Written by Joe Messineo at No Coast Bias
The Major League Baseball offseason is arguably the most crucial time of year for any MLB franchise. World Series Champions and league pennant winners may raise their trophies in the fall, but it’s in the winter when these teams are built by the front offices and general managers that run the franchises.
When the teams finally win it all, we can look back and see how it happened. The Kansas City Royals won the World Series, in part, because their front office focused on contact hitting and strong pitching relief in prior offseasons. The New York Mets won the National League because they invested heavily in starting pitching.
But there’s another side to this coin, too, and that’s how teams go bad. When a team gets beaten in a trade or overpays for a player, it hurts their chances to succeed in the seasons to come. Someday, some fan bases will look back on this offseason and wonder what went wrong. Which team’s fans will be most frustrated with the 2015-16 offseason? Here’s our list of the biggest mistakes made this offseason.
Arizona Diamondbacks: the Shelby Miller Trade
The Diamondbacks are going for it this year, and they want you to know it! They’re so dedicated to winning that they brought in talented young Braves pitcher Shelby Miller. All it cost GM Dave Stewart was three great prospects, the keys to Chase Field, and his first-born child.
To say that the Atlanta Braves got the better of this deal is an understatement. If the Diamondbacks had given up only young major-league outfielder Ender Inciarte, that might have made for a fair swap right there. To throw in the draft’s most recent number one pick, SS Dansby Swanson, as well as Arizona’s second-best prospect, RHP Aaron Blair, is just criminal.
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