Arbitration

Welington Castillo (5.009) – $5.9MM - Tender (The team has zero wiggle-room at catcher)

Patrick Corbin (4.105) – $4.2MM - Tender

Randall Delgado (4.100) – $1.9MM - Tender

Rubby De La Rosa (4.097) – $3.0MM - Sort of tender (see below)

Jean Segura (4.065) – $7.3MM - Tender

Shelby Miller (3.166) – $4.9MM - Tender

Chris Owings (3.027) – $2.1MM - Tender

Chris Herrmann (3.001) – $1.0MM - Tender

Tuffy Gosewisch (2.143) – $600K - Tender (this projection is so close to league minimum as to make it pointless not to given the state of the team's catching corps)

Free agents

Daniel Hudson 2yr/$4 million - given Hudson's second-half woes before finally cleaning things up again in September, this seems like a very fair deal. If he is still willing to give a hometown doscount, it shoud get the job done.

Neftali Feliz 2yr/$4 million - if he stays healthy, Feliz can be another dominant arm in the bullpen. With the reliever market being the one strong part of this FA market, there are enough "better" options that Feliz may settle for the 2 years and a chance to get a huge payday when he is just turning 30

Mark Melancon 3yr/$39 million - I'm usually not one for paying big for the proven closer. However, if the goal is to build a shutdown bullpen and avoid paying for the likes of Jeremy Hellickson to improve the overall pitching, then a difference-maker needs to be added. Ziegler's age and the impending changes to the strike zone make me leery of bringing him back to the desert. This may not be enough for Melacon. If it is not, I would consider going up an addition $2 million annually, but if and only if everything else I attempt pulls together. If not, then I stick to the $13 MM AAV and if it is not enough, I reallocate those funds elsewhere, such as buying a contract from another team (possibly David Roberston from the White Sox if they are rebuilding instead of going for it) getting a higher priced reliever from a team looking to shed salary because they are out of contention.

Total outlays $17 MM (AAV)

Starting free cash $14 MM + $7.3 MM (Segura trade) + $3 MM (RDLR trade) + $1.5 MM (other trade savings) = $25.8 MM to work with, this still leaves $8.8 million to work with come the trade deadline, or to address other areas, such as OF depth via a trade where the Diamondbacks will be in a position to take on some salary in exchange for returning less talent.

Trades

1. Rubby De La Rosa to the Cubs in exchange for Jen-Ho Tseng. Theo is familiar with RDLR and kept him around despite disappointing early results. The Cubs need to infuse their bullpen with new talent. RDLR fits that bill. In return, the Diamondbacks get a strike-thrower close to MLB-ready that probably fills out a bullpen better than he starts, but out of the bullpen, his FB should play up into the low 90s, and with his command and control, he could be a very effective multiple inning reliever. This saves the team $3 million while getting more than just a "warm body" in return, meanwhile the Cubs improve their bullpen, somewhat on the cheap, trading a guy that probably has no future with that particular organization.

2. Jean Segura to the White Sox for one of Zach Putnam/Tommy Kahnle and minor league catcher Zack Collins. Finding a suitable trade partner for Segura is difficult, as the teams with the best fit for return talent all have second base firmly wrapped up, or the team is not in a position to spend on Segura due to Segura likely hitting free agency before they are contenders. However, moving Segura saves significant money, and though the return is not the first choice of a MLB starting pitcher, the return helps with the bullpen overhaul that can help the starting pitchers the Diamondbacks already have in place look better as bailing in the 6th inning will no longer be as detrimental to the team. Additionally, the Diamondbacks get a replacement for Welington Castillo who profiles to push or step on Oscar Hernandez in 2017. This addresses the derth of catching in the organization and keeps them from facing the same situation with Castillo that they did when Montero needed to be extended in order to keep a starting-caliber catcher in the system.

Alternatively, if the White Sox decide to tear down instead, then the trade could be to the Angels for Deolis Guerra (preferred) or J.C. Ramirez and Taylor Ward, with the same rationale. The danger with Ramirez is that he can be HR prone in the right park, and Chase may be such a park for him, but if the return is indeed for Ramirez, there might be the chance of getting a warm body lottery from the lower levels as a throw-in.

