3 trades the Diamondbacks wish they could take back
The Paul Goldschmidt trade hurts too much to put on this list…
Trading OF Starling Marte to the Marlins
On August 31, 2020, the Diamondbacks traded Starling Marte to the Miami Marlins for Caleb Smith, Humberto Mejía, and Julio Frias...
At the time, this seemed like a smart move by Mike Hazen and the Arizona front office. Now looking back, yikes! Marte had a very short stint with the D-backs, but it was a good one. In the Covid-plagued year of 2020, Starling played 33 games for Arizona. In those 33 games, he hit 8 doubles, 2 HRs, 14 RBIs, and recorded an OPS of .827. Over the last two seasons, Marte has played for a total of 3 teams. In that time, he has hit 51 doubles, 28 HRs, 118 RBIs, and has an OPS of .828 over the course of 238 games. Marte was also selected to the All-Star game in 2022. It is safe to say that the D-backs traded away an outfielder that can mash…
At the time of the trade, it seemed like the D-backs got a good haul for Marte. But it hasn’t panned out that way. In two full seasons with Arizona (2021-2022), P Caleb Smith owns a 5-12 record with a 4.56 ERA in 183.2 innings pitched. P Humberto Mejía has only pitched 22.1 innings with the Diamondbacks and owns a 0-3 record with a 7.25 ERA. The last piece of the trade, P Julio Frias, is no longer in the Diamondbacks organization and he failed to even reach the big leagues. A disappointing transaction for Arizona to say the least…
D-backs trade away SS Dansby Swanson
Oof, the Braves fleeced the Diamondbacks on this one. On December 9, 2015, the Diamondbacks traded Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte, and Aaron Blair to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Shelby Miller and Gabe Speier…
Dansby Swanson has turned into quite the ball player since that trade in 2015. His numbers don’t jump off the page when talking about his 7-year career in Atlanta, but his last two seasons have been very solid. Over the past two seasons, Swanson has hit 65 doubles, 52 HRs, and 184 RBIs; He has also scored 177 times and has stolen 27 bags. Last season he was nominated to his first All-Star game. More than his production at the plate, Swanson is outstanding in the field. Since 2016, Swanson owns a 38 OAA, and last season he had a 21 OAA which was second in all of baseball. No wonder the Cubs gave him the bag this past off-season…
As for Inciarte, he had quite the career with the Braves. In 3 full seasons in Atlanta (2016-2018), Ender hit 78 doubles, 24 HRs, and 147 RBIs; He also scored 261 times and stole 66 bags. In those 3 seasons, he also had a 62 OAA which ranks him first among all outfielders in that time frame. Incirate developed into a very good all-around player for Atlanta and he is currently a free agent. As for Aaron Blair, he was the only part of the deal that didn’t pan out for the Braves. In 2 seasons with the Braves (2016-2017), Blair went 2-8 with a 7.89 ERA over the course of 73 innings…
For Arizona, Shelby Miller was not the pitcher for them that he was for the Braves. At the time of the deal, Miller was a dominant NL pitcher. From 2013-2015, pitching for the Cardinals and Braves, Miller owned a 31-35 record with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. In his time with the D-backs (2016-2018), Miller went 5-18 with a 6.35 ERA in 28 starts. Ouch! Miller is now a part of the Dodgers organization. As for Gabe Speier, he never pitched for the Diamondbacks. On June 6, 2018, the Diamondbacks traded Speier and Elvis Luciano to the Kansas City Royals for Jon Jay. I don't think this trade could have been worse...
3B Mark Reynolds sent to Baltimore
On December 6, 2010, the Diamondbacks traded Mark Reynolds and John Hester to the Baltimore Orioles for David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio…
In 563 games with Arizona, Reynolds hit 95 doubles, 121 HRs, 346 RBIs; He also scored 326 times and recorded an .817 OPS. He was a premier power hitter for the D-backs in the mid-2000s. In his next two seasons with Baltimore, Reynolds hit 53 doubles, 60 HRs, 155 RBIs, and recorded a .458 slugging percentage over the course of 290 games. After Reynolds left, Arizona had a big power dip in their offense. For Hester, he played less than 55 games with Arizona and never saw the field in a Baltimore uniform…
The return for Reynolds was not adequate enough. In 4 seasons with the D-backs Hernandez recorded a 13-17 record with a 3.54 ERA in 233.2 relief innings. Mickolio only pitched 6.2 innings with Arizona and gave up 10 hits and 5 earned runs. Hernandez was a reliable arm out of the pen, but his value was nowhere near that of Mark Reynolds…