Diamondbacks at the winter meetings: Day two open thread

"First day, just trying to get with as many teams as you can. Try to meet with as many agents as we can and teams that we think that we match up well with and then tomorrow try to narrow it down to people that we think we could really do business with or not."
-- Kevin Towers

Right now, the three outfielders on whom the Diamondbacks appear to be kicking the tires are, in descending order of chatter, Mark Trumbo of the Angels, free-agent Shin-Soo Choo and the Phillies Domonic Brown. All have their strengths and weaknesses. Trumbo would certainly fill the home-run gap, but there are questions over the other aspects of his game. Choo will certainly be the most expensive of the trio, with the Diamondbacks having to compete for his services on the open market. And Brown is largely unproven, having hit 27 home-runs last year, after a previous high of five, so we could be buying high.

It does also appear that the team plans to go into the free-market for one of the needed pieces, and use a trade to acquire the other. Choo is clearly the top outfielder free-agent left on the market, and if you discount Nelson Cruz, as it appears the D-backs have done, there's a steep drop-off, and no-one else really is worth targeting. There are a few more - if not necessarily better - options among the starting pitchers, with the likes of Erwin Santana, Matt Garza and, of course, the possibility of Japanese phenom Masahiro Tanaka, all still available on the open market. Trades present a higher variety of choices, yet you need to pay not just in cash for those.

I get the feeling today might be the day, so as yesterday, we'll continue to monitor the Twitter and our own sources, for updates coming out of Florida.