MLB Offseason Preview - Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona Diamondbacks

National League	West Division
69-93	22 GB of Division Lead
Managers: Chip Hale (Fired)	GM Dave Stewart (Fired)
AAA affiliate Reno Aces	AA affiliate Jackson General

2016 Rankings

Hitting	AVG – 7th	OPS – 11th	Runs – 11th	HR – 16th	SB – 3rd
Starting Pitching	ERA – 29th	K/9 – 8th	H/9 – 29th
Relief Pitching	ERA – 27th	K/9 – 22nd	H/9 – 27th

Top Hitters

POS.	Name	AVG	OBP	Slug	HR	RBIs	WAR	SB
2B	Jean Segura	.319	.368	.499	20	64	5.7	33
1B	Paul Goldschmidt	.297	.411	.489	24	95	4.8	32
3B	Jake Lamb	.249	.332	.509	29	91	2.6	6

Top Pitchers

POS.	Name	Record	ERA	IP/Saves	K	BB	ERA+	WAR
SP	Zack Greinke	13-7	4.37	158.2 IP	134	41	101	2.3
RP	Brad Ziegler	2-3	2.82	18 saves	27	15	157	1.2
RP	Jake Barrett	1-2	3.49	59.1 IP	56	28	126	1.0

Impending Free Agents

• RP Daniel Hudson
• LF Rickie Weeks
• RP Tim Stauffer
• RP Matt Capps

Top Prospects

POS.	Name	Level
SP	Archie Bradley	MLB
SP	Braden Shipley	MLB
IF/OF	Brandon Drury	MLB

Team MVP

• The obvious choice for this would be Paul Goldschmidt, who is the Diamondbacks' best player and once again had his consistently productive season.  My pick for MVP, however, is Jean Segura, who had a career year this season.  He batted over .300, provided a surprising amount of power with 20 home runs and driving in over 60 runs, and he stole 33 bases.  With A.J. Pollock and David Peralta both missing significant time this season with injuries, Segura stepped up in a big way to add depth to a depleted lineup and provided protection for Goldschmidt.

Success/Failure

• Failure - Arizona came into this season with high expectations for themselves, probably higher than what they should have been.  They spent big money last offseason to bring in Zach Greinke, who had a terrible season.  They also traded away their best prospect, 2015 1st overall draft pick, Dansby Swanson, to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Shelby Miller, who spent part of the season in the minors.  As mentioned above, they also had to deal with key injuries to David Peralta and A.J. Pollock, both of whom were expected to contribute in big ways this season. This year went so poorly for the Diamondbacks that they fired both their General Manager, Dave Stewart, manager Chip Hale, and will be moving Tony LaRussa to a new role from his position as chief baseball analyst.  Anytime these types of moves take place after the season, it conveys just how poor the year went for the team, and that was certainly the case for Arizona this year.  

Offseason Outlook

• The front office has already begun making the right moves for the offseason firing their manager and general manager and have brought in Mike Hazen to be their new GM.  Hazen previously served in the same capacity for the Red Sox under Dave Dombrowski and will bring an element of success to Arizona's front office.  The new leadership team will have to answer a lot of internal questions regarding the direction of the franchise - do they continue their recent spending spree and try to win next season? Or do they sell off their assets and acquire prospects in an attempt to re-tool their stripped farm system?  If they go the latter route they will receive a great return for players including Pollock, Peralta, Greinke, Segura, Jake Lamb, Wellington Castillo, and yes, even Paul Goldschmidt.  Trading all of these players would set the Diamondbacks on a rebuilding route similar to that of the Brewers, Braves, Phillies, and Reds. They would immediately turn their very poor farm system into one of the better systems and would be building towards success in 4-5 years.  I think that they should go the former route, however, and try winning next season.  They have the core of a very good lineup, especially if Segura and Lamb are able to repeat the seasons they had this year.  It's pretty easy to believe that Greinke will have a better season next year and return to the ace that he shown he can be in the past.  If they can go out and add another starter and strengthen their bullpen, the Diamondbacks will be much better next season. 

*All stats and information come from baseball-reference.com, fangraphs.com, espn.com, rosterresource.com, baseballamerica.com, and spotrac.com