Why the Prado and Parra Trades Make Sense For The Dbacks

Jun 26, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson (left) and Diamondbacks chief baseball officer Tony La Russa arrive at Tony Gwynn

This is what makes the trade deadline special: it’s unpredictable and stuff  can happen at any moment. The Dbacks were one of the few definite sellers, and they made no bones about it. Being sellers isn’t going to please every fan, especially considering they traded fan favorite Gerardo Parra, and the clubhouse might not take the Martin Prado deal lightly.

However, not only does the Parra deal make sense, but the Martin Prado trade makes even more sense. Martin Prado was traded to the Yankees right at the deadline for Yankees power hitting catching prospect, and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

This deal was all about financial flexibility for the 2015 offseason. The most important thing that fans need to know is that this deal saves the Diamondbacks alot of money this year and over the next couple seasons. They will save about 3.6 million this year, and 22 million over the next two seasons on the Prado deal alone with the Yankees paying every dime of whats left on Prado’s deal which runs through 2016.

The bottom line is that Prado’s mediocre production at 3B over the past two seasons is not worth 22 million dollars. The Snakes have plenty of infield depth, and two guys in particular, Jake Lamb and Brandon Drury are close to playing at the big league level.

This deal was all about financial flexibility for 2015 and beyond. Kevin Towers made it clear in his post deadline comments that the team is looking to upgrade the starting rotation specifically for 2015. Now the front office led by Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa, G.M Kevin Towers, and President Derrick Hall have the money and payroll flexibility to acquire some impact arms, and there aren’t any excuses anymore.

The Dbacks payroll wont be 100 million next year, and overall for the rest of 2014, 2015, and 2016 if you combine all four trades the team has made, Arizona by my estimates will save roughly 30.2 million dollars, and again that is a rough estimate.

Meanwhile Towers and La Russa viewed Parra as a non-tender candidate, and he would probably would command a salary north of 6 or 7 million in arbitration. Given Parra’s declining production, both offensively and defensively, the Dbacks viewed that as an unnecessary expense moving forward, especially given the emergence of David Peralta who has 20 multi hit games since his call-up.

Both deals were about financial flexibility but the Prado deal made the biggest impact. This deal was all about the 2015 free agent starting pitching market. MLB Trade Rumors put together a list of potential starting pitchers and there are plenty of impact guys for the Dbacks to go after.

The list includes Jon Lester who was traded to the A’s today, Max Scherzer, James Shields, Johnny Cueto who has had a CY Young type season this year, Justin Masterson, Francisco Liriano, Jake Peavy, and Jorge De La Rosa. among others. Now the Dbacks have the money to sign an impact arm, and the front office made it clear that starting pitching is priority no.1, no.2, and no.3 this offseason.

Overall I think the Diamondbacks made two trades today that will help them this offseason and next year if they can acquire an impact arm.