Doug: Don’t get mad…yet
Jul 26, 2010, 5:03 AM | Updated: Jul 26, 2024, 1:58 pm
I asked one baseball insider what he thought of the trade. He said it was a great deal, “if you’re an Angels fan.”
I agree with him for now.
I don’t care what anyone tells you. The trade of Dan Haren was a salary dump. The players Arizona received do not make the organization better than they were. Unless Haren has serious problems and this season foreshadows the rest of his career (which I don’t believe), the D-backs took a step back.
They didn’t take one step back to take two steps forward with these three players. These three players will not equal for the D-backs what Dan Haren will be for the Angels.
The fourth player is legit but I don’t think he’s come to the right place. I’m deeply concerned because the key piece of the deal falls into the place of the D-backs biggest failings. If the PTBNL (that’s a cool baseball way of saying player-to-be-named) is Tyler Skaggs, I’m OK with that. He’s a top prospect in the Angels lower minors. I’m concerned however about the D-backs track record.
Who’s the last impact starting pitcher that came up through the D-backs organization? Since no one’s been able to develop through the system since Brandon Webb, I don’t trust Skaggs will either. Tyler, if you don’t develop into a strong starting pitcher, it’s not your fault. No one does in the D-backs minor leagues.
I’m not going to completely blast the deal until I see what happens in the off-season. The term salary dump is a bad phrase that makes people upset. It shouldn’t. The D-backs shouldn’t be spending the money they are for the team they have. They should dump salary because this team isn’t good enough to make what the owners are spending. I want to see what they do with the savings.
Chad Qualls has been a joke. The Valverde trade will be the worst trade in D-backs history until 2025 when Arizona trades Grant Vera to Cleveland for a bag of balls and Vera hits for the triple crown the next year. This team has to get a closer and closers cost money.
If the D-backs get a good closer, with the money they saved and Skaggs develops, this was a good trade. Since I don’t think both will happen, I don’t like the deal.
