By Trevor McNamara

The Arizona Diamondbacks have developed an intriguing core that has some fans savoring over their 2016 potential. Signing the highest profile pitcher on the market in Zack Greinke and coming off a quiet 78 win season, the Dbacks seem primed for success in the upcoming season. Along with the decision to break the bank for Greinke, the team mortgaged integral parts of their future in order to try to win now. They went all in risking their future as soon as they traded Ender Inciarte, Aaron Blair, and Dansby Swanson for Shelby Miller and Gabe Speier from the Braves.

The new movements in the MLB have shifted from building teams through large free agency deals and trades to now building teams through the draft and stashing and not trading minor league prospects as frequently. The New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, and Pittsburgh Pirates, all teams with smaller payrolls hovering around 100 million dollars, have utilized this plan recently. The teams spending all the big money on free agents such as the Yankees, Red Sox, and the Dodgers haven’t been as successful lately and only three of the 2015 playoff teams had an opening day payroll in the top 10 according to USA Today’s research.

The Diamondbacks are going about their offseason in an interesting and unorthodox way. Through the early stages of the offseason, they appear to be the so-called “winners” of the offseason so far. They have decided to put everything into this year and by doing so they traded away some extraordinary young talent. The Diamondbacks traded the number one overall pick from the 2015 MLB draft, shortstop Dansby Swanson. Swanson has been dubbed as a star shortstop by numerous scouting websites such as MLB.com. Prior to being traded for Shelby Miller, he was the Diamondback’s number one prospect and an MLB.com top ten overall prospect. Along with Swanson they traded Aaron Blair, a right-handed starting pitcher that has reached Triple A and was their number two prospect. Blair is on the cusp of the major leagues after finishing the season at Triple A and he should get a chance to win a rotation job for the Braves during Spring Training. Both Blair and Swanson will be under the Braves control for six years once they reach the big leagues.

In addition to the acquiring the Diamondback’s two top prospects, the Braves also stole Ender Inciarte from the Diamondbacks. He is a player who really broke out in 2015 while excelling particularly on defense, playing all three outfield positions. He accumulated 29 defensive runs saved during the 2015 season across three outfield positions, establishing himself as one of the best defensive players in the league. Although it seems like all he could do was play defense, he had a .303 batting average, along with 21 stolen bases, making him a threat when he gets on base. Those traits, along with his versatility make him an extremely valuable asset for the Braves. Also, he is under team control until 2021, allowing the Braves to add a controllable asset to help build a strong core for the future.

The Diamondbacks got a great player in Shelby Miller who boosts a career 3.22 ERA and is coming off an all-star appearance with the Braves. He immediately fills a need in their starting rotation, but they had other routes they could’ve gone to get the same type of pitcher without giving up so many of their assets. In the trade, they gave up three players under control for 5 plus years for a starting pitcher with only under control for three more years before becoming a free agent. Also they did receive a relief pitcher Gabe Speier, a former nineteenth round pick who could eventually turn into a good player but as of now he is relatively unknown, and likely a player with a limited ceiling.

The Diamondbacks had plenty of other options on the table to get a starting pitcher in free agency such as Mike Leake, Johnny Cueto, or Wei-Yin Chen. Although Cueto just recently signed with the San Francisco Giants, there were rumors on Twitter from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports that the Diamondbacks offered Cueto a contract around 6 years for $120 million. They also could have tried to possibly land James Shields, Andrew Cashner, or Carlos Carrasco in trades. A trade for one of those players would’ve landed them a player with similar statistics but they wouldn’t require the Diamondbacks to give up a great player such as Dansby Swanson.

The many previous big spenders of the off-season in recent years have typically gone on to underachieve during the season. The Padres were the biggest example of that last year. They made big flashy trades dealing away prospects while also inking players to large free agent deals. The Diamondbacks seem headed in a similar direction that the Padres went last year. This Diamondbacks team has mortgaged everything for this year so for them it’s championship or bust. With a bunch of other strong National League teams, the probability is low of them making a run at the playoffs.

There have only been four instances of number one overall picks being traded before making his debut with the team that drafted him. As evidenced by an article from Yahoo Sports, most teams elect to keep their number one picks because they typically become star players.The Dbacks gave up too early on Swanson and if he develops the way he is expected to, they will be ridiculed by every scout and fan for letting him go. The Braves robbed the Diamondbacks with relative ease, gaining two top prospects along with a proven MLB player in Inciarte, who they can either hold onto or use as an asset to acquire more players.

The Diamondbacks will be kicking themselves when in just a few years all the players they traded away become stars in the league while they try to keep together a core that may not even be capable of taking them deep into the playoffs. The Diamondbacks risked too much in trading their young, controllable stars in their system and now if an injury occurs during the season they may lack the depth to fill the void leaving them vulnerable.

“Mlb Salaries- MLB Baseball.” USA Today. USA Today, 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

“MLB.com 2015 Prospect Watch.” Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball, 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Oz, Mike. “The Trade of No. 1 Overall Pick Dansby Swanson to Braves Is Something We’ve Literally Never Seen before.” Yahoo Sports. N.p., 8 Dec. 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.

Stark, Jayson. “Winter Meetings Winners and Losers.” ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 16 Dec. 2015.