To see if we can generate some more interaction, we’ll be running Fanpost Fridays, at least through spring training - if the response is good, these will then continue once the regular season starts up. The aim is to pose a question, and have people answer it in the form of a Fanpost. Well-formed ones will then be promoted to the front page and featured on the site over the weekend, and you may even find yourself in Google News. Please also read and, as appropriate, recommend any submitted Fanposts.
The issue
It has certainly bee a radically different winter for the Diamondbacks front-office from last year. In 2015-16, the team signed Zack Greinke to what was far and away the largest free-agent contract in the franchise’s history. They also made a blockbuster trade, dealing with Atlanta for 2015 All-Star Shelby Miller. Neither trade quite worked out as we hoped, and the team stumbled in at the end of the season with a 69-93 record, barely escaping the cellar of the NL West.
You might have expected such a disappointing season to lead to a radical shake-up. While that was certainly true on the management side, including the departure of GM Dave Stewart and manager Chip Hale, there has been much less turnover on the player side. Jean Segura was dealt to the Seattle Mariners, and Welington Castillo non-tendered, while Daniel Hudson left as a free agent. The arrivals, thus far, have been similarly muted. Fernando Rodney was signed to become the closer, and Chris Iannetta as the everyday catcher. Given the team was one game off the worst record in the National League, should we have expected greater change?
On the other hand, the case for caution includes a belief that a number of our players have greater upside than they showed in 2016. Even if the team is looking to rebuild, by trading them for prospects, dumping them now would be selling at a low point in value. Others are young enough, that they could still be useful down the road, if they continue developing to their full potential. The new GM and front-office staff will be less intimately familiar with the roster, and would first want to get a good handle on them, so they can figure out what pieces can be kept or sold.
So what do you think? Do you feel the team should have done more? Or, perhaps, did they do too much in getting rid of Segura and Castillo? What other moves would you like to have seen, or still want the team to carry out?
Writing a Fanpost
Note: comments will be locked on this post. So the only way to respond is to write a fanpost, in which you set out your position and explain it. Get started by clicking here! This will then take you into the editor. In many ways, it isn’t all that different from posting a comment - you get some more flexibility with regard to formatting, and it’s a spiffier editor, but you can simply write away if you want. You do need to come up with at least 150 words. And yes, repeating “Shelby Miller sux” 50 times will result in a firm, disapproving stare from the SnakePit authorities. Do not go there.
Protip: You may want to write it up in Notepad or whatever, then copy and paste it over. Or if you are writing directly into the editor, be careful with the backspace button. If your mouse is outside the body and you hit backspace, it will take you back a page and you may lose any work that has not been auto saved. Just trust me on this one.
Useful link: Extra Fanpost help guide