Feb 24, 2012; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks executive vice president and general manager Kevin Towers during spring training at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Like most fans, I have been somewhat perplexed by Towers desire to trade Upton. I just didn’t think the potential that he possessed was worth giving up on at this point in his young career. Giving up a 25-year-old veteran who had shown flashes of brilliance in his career is a thing many GM’s would be afraid to do, but Towers did not hesitate once his mind was made up to jettison the talented, but mercurial outfielder. He just had to wait for what he thought was the best deal he could get for the right fielder. When the Seattle deal fell apart, he maintained that he would not get held for ransom in a deal for Upton and in getting a solid veteran in Martin Prado and a talented young pitcher in Randall Delgado, both pieces could help the D’backs this season.

What gets lost in most of the criticism surrounding Towers, is that he has been at this gig for a long, long time. Towers enters 2012 with 15 years of experience as a Major League general manager to join the Oakland Athletics’ Billy Beane and the San Francisco Giants’ Brian Sabean as the fourth longest-tenured active GM in Major League Baseball. With 1,207 wins as a General Manager, Towers is one of eight current GMs to post at least 1,200 victories during their career.

Feb 24, 2012; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks executive vice president and general manager Kevin Towers (right) and manager Kirk Gibson during spring training at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

He served as the San Diego Padres General Manager from 1995-2009. During his time as Padres GM, the Padres won division titles in 1996 and ’98, and 2005 and ’06. They missed winning the wild card in 2007 after losing a 13-inning tiebreaker game at Colorado.

He has a vision for the franchise moving forward and it involves a gritty and gutty franchise shaped in the image of his manager, Kirk Gibson. It also involves putting together a lineup that will make more contact and avoid striking out in large numbers. Finally, like all Towers teams of the past, he has put together a very good bullpen and decent starting pitching staff that will have to carry an Arizona team that will be more about manufacturing runs than playing for the long ball.

While he may have lost some leverage during the time Upton was on the market, you can understand what Towers is trying trying to do with this latest trade if you look back on some of his comments when he was first hired as Diamondbacks GM.

“Personally, I like contact hitters. I like guys that have good pitch recognition. Strikeouts are part of the game, but if you have four or five or six guys in your lineup, it’s hard to sustain any sort of rally,” Towers said in 2010.

If you look at the four big pieces, Towers has moved during his reign as D’backs general manager (Stephen Drew, Chris Young, Chris Johnson and Justin Upton), he is eliminating guys who are consistently posting high strikeout numbers. All four of those players posted strikeout rates of over 19% as D’backs players over the last two seasons. The D’backs already have four players, including the newly acquired Cody Ross, who are inclined to strike out quite a bit. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt, catcher Miguel Montero and outfielder Jason Kubel all strike out over 20% of the time, so the elimination of Drew, Young/Upton and Johnson will drop three guys out of the lineup (with the Ross addition) that strike out way too much for Towers liking.

Sep 09, 2012; Flushing, NY,USA; Atlanta Braves left fielder Martin Prado (14) flies out to left during the third inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The players replacing those that are now gone, are contact hitters with very low strikeout rates. Prado is an excellent contact hitter and his strikeout rate is near 11% for his career. That is up near the very top of the National League as Prado is regarded by some to be among the best contact hitters in baseball. Adam Eaton, who will get the chance to win the center field position is in the same mold as Prado, striking out less than 15% of the time for his career. At shortstop, Willie Bloomquist, Cliff Pennington and Didi Gregorius all strike out less than 20% of the time with Bloomquist having the lowest percentage of the three (15.8%).

Towers has pulled off big trades before with success. Remember, this is a man who once commented that he’s a “sludge merchant,” able to move unproductive players with big contracts for more productive players. He built contenders in the mid-1990s by acquiring slugger Greg Vaughn and pitchers Kevin Brown and Sterling Hitchcock. He also twice acquired Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson.

In one of his biggest trades, Towers acquired All-Star right-hander Chris Young and All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in a six-player deal with Texas in January 2006. That seemed to turn out pretty well for the Padres during their run of success in the late 90′s

Towers has been placed in situations and has had to make do with tight player payrolls, which the D’backs have to contend with. In July 2009, he saved the Padres $56 million by trading ace Jake Peavy to the Chicago White Sox for four pitchers. Upton’s salary is $9.75 million for 2013 and and sky rockets after that to $14.25 million in 2014 and $14.5 million in 2015.  Johnson’s salary is $2.875 million this season and he is a free agent after the completion of this season. Prado’s salary last season was $4.75 million and he is arbitration eligible going into 2013. The D’backs have said the would like to sign him to a long-term extension. Delgado made $480,000 last season and his also arbitration eligible.

