Well what is the alternative, blatantly shilling for the organization? I'll admit that I am carrying around a lot of butthurt right now. I've gotten over a lot of it now but I'm not going to throw on blinders that tell me that bad decisions are clearly good decisions. The truth is that KT has gone all in and if his moves have a major backfire as many predict he won't be around to suffer his consequences. We will. Like a bunch of suckers, we will suffer through another series of ineptitude because this is a poorly run franchise.

Which group of players would you rather have?

Upton, C. Young, Bauer, C Johnson, Shaw, Albers, Wheeler and Lindstrom

or

Prado, Ross, McCarthy, Pennington, Gregorious, E. Chavez, Bell, M. Reynolds, Sipp, Sprull, R. Delgado, Drury and Ahmed?

It's not a loaded question, but your answer will probably determine what you think about the overall direction the team is heading. Personally, I think the best hitter and potentially the best pitcher is in the first group.

So do I.

I also agree with Matt, in that, if KT's moves were wrong - and I am clearly of that opinion - he'll have his millions, and move on; while we're left with the team he constructed and the loss of the potential we might have had with the players he traded away. Naturally, I'd be thrilled to find he made all the right moves, the team makes the playoffs, and goes deep into them, if not all the way to the WS. But don't expect me to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

The 2011 Diamondbacks bore a striking resemblance to the 2007 team, in that both succeeded far beyond expectations. In both offseasons, moves were made (the trade for Dan Haren in particular comes to mind; which certainly seemed like a good idea at the time) with the goal of making the team even better, and 2008 and 2012 were supposed to be "our" years. The 2008 team fell short at the end of the season; the 2012 team was never in the race.

Frankly, I think that the 2013 edition will do well to achieve what the 2012 team did. As I've said before, I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

Why do you think they will not be a .500 team?

I think we might have our first ever actual leadoff hitter in franchise history......someone with speed that can actually get on base, and our #2 hitter can get on base as well.....

We don't have a big bat in Upton anymore, sadly, but for the first time we have a top 2 in the order that should lead the team in OBP.....

I'm not saying the team is going to be better than it would of been with Upton, but I do think they will be better than they were last year.....

Nothing tangible that I can advance; just a gut feeling.

Mind you, I wasn't at all surprised at the less than stellar performance of the 2012 edition; and I believe I was the first to proclaim, sadly, that "this team is not going to make the playoffs." The 2011 team needed very little tinkering, in my opinion; and Trevor Cahill was most definitely not the answer, from my uninformed fanboy perspective. Things haven't improved since then. I don't have to be a genius to question the Parker, Bauer, and Upton trades; or to question the acquisition of Bell, the extension of Putz, or the deal to acquire and then extend Pennington. Gregorius the next Jeter? "I'll have what he's smoking, please..."

But, as I said - just a gut feeling. No one will be happier should the 2013 performance of the Diamondbacks prove me wrong.

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

Comparing Aaron Hill to Brandon Phillips makes the Hill signing look like a better deal



Phillips signed a 10 year, 98 million deal in 2008. He is signed through age 36, or 2017. (he is 1 yr. older than Hill) and his salary the next 5 years is 60 million total. (starting with 10 m in 2013, and going up 1M each year to 14 M in 2017)

Hill is signed of course through 2016 for a total of 40 million. The avg annual from here on out is 2 million less, and one less year of obligation in 2017, and Hill is a year younger.

So this contract looks better than the one Phillips is signed to.

Thats my optimism for the day.

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

We just don't know when to quit when we are ahead, and we never

sell high when we have the chance

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

D Backs trying to trade Hill

Be afraid. Very afraid. As the article states....he has ZERO trade value. Poor performance for two years, age 33, and owed 12M

There is only ONE WAY to trade him where they don't absorb almost all of his salary..............include a prospect of value in the trade and basically get nothing back except salary relief.

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

I don't really get what the hurry is to get him off the roster, just ride out his deal and be done with it after this season.

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So-cratz - "The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing".

I would just DFA him instead of giving away a good prospect to get rid of him

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Kevin Towers, not smarter than the so called experts

We released BOND and flipper.

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Per Mare, Per Terras
KC

Because they want to free up cash to use towards Howie Kendrick.

But who do they have to give up to get out from under 12 M ?

Other Gm's must be licking their chops right about now.

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Good depth often has to come from within, in the form of younger talent. Depth is hard to build overnight, but it’s easy to deplete. Jeff Sullivan

Great plan, give away talent to free up cash to invest in another contract that will have to be dumped in a year or two.

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There's no success like failure
And failure's no success at all

it's almost as if history is repeating itself

It's almost as if it's deja vu all over again...

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

It's almost as if somethings happening that's already happened before...

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Meet the new FO... Same as the old FO. The bag may be permanent.

Everybody should know the definition of insanity. Looks like some in charge don't

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"Right at Peralta in left, it's over his head and gone!" 7 rows back, that was our great PBP broadcaster Steve B.

I cringe every time I see the new posts icon for this thread...

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Per Mare, Per Terras
KC

As a result of the Hill debacle, statistics tells us that the D-backs are due for a 30+ second baseman to be awesome. If they don't sign Kendrick, they're obviously missing out on a sure thing.