Buyers or Sellers? Part Deux

One week ago I wrote a blog telling the world that the DBacks were sellers, meaning they were out of contention for the playoffs. One week changes many things, and with just 4 days left until the trade deadline I thought I would revisit these questions again.

The Good - winning 6 games in a row and looking like the offense is coming around. Is the O going to continue to tear it up with 7 runs a game like the past week or go back to the worst team in baseball with runners in scoring position. The Dbacks are currently leading the wildcard and only 1.5 games behind the Dodgers for first place in the division.

The Bad - Randy Johnson is done for the year with back surgery scheduled for next Friday. This is a big hit to the starting rotation, the biggest question mark for the last 2 months of the season.

BUYERS OR SELLERS? Today the Dbacks traded Scott Hairston to the Padres for a triple A closer with a broken hand. So we are already in the sellers column, but SH has been in a crowded outfield all year and has been on the trading block since Spring Training so not a big surprise or indication of things to come. Plus, the Dbacks had to bring Carlos Quinton back up for his Bobble head night on Saturday. So are we contenders or pretenders, buyers or sellers?

The Win/Loss record indicates we are in the hunt and should be buyers. In watching this team day in and day out I think we should be sellers. Here is why: RJ is out for the season. The offense is still statistically very low in most categories. Our starting rotation is full of question marks. The team has still scored less runs than they have given up for the year, very remarkable considering the record. The Dbacks win close games and lose big.

GAME BREAK AT 7:30 PM FRIDAY - 6-0 DBACKS IN THE SECOND, ON THE WAY TO THE 7TH WIN IN A ROW! Can i change my mind mid post?

The offense might very well continue its torrid pace of the past week. I think they are finally living up to the potential and Rick Shue is letting the players use their talent and not their brains to extremely positive results. My major concerns are about the starting rotation. Webb is solid but not spectacular this year. Petit (RJ's replacement from AAA) has been awesome, but can he keep a 2.45 ERA for the rest of the year? Davis has been up and down but overall solid. Hernandez has sucked for a month and then throws a great game but is way too inconsistent. Micah Owings needs to get sent down but there are no really good options to replace him. I just do not see this staff leading us to the playoffs. Even if they did make the playoffs who do you trust to win a playoff game besides Webby. It is this reason I would love to trade off Hernandez and several other veterans to get back young talent that can help us in the future.

The future is bright and I think we could put Nippert or Edgar Gonzalez in the starting rotation. Trading Livan would bring back some young talent for next year and I think Ed Gon or Nippert might actually be an upgrade. It would weaken our bullpen but only slightly and bring us future talent. Webb and Davis along with young pitchers of Petit, Micah, and Nippert or Ed Gon, creates a nice rotation while getting a great look at the future rotation. Lets find out what we have in these guys and really work toward next year. Speaking of the future, only one month until Justin Upton will come up in September call ups, I am greatly looking forward to seeing him.

So even with 7 straight wins (6 -0 in the 4th), I still believe we would benefit from trading Hernandez or O'Dog for young talent and letting Callaspo and Reynolds cover second and Nippert handle the starters role. Please leave some comments and ideas.

Buyers or Sellers?

12 days until the trade deadline and are the Dbacks buying or selling? This decision affects the franchise for the next 5 years or longer. There are good arguments on both sides, and so we will delve into each.

Buying - You send a statement to the fans that this team is trying for the playoffs and the future is now. In a buying mode we need a Starting Pitcher and a slugger. The options are thin in trying to get a bat. J. Dye has been injured and not effective this year, M. Teixeira has a lot of money owed and the asking price is high. Getting a bat will be difficult. There are rumor's of CoJack heading to the Chi White Sox for one of their young pitchers, J. Danks, a rookie pitcher with a 4.81 ERA. I am not sure he is the answer for the push for the playoffs.

Selling - admitting that you are out of this years playoffs but the future will look bright. I love E. Brynes and O'Dog, the two veterans we have on the team along with T. Clark, but they are both looking to get paid in the off season. I think the Dbacks will pay and keep one, but not both. Either player would or could bring in a nice future starter or slugger.

I like the idea of playing for the playoffs, but the options are limited and expensive. Not to mention, I am not sure the incoming players are better than what we have. The key to making a trade is to make the team decidedly better now, and give up some future. I don't see us getting anything to make us better, and I do not want to give up on the young guys or lose any of the future. If R. Johnson was healthy and pitching like he was in May, I think this team could make the playoffs. Once you are in the post season, anything can happen (06 Cardinals). Unfortunately RJ is injured, the hitters are not hitting, and the best two teams in the NL are both ahead of us in the Dodgers and Padres. If they can sell a player or two and pick up a 3-4-5 starting pitcher for the future or a young slugger, they should. I absolutely hate the selling option but it makes the most sense. The Dbacks of the future are in fabulous shape and only need a starter to make serious playoff runs over the next 5- 7 years.

Future Starters of Webb, Owens, and possible starters in M. Scherzer, Edgar Gonzalez, Y. Petit, D. Nippert, Enrique Gonzalez and a young starter from a trade leave plenty of competition or trade bait to get another front line starter.

The outfield has talent coming in J. Upton and C. Gonzalez coming along with C. Young, C. Quinton, S. Hairston. The infield is set at the corners with CoJack, C. Tracy, and M. Reynolds. S. Drew and O'Dog are a good one two punch up the middle, with Callaspo a nice backup or replacement for O'Dog. The dbacks have good players all over the place, but no super star. They need a superstar to take this team over the top and back to the World Series. Is J. Upton that guy? Or does Young, Drew, CoJack, Tracy, Quinton, and Montero all raise their batting averages 20 to 50 point to make this an offensive team that uses extra base hits to score? The future is bright, it is just going to take a while for the young hitters to adjust to the major leagues and hopefully all live up to their potential. Will that be August and September this year, next year or beyond is the million dollar question.

My GM for the day moment would be to be a seller and try to pick up a minor league stud pitcher or slugger. If that means selling a veteran or two and a couple of our prospects then so be it. The future of this team is 2008 - 2012.