You also should remember that in his first season at the helm of the Diamondbacks baseball operations, the team won 94 games and the National League West Division title just one season after finishing in last place with 97 losses. As a result of the 29-game turn around, Towers finished third in The Sporting News Major League Baseball Executive of the Year voting.

Let’s not jump to too fast a conclusion with this trade as it may turn out that Kevin Towers vision for this team is just what the team needed to win games in the difficult National League West division. GM’s are paid the big bucks to take risks and gambles and not many would have traded Upton. His confidence in doing so leads me to believe that he knows exactly what he is doing and the D’backs are going to be better off for it in the long run.

Chris Johnson and Eric Chavez look to give Arizona an offensive boost in 2013 from the third base position. (US Presswire: Matt Kartozian)

Diamondbacks fans should be excited about the prospects of some solid run production from the third base position in 2013 with the duo of Chris Johnson and Eric Chavez.

The under the radar trade last season that brought Johnson to the desert for two struggling prospects didn’t get a ton of publicity in the baseball circles, but Johnson made a splash immediately for the D’backs hitting a grand slam in his debut with the team against the Dodgers on July 30th. Johnson further excited Diamondback fans hitting five home runs and piling up 15 runs batted in in his first eight games. Johnson has shown his ability to hit for power and drive in runs in the first four years of his major league career amassing 33 home runs and 171 RBI in 1,229 at bats. He hits right-handed pitching considerably better than her does lefties with a .819 OPS against right-handed pitching versus .672 versus left-handed pitching. Johnson plays a capable third base and looks to share time at the hot corner with veteran addition Eric Chavez.

Chavez enjoyed his best season in the majors since 2006 in his 2012 resurgence with the Yankees. He hit .281 with 16 home runs and 37 runs batted in while playing a pivotal role for New York down the stretch. Chavez also sports a dependable glove and can more than hold his own at third base. Most of Chavez’s offensive production in 2012 came against right handed pitching as well hitting .298 versus righties.

Diamondbacks fans can likely expect to see Johnson get most, if not all, of the starts at third against left handed pitching in 2013. Look for Johnson and Chavez to likely split time against right-handed pitching and for manager Kirk Gibson to go with whomever happens to be the hot hand throughout the season. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for Arizona to see these two combine to hit for 25-30 home runs, 90-100 runs batted in, and a respectable .280 or better average collectively from both sides of the plate. Whether it’s Johnson or Chavez at third base, expect the D’backs to get some significant run producing from that position in 2013.

Sept. 18, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ian Kennedy (31) looks on during the first inning against the San Diego Padres at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Kennedy was among three pitchers inked today. Relievers Brad Ziegler and Tony Sipp also signed on the dotted line as did third baseman Chris Johnson.

Kennedy is coming off a season that fell below his expectations. He finished with a 15-12 record and an ERA of 4.02. The 28-year-old right-hander has 36 wins in the last two seasons, tops in the National League during that span.

August 16, 2012; St. Louis, MO. USA; Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Brad Ziegler (29) throws during the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. The Diamondbacks won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Ziegler was a critical piece of the D’backs bullpen last season. The 33-year-old reliever had a career year last season, making 77 appearances, netting a career high six wins, pitching in a career high 68.2 innings and posting a staff best ERA of 2.49 . According to a tweet by Fox Sports Arizona’s Jack Magruder, Ziegler will be paid $3.15 million this season, a hefty raise from the $1.795 million he made last season.

Sipp pitched for the Cleveland Indians last season and was acquired by Arizona on Dec. 10th in the Trevor Bauer deal. He pitched in 63 games with the tribe posting a 1-2 record with a 4.42 ERA and one save. According to NBCSports.com, the 29-year-old left-hander will be making $1.275 million in the desert this season.

Johnson hit .281 with 15 home runs and 76 RBI’s in 136 games split between Houston and Arizona. The third baseman will be in a dogfight for playing time with Eric Chavez and Willie Bloomquist. Terms of Johnson’s deal were not disclosed.