A Youth Movement: 10 Trades That Will Change The Direction of this Franchise, Part 5 In Which I finally Get out of the Kitchen

OK, let's review. Here they are, one last time:

Trade #1: Diamondbacks trade 2B Jamie Westbrook (A) and 2B Tyler Bortnick (AAA) to Brewers in exchange for RP Jeremy Jeffress (MLB)

Trade #2: Diamondbacks trade OF Mark Trumbo (MLB) to the Cardinals in exchange for OF Randal Grichuk (MLB)

Trade #3: Diamondbacks trade RP Willy Paredes (AAA), RP Patrick Schuster (AAA), UTIL Cliff Pennington (MLB), C Tuffy Gosewisch (MLB) and 2B Mike Freeman (AAA) to the Padres in exchange for 3B Cory Spangenberg (MLB).

Trade #4: Diamondbacks trade OF Cody Ross (MLB), RP Matt Reynolds (MLB), 2B Aaron Hill (MLB), SP Bronson Arroyo (MLB), OF Zach Borenstein (AAA), SP Randall Delgado (MLB), RP Eury de la Rosa (MLB), RP David Hernandez (MLB), SP Zeke Spruill (AAA), SS Sergio Alcantara (A), RP Brandon Sinnery (AAA) and CL Addison Reed (MLB) to Toronto in exchange for OF Dalton Pompey (MLB), SP Marcus Stroman (MLB), and RP Aaron Sanchez (MLB)

Trade #5: Diamondbacks trade RP Bradin Hagens (AAA) and RP Derek Eitel (AAA) to Atlanta in Exchange for RP Shea Simmons (MLB)

Trade # 6: Diamondbacks trade SP Trevor Cahill (MLB), SP Blayne Weller (A) and OF Damion Smith (RK) to the Nationals in exchange for OF Steven Souza (MLB)

Trade #7: Diamondbacks trade SS Didi Gregorius (MLB), C/OF Stryker Trahan (A), RP Oliver Perez (MLB), and RP Adam Miller (A) to the Mets in exchange for SP Stephen Matz (AA) and SS Matthew Reynolds (AAA)

Trade #8: Diamondbacks trade C Miguel Montero (MLB), UTIL Jordan Pacheco (MLB), Andrew Barbosa, C Bobby Wilson (AAA), RP Charlie Brewer (MLB), RP Joe Munoz (AA), C Raywilly Gomez (A), SP Archie Bradley (AA) and OF Brett Jackson (AAA) to the Rangers in exchange for 3B Joey Gallo (AAA), 2B/3B Ryan Rua (MLB), OF/3B Jake Smolinski (MLB), C Tomas Telis (MLB), and RP Alex Claudio (MLB)

Trade #9: SS Nick Ahmed (AAA), OF Evan Marzilli (AAA), OF Mitch Haniger (AA), SP Anthony Banda (A), RP RJ Hively (AA), RP Cody Wheeler (AA) and RP Kyle Winkler (AA) to the Cardinals in exchange for SP Marco Gonzales (MLB) and RP Sam Freeman (MLB)

Trade #10: SP Jeremy Hellickson (MLB), OF Danny Dorn (AAA) and SP Alex Sogard (AA) to the Yankees in exchange for SP Shane Greene (MLB)

In Conclusion

This team will be younger and better than what we have now. I know we gave up a ton, but now we have a young, cheap, dynamic roster which we will have complete control over for years to come. It's radical and rather dangerous, and there's always risk in exchanging proven veterans for unproven commodities. Who am I kidding? I'm seventeen years old, and I don't claim to know more about baseball than Dave Stewart and co. This is just a hypothetical list of ten trades we could make that I think would make us better for longer. Sure, they're slightly scary. But you can't deny these are the types of trades that still keep you interested in baseball.

Let's look at the end result. Here is what we would have available if the trades went through as outlined:

• SP: Corbin, Anderson, Collmenter, Miley, Nuno, Greene, Stroman, Matz, Chafin, Gonzales, Hudson,
• RP: Ziegler, Jeffress, Freeman, Sanchez, Simmons, Claudio, Stites, Barrett, Marshall, Burgos
• INF: Paul Goldschmidt, Cory Spangenberg, Matthew Reynolds, Ryan Rua, Jake Lamb, Joey Gallo, Chris Owings, Jake Smolinski
• OF: Inciarte, Peralta, Pollock, Grichuk, Pompey, Souza, Brito, Tomas
• C: Peter O'Brien, Tomas Telis

A line-up could look like:

1. Inciarte, CF
2. Rua, 2B
3. Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Tomas, RF
5. Pollock, LF
6. Smolinski, 3B
7. O'Brien, C
8. Owings, SS

with a staff of

• SP: Corbin, Collmenter, Anderson, Stroman, Miley
• RP: Ziegler, Jeffress, Freeman, Sanchez, Simmons, Nuno, Greene

and a bench of Spangenberg, Peralta, Lamb, Telis and Souza, Plus, in the minors, we still have guys like Randall Grichuk, Socrates Brito, Dalton Pompey, Matthew Reynolds, Joey Gallo, Matt Stites, Jake Barrett, Alex Claudio, Evan Marshall, Enrique Burgos, Stephen Matz, Andrew Chafin, Marco Gonzales, Daniel Hudson, Kaleb Fleck, Aaron Blair, A.J. Schugel, Jimmie Sherfy, Braden Shipley, Brandon Drury, Anthony Banda, Brent Jones, Jose Martinez, Mason Mccullough, Cody Reed, Touki Toussaint, and Matt Railey.

In other words, we have, thirteen capable starting pitchers, nine great relievers, seven young, impressive infielders, seven young, good outfielders, and two young, sterling catchers. We still have a very good farm system. And keep in mind, fourteen of those thirty-nine guys up there won't make our twenty-five man roster, meaning that our minor leagues will have guys like Pompey, Hudson, Matz, Gallo and Souza. Plus, we'll have shed nearly fifty million dollars in salary-more than half our allotted ninety million budget.

So, if we wanted to, we could go after a free agent like Andrew Miller, Asdrubal Cabrera, or Chase Headley (not saying I would do that). Alternatively, we could sign some of the young studs (like Gallo) to long-term, club friendly options (a seven-year, twenty-five million deal could be an absolute steal). We could sign some international free agents, like Andy Ibanez, sign some depth (give Geovany Soto a one-year contract to ease O'Brien into his role), or just save our pennies for a rainy day. What if we are midseason contenders? Now we have the budget to trade for Ervin Santana!

My trades have been risky, and, yes, radical, at times. However, while you can debate their plausibility, you can't deny that they have reduced our budget and gotten us young, exciting players in return.

Back to you, ‘Pitters!