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Arizona Diamondbacks 2014 vs. 2016

Here's a stab at the Opening Day roster for this year, and how it compares with the one from 2014.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Year 2014 2016
Payroll $112.7 million $90-95 million
Catcher Miguel Montero Welington Castillo
First base Paul Goldschmidt Paul Goldschmidt
Second base Aaron Hill Chris Owings
Shortstop Chris Owings Nick Ahmed
Third Base Martin Prado Jake Lamb
Left field Mark Trumbo David Peralta
Center field A.J. Pollock A.J. Pollock
Right Field Gerardo Parra Yasmany Tomas
Rotation #1 Wade Miley Zack Greinke
Rotation #2 Trevor Cahill Patrick Corbin
Rotation #3 Brandon McCarthy Shelby Miller
Rotation #4 Bronson Arroyo Robbie Ray
Rotation #5 Randall Delgado Archie Bradley
Backup C Tuffy Gosewisch Chris Herrmann
Backup OF Tony Campana Socrates Brito
Backup Util Cliff Pennington Phil Gosselin
Pinch-hitter Eric Chavez Aaron Hill
Closer Addison Reed Brad Ziegler
Set-up #1 J.J. Putz Daniel Hudson
Set-up #2 Brad Ziegler Silvino Bracho
LOOGY Oliver Perez Matt Reynolds
Reliever #5 Joe Thatcher Rubby De La Rosa
Long-relief Josh Collmenter Josh Collmenter
Mid-relief Will Harris Randall Delgado
25th man Ryan Rowland-Smith Brandon Drury

People in green are occupying the same role then and now. People in yellow are still on the roster, but in a different role. People in red are new to, or no longer on, the roster. This is based on the "regular season" Opening Day roster for 2014, so discounts the Australia games. There is, obviously, a lot of guesswork as far as the 2016 version goes, and it's entirely likely further moves will be made - the bullpen and back-up catcher spots are the most likely areas of change. That said... We're paying a $15-20 million less this season, and if you compare the two squads, spot for spot, can anyone argue next year's model does not look massively superior, virtually across the board?

Of course, they will need to be a vast improvement, because the 2014 version ended up posting the worst record in baseball, as well as getting Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson fired. But there's no denying the near-total revamping that has taken place under Dave Stewart and Tony La Russa, with just seven survivors our of the 25 players who starterd the campaign 20 months ago. Man, look at that 2014 rotation. Now, look at this dumpster fire. Can you tell them apart? Can you believe there was really a point where we looked at that, and expected anything other than disaster? Hindsight is truly 20/20, isn't it?