes said, "but it didn't have any credibility."
The Diamondbacks say it's entirely possible that Glaus won't be going anywhere this winter. They've told his agent, Mike Nicotera, that it's more a case of testing the waters than actively shopping Glaus.
"We put a lot of effort into signing Troy last offseason, and he's a valuable member of our team," said general partner Jeff Moorad. "That being said, there's a lively interest in him on the trade market. Like anyone on our roster, we're certainly going to listen."
The Diamondbacks won 77 games last year after going a major-league worst 51-111 in 2004, but they're not deluding themselves into thinking that they're ready to contend. The team ERA was 4.84 last year, and the rotation of
Brandon Webb,
Russ Ortiz,
Brad Halsey and
Claudio Vargas is shaky. There's a gaping hole in center field, and the bullpen needs an upgrade.
It's no wonder that Byrnes said his front office staff were busy at the winter meetings in Dallas. "We've worked 18-19 hour days while we've been here," he said.
Sharing the stage with John Schuerholz for that first deal was a nice start. The Diamondbacks hope there's much bigger news to come.
Jerry Crasnick covers baseball for ESPN Insider. His book "License To Deal" has been published by Rodale. Click here to order a copy. Jerry can be reached via e-mail.
