The Diamondbacks have not ruled out acquiring a new center fielder to replace injured star A.J. Pollock, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network in a series of tweets (1, 2, 3, and 4). Pollock will have surgery on his fractured elbow and hopes to return at some point this season. However, it’s very possible he’ll miss the entire 2016 campaign.
The Diamondbacks made a serious of win-now oriented moves over the offseason. The loss of Pollock is a devastating blow to their hopes of contention. According to FanGraphs, he was worth over six wins above replacement level last year. Internal options like Chris Owings and Socrates Brito may patch the problem, but they won’t come close to replacing Pollock’s production.
For now, the club will evaluate their in-house candidates while exploring the trade market and free agent markets. It’s generally a difficult time of year to acquire impact talent – most teams have either made their blockbuster swaps or hope to contend this season. If Arizona does choose to look outside the organization, they could begin their search with veterans Michael Bourn and Will Venable. Bourn was recently designated for assignment by the Braves while Venable failed to make the Phillies Opening Day roster.
Go get Mike Trout. Halos are not using him and he would bring them a big return.
There is no chance the halos would ever trade trout.
Great Idea. What could they give for him? Pollock plus their top ten?
Dansby Swa…never mind.
No way that happens. Bourn or Venable.
Given past history, Braves would likely cover all but $2M on Bourn. No he is not Pollack, but a good veteran presence to pair with the youngsters.
The Braves are releasing Bourn outright and paying his entire salary. Why would the D’backs or any other team take on $2M or even $0.01 of his salary. And why would they also give up any players to get him? Do you really think Bourn has ANY trade value at all?
I believe that Arizona would be required to pay him the League Minimum, and Atlanta would receive that credit against what they owe. That’s what’s happened a couple times this off-season already (Miami – Edwin Jackson…..and someone else…???)
Actually, the point is that the D’backs don’t want or need him, so to speculate on what Atlanta would get in return is a moot point.
Actually, kbarr gave a well-informed response without being unnecessarily mean. You aren’t wrong, you’re just being douche.
Well douche was the lighter version of what u was thinking, but good call. Funny thing is, not every trade has to come with prospects in return, there is a thing called ‘cash considerations’ that come with trades. And until Bourn is absolutely gone from the team, I can speculate all I wish. Simple fact that everyone pisses and moans about the Bourn-Swish-CJ trade, the Braves only lost $14M this year on it. CLE is paying more this year and next for the three players not to be on their team, Miami picked up a portion of that salary for CLE this year Scottaz.
How about getting Inciarte back with Bourn for a couple 20-30 prospects. Inciarte has a little under $40 million excess value. Bourn only -13.5. So D-Backs need to come up with 25-27 million in value. That would be two top prospects or a MLB ready and one prospect. Like Pollock and Shipley.
Bourn was DFAd, not released. They have 10 days since his DFA to release him, trade him, or add him to the roster. Having just released Swisher, I’d say they have a taker for Bourn, or they would have simply unconditionally released him as well. I’d say Bourn will goto a team for something very small, and the Braves will be paying his salary.
Lol at Pollock and Shipley for Inciarte and Bourn. You need to realize your “value” method doesn’t work. Also Pollock >>> Inciarte. An injury doesn’t mean they’d do this deal
Hmm, Trout or Venable or Bourn? Are you sure those are the only options? I’d like someone better than Trout, without the waiver claim price of a Bourn, or requiring a player to be named, like Venable.
Someone better than Trout?
Ya like chris denorfia or colin cowgill
Javy Baez, Ian Desmond, Chris Owings and Carlos Beltran are also much better CF’s than Trout. Lots of options
If this is bigpapi4ever… Go away
He was banned……LOL
is that for certain? lol
Wow this community can’t appreciate a good troll
Totally unnecessary because brito, owings and peralta are all pretty much as good as pollock. Oh, and a bunch of dbacks players are also gonna have break out seasons. So they’re totally set and gonna win 94 games, cuz, ya know, reasons….
Good post! Thanks for listening.
GMs are not and should not be exclusively sabermetric geeks. We can be as commenters and critics of their moves, but they must use sabermetrics as a tool alongside good old fashioned scouting and eyeball player evaluation. So, just because sabermetric projections say Pollock would produce big WAR numbers this year and neither Brito nor Owings will does not mean that would happen–either way. Players still have to play the games this year.
AZ fans a month ago: AJ Pollock is one of the most underrated players in the league, he should be an MVP candidate
A month later: We can pretty much replace Pollock with a couple bench players, we’re pretty much the same team
Not trying to be a jerk here though, I agree that you guys are still set up to be in contention
I was thinking the same damn thing, it us hilarious. And let’s just say Brito and everyone else is as good or better than Pollack, worth starting service time for his obvious long term replacement?
