According to an article written by Nick Piecoro and Scott Bordow at azcentral.com, Arizona Diamondbacks Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick stated in effect, he was happy with the moves made by the team this past offseason. “In terms of the team that we put on the field,” Kendrick said, “I thought we did and I still think, based on performances from the past year — not only guys that were with us from a year ago but the new guys we brought in — I thought we did the right things.” Kendrick also pointed out how terrific the team was in one run games in 2011 and how poorly they have done in such games this season.
One really can’t argue with the logic Kendrick uses in evaluating the team’s transactions. This was a club that had a totally unexpected NL West Championship season last year and the small amount of moves that were made had designs on taking the D-Backs further. Jason Kubel was signed to provide a little more pop to the lineup and has certainly delivered, possibly being the team MVP. Yes, the Trevor Cahill deal (which also netted Craig Breslow) that sent Jarrod Parker and Ryan Cook to Oakland looks bad at the moment because of Cahill’s struggles and Parker’s and Cook’s success. But really, could you say at the time of the trade that it was a bad deal? Arizona has a surplus of young pitching talent and keep in mind that Cahill himself is only 24 years old. He compiled 40 wins in three seasons for a shaky A’s club. To me, this deal was almost a no-brainer. The Takashi Saito signing ended up not working out because the reliever has pitched in only 10 games this season because of injuries. Even though Saito turned 42 in February, he did post an ERA 2.03 in 30 games for the Brewers in 2011.
Admit it, you thought the D-Backs were going to repeat as division champions. I know I thought that would be the case. While I didn’t expect Ian Kennedy from 2011, I also wasn’t expecting an ERA close to 4.50. The Justin Upton struggles are well-chronicled so needless to say, we didn’t anticipate this. It is just one of those seasons where that even though the team was mostly spared from the injury bug, nothing went right for them. It happens to good clubs. In the end, management made solid baseball decisions they thought would help the team. Fans should take comfort knowing that Arizona has quality decision makers in place and any move they make, however small or subtle, will most likely be the right move to make.
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