Written by Joseph Coblitz at The Comeback
I told you last week that the Diamondbacks weren’t done after signing Zack Greinke and with all the places they were looking (including at free agent Mike Leake and trading for Aroldis Chapman), they were bound to ultimately get someone. That someone was the pitcher they had targeted since the beginning of the off-season, Shelby Miller and the cost was substantial. Joe Lucia covered the basic aspects of this blockbuster on Tuesday night, but it’s time to look deeper to see how the biggest deal of the Winter Meetings so far affects the team that’s contending, rather than the team that’s selling.
Officially, the deal sent 2015 first overall draft pick Dansby Swanson, Aaron Blair, and Ender Inciarte to the Braves in exchange for Miller and Gabe Speier. Speier is a 20 year old A-ball left-handed relief pitcher who has been decent in two years, but didn’t do much to balance this deal. The other names, however, are each a big deal on their own.
Desperate to add pitching, the Diamondbacks are known to have approached two teams for young, controllable star pitchers, the Indians and the Braves. When they asked Cleveland for Danny Salazar, they responded by asking for A.J. Pollock as a starting point. When the DBacks asked the Braves for Miller, they got a similar response. Considering his All-Star berth and top 15 MVP campaign in 2015, it’s not really surprising that teams would be interested in the slugging outfielder who stole 39 bases and crushed 65 extra base hits in his breakout season.
On the other side, the Diamondbacks couldn’t possibly part with Pollock and still expect to contend in 2016. As much as the rotation was a problem, Pollock (6.6 WAR) and Paul Goldschmidt (7.4) accounted for 47% of the team’s offensive and defensive WAR, with no other player earning a WAR above 3.7 individually. Those two players are so integral to the Arizona offense that they can’t bare to spare them and the signing of Greinke proves they want to win right now.
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