HAHA…johnmillerjones, that is 100% accurate. I’m rooting for AZ this yr bc I loathe LAD and SF. They are a flawed team though, and the Pollock injury just makes it much more obvious.
Totally off topic, apologies, but I haven’t seen an article here covering it… Kudos to Chien Ming Wang for making the Royals after 2+ years out of the majors. I’m not a Royals fan, or a fan of any team he has played for, but I like his heart.
Absolutely, loved him when he pitched for the Phils, was sad to see him go.
Make it s three way trade – being in Harper too. Couple of low level prospects should do it.
Exactly.
Think they’ll play Drury in RF and move Peralta to CF a good portion of the time.
Owimg and Brito are more productive then both Bourne and Venable. It would have to be someone much better to be considered an upgrade
Totally agree.
Trade everything that has value not on the 25 man for trout
They already did kinda for miller
That trade…for a #3 (or #2 if he absolutely maxes out his potential) was nuts. I wish the Mets would steal a trade like that from AZ.
De Aza is available….
What would Bourn cost?
If it’s a signing after they release him, minimal salary. If they trade for him, a top prospect, preferably pitching.
Just the minimum salary as far as the DBacks are concerned because he was released.
When was he released? And he would not require a prospect, all Braves would want is salary relief. I hope Bourn accepts assignment for a month or so and see how things shake out on Braves roster.
Ender Inciarte? haha
In order to get Trout, without giving up a man on your 25 man roster. You would no longer have a farm system. I am not saying your farm systems would suck. I’m saying you would have to give so many players, you wouldn’t be able to put one full team on the field.
Im not the angels gm or anything but trout isnt available
President Chester Arthur stole my thunder, already…thanks for posting a really good and thoughtful post chesterarthur.
He wants me to use paragraphs rather than a solid wall of text, so this is paragraph two..
My point would be that those of us who know the D’backs players because we are “homers” know that Bourn, Venable, etc., the released CFers, don’t even come close to an upgrade over the in-house options, so why bother? I know everyone here likes trades and acquisitions, but just because you like to see action doesn’t mean it will happen, and certainly doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for the D’backs.
If the D’backs do anything with these guys, they will sign them to Minor League contracts and stash them at AAA Reno as depth options. But the in-house candidates are getting the first shot at replacing Pollock, and the FO believes in the quality of the young talent on the team.
Has Chris Owings ever even played center..? I’m confused as to why his name is a part of the conversation.
Manager Chip Hale announced that Brito will start in CF against righthanders and Chris Owings will start against left handers. Owings played part of the Friday exhibition game against Kansas City in CF, and the whole game in CF on Saturday. He played well, with multiple chances in the 1+ games. Those were his first games in CF in the Majors., but he is regarded as a great athlete who can handle the position well. Owings was slated to split time with Ahmed and Segura at SS and 2b this year.
Chase Field that all that has to be said. It’s simple AJ is the guy. This is not the central. The NL west is different especially considering Chavez ravine, PetCo, and Coors. No one questions Britos defensive ability. I’m sure being the athlete Owings is he could eventually
play a good cf. To think anyone can replace Pollock….. This a huge blow for the Dacks. Being a NL West fan it’s sad to see. Without Inciarte it probably is a tougher pill to swallow. This is a situation where Brito now has to grow up and grow up quickly.
Angel Pagan is all yours…
The last thing they should do is go for a trade
They need to look at what’s available for free
Why not take a shot at Jake Cave– Rule V kid so he has to stick, but he plays center, has a ceiling, posts high walk rates and has speed. At least he can be a part of the center field contingency and can potentially be a guy who can help further down the road as well.
Love this comment. From what I could see Cabe didn’t have best Spring, but potential is definitely there. Owings is a great athlete, but I like him as strictly an infielder.
Cave*
Why do they need to look for anything? What they have in-house is light years better than Cave or any free or costly alternative. The only pick up the D’backs might make is a veteran on a Minor League contract to stash at AAA Reno, just in case of further injuries. It would be prudent to do that, so that’s what they are looking for.
Go get Cole Gillespie. Marlins DFA’d him today. He’s a solid defender and a decent stick. $603,000 salary for 2016.
D’backs had Gillespie 2010-11, cut him. He’s not good enough to consider.
Man, you are on a mission to stick up for your precious snakes. I’m sorry your GM sucks and that a key player got hurt. I’m jealous of Goldy and Greinke. Enjoy falling short of the second wild card for the next couple years.
I almost feel bad for him. He’s in denial. This team was already unlikely to make the playoffs, now they’re screwed. But somehow, they are going to win 94 games.
Better hope Thomas decides to stop being garbage.
This does not have anything really to do with the article, but moreso just the Duamondbacks in general and how they relate to my favorite team.
