|
Just about every team can afford to spend at least $100 M on payroll.
The Diamondbacks are essentially paying $100M for payroll next season. The downer on that is that over $45M of that is going to pay players that are no longer on the team... (deferred salaries from the Colangelo days and Russ Ortiz).
Anyways, back to more fun topics. The DBacks traded for Haren over the weekend. I'm so excited. The rotation now is:
Webb
Haren
Johnson
Davis
Owings
That is a kick ass rotation. Although I don't expect Haren to be as great as he was last season, he's probably going to be one of the best #2 pitchers out there. The only real question mark is Johnson's health. He showed last season that if healthy he's still a great pitcher.
I think the DBacks did pretty well in the deal. They traded 5 minor leaguers (Gonzalez, Smith, Anderson, Cunningham, and Carter) and Dana Eveland for Haren. The best guys in the deal are Gonzalez and Anderson. Gonzalez should was rated as AZ's #1 prospect but I don't necessarily agree. He has his difficulties (no walks, can't hit lefties, attitude). Anderson is only 19 and finished his first year of pro ball. He really did great and was one of our top pitching prospects.
They also traded Valverde to Houston for Qualls and others. I like this one also. Closers are highly overrated and I like the idea of moving replaceable players when they are at peak value
|