Why The Diamondbacks’ Recent Trades Make Sense
By now, the recent trades made by the Arizona Diamondbacks at the Winter Meetings are old news to fans. They were however, a step in the right direction for the franchise, as Tony DeLorenzi pointed out in his article about the moves.
Nobody likes to see a fan favorite get traded. As fans, we grow attached to players after watching them play for your team for several years. Some fans go to games solely because they want to see their favorite player in action.
At the end of the day though, baseball is a business and winning is the name of the game. Hard decisions have to be made for the good of the team and as fans, we have to accept that.
I noticed on social media, fans didn’t like to see the Diamondbacks getting minor league pitchers in return. The trades were good and they were good for a couple of different reasons.
There is the money saving side to things, rebuilding depth to their minor league system and one other that I feel has been overlooked, the Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan side. Duncan has only been with the team for one season and La Russa was hired during last season. This is their first offseason together as Diamondback employees.
Feb 8, 2014; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson (23) talks to Dave Duncan (18) during camp at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Duncan has been La Russa’s pitching coach since 1983, when they were part of the Chicago White Sox organization. After they left Chicago, they shared time in Oakland and St. Louis.
The pair are now both apart of the D-Backs organization. Albeit in different roles, La Russa is no longer a manager and Duncan is no longer a pitching coach, but they are still both heavily involved in deciding how the team will play.
Duncan’s official title is Assistant to the GM and Pitching Consultant. He sat in on the interviews for the Diamondbacks pitching coach and Mike Harkey was given the job.
Having the approval of someone like Duncan is important and shows that they are like-minded in pitching philosophy. Despite not being the pitching coach, the Diamondbacks would not bring in someone of Duncan’s stature to not have him work with the pitchers, especially as pitching has been an area in desperate need of fixing in Arizona as of late.
There was one thing that the trades Arizona made had in common. They got back pitching and a lot of it. In all, they received Jeremy Hellickson, Robbie Ray, Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster. This is where La Russa and more specifically, Duncan come in. They both come from an organization that is arguably one of the best at developing their pitchers.
Simply titled, “The Duncan Way”, it is Duncan’s method for developing young guys and fine tuning veterans. Obviously, Duncan won’t reveal all the techniques and methods, but basically, the general idea of it is learning every batter in the opposing lineup.
As a pitcher, you discover their strengths and weaknesses and using their aggressiveness against them when there are runners on in scoring position. It’s all about pitching to outsmart the batter, so that a pitcher doesn’t need to have elite “stuff” to play on the tendencies of a batter and get them out. Now, this may sound like a no-brainer, but if that were the case, the Diamondbacks wouldn’t have needed his services.
Duncan is one of the best at “fixing” struggling pitchers, under his system, he has reinvented careers for veterans and started careers off great for younger guys. The results speak for themselves.
In Duncan’s 16 years with St. Louis, the Cardinals were ranked third in MLB in overall ERA. The Cardinals were also ranked third in MLB in starting pitching ERA. You can add three National League titles and two World Series titles to his resume in that time frame.
Developing pitchers is what he does, that is why, acquiring all those pitchers during the Winter Meetings is a good thing. La Russa and Duncan have a keen eye for players with potential. They may not have stats that jump off the page at you, but under the watchful eyes of La Russa and Duncan, they just might very soon.