I’m a fan of the Braves, but I do follow the D-Backs a little more than most other teams. This is due to the fact that the D-Backs have a couple of former Braves on their squad now. Guys like Nick Ahmed, Randall Delgado, Brandon Drury, and Phil Gosselin all came up through the Braves minor league system, and I became fans of each as they climbed the ladder.
Also now, of course, the D-Backs have Shelby Miller…So, they do hold a small place in my Fandom family. Even though Shelby Miller was only an Atlanta Brave for a short period of time, he quickly became a fan favorite!! You guys will love watching him pitch every fifth day, and you will enjoy watching him throw about seemingly 3 or 4 different fastballs that just induce some of the weakest contact you will ever see out of ML hitters.
Miller used to be known as a guy that would rack up some big strikeout numbers, but Roger McDowell wanted Shelby to use his cutter, sinker, and fastball more, and he wanted Shelby to pitch to contact. And that he did to quite a bit of success!! Like I said before, he became an artist at fooling hitters with similar looks on his pitches, and with the D-Backs solid infield defense, Shelby Miller will absolutely THRIVE in Arizona!!
Do not be at all suprised if Miller finishes in the top 8 for NL Cy Young voting!! I just hope Arizona is able to score him some runs, because the Braves last year absolutely did him ZERO favors, as far as run support is concerned!! But he took the mound every 5th day like a true ace, and stuck his neck out everytime to try and win them each and every game!! The guy is a true ballplayer, and as I stated before Arizona fans, you will quickly fall in love with Miller!!!
I wish the Braves didn’t have to trade him, but getting back Blair does help a bit in the short term. Blair really looks like he could become one heck of a pitcher!! Not to mention Swanson and Inciarte, who the Braves plucked away as well…Plus Touki should be pretty fun to watch this year, although that was a different trade, but holy crap his CURVE BALL IS JUST FILTHY!!! lol
Anyways, it is nice to have another NL team I can root for now, and best of wishes to the D-Backs and all of their fans!! Hopefully you all will root for us when possibly Inciarte, Swanson, Blair, and Touki all come up and collectively make it to the show!! It will definitely be a real fun game if and when they all come up and face off against the likes of Miller, Drury, Ahmed, Gosselin, and Delgado!!! Should be some fun stuff to watch!!!
Good post and agree 100%. Have some family out in Arizona and the Rams dealings the last few years keep me interested in the D’Backs as well, as a Braves fan.
Recent, not Rams.
I wonder if Alcantara can be picked up from the Cubs. He didn’t have a very good rookie year but he was solid in CF. He has speed and decent power (10 hr’s in 300 PA’s in 2014) and is essentially blocked in Chicago with a few prospects coming up quickly who will need his AB’s in AAA. He struggled a bit in AAA after his demotion last year but in 2014 before his callup he had hit over .300 with an .890 OPS. I would like to see Arizona trade a middling prospect and pick him up. A change of scenery is probably all he needs and it will be awhile before he gets another shot in Chicago. The kid is pretty much mlb ready and imo deserves a real shot somewhere. Just my 2 cents.
I think they have faith in their young outfield to fill in. Brito is the reason they traded inciarte so
Would be interesting if ATL offered Inciarte (and more, not Swanson, Blair, etc.) for Pollock. That way ARZ could contend this year, like they want to. Pollock has a lot of upside, but there might be some concern about investing in that elbow that, I believe it’s the same elbow, he’s now broken twice in 6 years (though it’s non-throwing arm).
How about Peter Bourjos? I’m sure the Phils would listen. They are thin in the OF but I think they’d part with him for the right prospect(s). Thoughts?
Padres have a surplus with Jon Jay, Travis Jankowski, Melvin Upton and Manuel Margot. As a padre fan I’d like to see Upton traded but they would have pay some of his salary.
Ok, how about a realistic trade option?
Alejandro De Aza. 1yr (albeit a bit pricey at 5-6m)
2015: .262AVG, .333OBP, .755OPS
His 2016 projections are a bit down because of planned limited action (w. Cespedes and Lagares slotted ahead of him), but i think he’d be a realistic option with some upside. He’d be motivated to get out of NY because of the logjam in CF.
The Mets would probably eat a couple million if they could get back a solid prospect. I only knew a few prospects in AZ, and two of them moved in the MIller trade…so someone else will need to suggest options.
Hey sabermetric geeks, checkout a sabermetric analysis of how the D’backs can overcome the loss of Pollock and still make the playoffs. Go to insidethezona.com
Any interest in Rusney Castillo?
While Venable has some pop and speed, If Venable or Michael Bourn is your answer to attempting to replace Pollock, you might as well see what you have in Owings and Brito. Bourn isn’t even half the player he once was. I bet you miss Inciarte and Parra now.