Hello, my name is: Martin Prado

How this works

Every other day, from now through to Christmas, we'll open up discussion on a particular player who made a meaningful contribution to the 2014 Diamondbacks. [I've drawn the line at 125 PA or 20 innings] There will be two sections. Firstly, a poll where you rate them from 5 ("Highly satisfied") down to 1 ("Very dissatisfied"): it's entirely up to you what criteria you use for the number. Secondly, the comments below, where you can talk about the reasons for your vote, etc. Things to discuss include, but are not limited to:

• Pre-season expectations 
  
• 2014 performance: strengths and weaknesses, etc. 
  
• Health and other mitigating factors
• How they'll help the team in 2015, their role, etc.

Three days down the line, we'll collate the votes, calculate a final average score, and write up the consensus of SnakePit thought into an appraisal. Here is a quick overview of today's candidate for your consideration. 

Additional bonus! Going forward. we'll also have a "Comment of the Thread" for the appraisal, so please rec the comments you find insightful, funny, or whatever.

Martin Prado - 3B

• DOB: 10/27/1983
• 2014 Salary: $11,000,000
• 2014 Performance [AZ only]: 106 games, 436 PA, .270/.317/.370 = .686 OPS, 5 HR, 42 RBI, 91 OPS+
  
• 2014 Value: bWAR 1.3, fWAR 1.2

Prado got off to a slow start, with a .659 OPS in April. Unlike last year, however, where he had a couple of truly incandescent months., that didn't happen - at least, not while he was in a Diamondbacks uniform. His OPS for May and June also failed to crack .700, and he reached a season high in his last month with team, posting a line of .281/.323/.393 in July, for a .716 OPS. Of course, as soon as he was dealt to the Yankees, he started to hit, giving them a 145 OPS+ down the stretch. I was a little surprised to see his WAR figures respectable; over a full season, that's about two wins, not terrible. But certainly not what we wanted, either.