3. Yasmany Tomas to the Orioles for Wade Miley. This move saves the Diamondbacks $1.5 MM in 2017 and gives the Orioles a replacement for Pedro Alvarez that has way more potential upside. The Orioles would likely not mind getting out from Miley, who was still a league average pitcher not that long ago. If he can win a rotation spot in spring, that's great. If not, he can be a lefty out of the bullpen for Arizona, a team he had almost nothing but success. Worst case, the Diamondbacks have him hanging around to be a 6th, 7th, or 8th starter as the season gets deeper, and the team still saves $1.5 MM with Miley being a FA at the end of 2017. Clearly, this is a money-saving move that also addresses depth issues in both starting pitching and the OF (from different sides) and is taking a small gamble on a bounce-back season from MIley.

Alternatively, Tomas could be flipped to Seattle if he can demonstrate the ability to play some first base. If flipped to Seattle, I would look for Tony Zych in return, sending as much as $3 million to Seattle to go with Tomas if that made a difference.

Rotation

I'm not willing to buy into RDLR being healthy enough to be a starter, so much so that I am not even looking to trade him as one, since I want to be able to sell his ability to "play up" in the bullpen in order to get a nicer return. With RDLR out of the mix, my Opening Day starting 5 are probably:

1. Greinke (Obvious ace is obvious)

2. Ray (The next best arm we have, and a potentially dynamic #2)

3. Bradley (Big year and must prove he can keep the spot - he does not have a terribly long leash)

4. Corbin (He gets half a season to show if he belongs in the rotation, or if he needs to move to the bullpen full-time)

5. Miller (For better or worse, if the Diamondbacks are going to succeed, they need Miller to bounce back. He's on a short leash as well though. If he is downright horrid like he opened 2016, he probably doesn't get more than 3-4 starts. If he can manage to start getting through 5 innnings without totally sucking, he might get the Jeremy Hellickson approach.)

This all assumes that Anthony Banda does not force his way into the rotation out of spring. If he does, then I probably send Corbin or Bradley to the bullpen, whichever is struggling more as a starter. Wagner, Kock, Miley, and Shipley all need to perform stronger than those six to be considered, with at least one of those three remaining a starter in Reno since the team is going to need more starting pitching than just the five listed.

Manager

Don Wakamatsu

Wakamatsu has been around a pretty decent level of success and also shown the ability to be successful in the position. His second season in Seattle raises a few flags, but that entire organization was a disaster that season, with the front office and some personalities on the team creating more havoc tha help. Maybe Wakamatsu lost the edge, maybe he didn't. He has managed to help Yost make winners out of the Royals though, and that tells me he has applied what he learned and also now knows what goes on to win despite not having a free-spender for an owner.

Summary

The 25-man roster

Position Players:

1B: Paul Godschmidt

2B: Chris Owings/Brandon Drury

SS: Nick Ahmed/Chris Owings

3B: Jake Lamb/Brandon Drury

*Using the above listings as "depth" chart, the four players should be able to share the three positions as listed and all wind up with full-time ABs. Drury also plays more games in his positions of comfort than he did in 2016, which should help offset his poor defensive value.

C: Welington Castillo/Chris Herrmann (Tuffy comes up at the first sign of injury to weither, unless Hernandez tears up Reno in 2016)

LF: Mitch Haniger/Socrates Brito

CF: A.J. Pollock

RF: David Peralta/Socrates Brito

*Same as with the IF, the four players should be able to get full-time ABs sharing the three OF spots, with Pollock sitting the least of them all.

Bench: Kyle Jensen (also plays when Goldy sits and is corner OF depth in the event of another rash of OF injuries, or if Brito falls flat)

Bench: Phil Gosselin (mostly as a RHPH, but can play 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, and RF as emergency utility as well)

Piching:

Starters:

Zack Greinke

Robbie Ray

Archie Bradley

Patrick Corbin

Shelby Miller

Relievers:

Jake Barrett

Daniel Hudson

Neftali Feliz

Steve Hathaway (lefty)

Kahnle/Putnam/Guerra/Ramirez (whichever one was acquired in the Segura trade)

Andrew Chafin (second lefty)

Mark Melancon (closer)

Godley, Wagner, and Koch all remain possible candidates for the bullpen, as does the lesser of Bradley/Corbin if/when Banda steps up. Jimmie Sherfy is the wild card in this category, and could force out anyone but Melancon, Hathaway, or Chafin if he pitches the way he did in 2016.