You know, I really am excited about the upcoming MLB season. While the Diamondbacks won't contend for a title, there is a small sense of hope within that caused me to already buy the 2011 MLB.tv package. While it stung that they traded away one of the most exciting and scrappy Diamondbacks this off-season in Mark Reynolds, I understood the move since Kevin Towers was wanting to cut down on the strikeouts. I understood and even bought into the concept until I saw this headline yesterday:
D'Backs sign first baseman Russell Branyan
As a fan of baseball and fantasy baseball team manager, Russell Branyan is always a sleeper. Even though he is an injury risk, he has the potential to put up 30 home runs. Not to mention, in the extremely hitter friendly Arizona ballpark, he could have a big rebound year. Branyan also provides a veteran, father-like presence to a still relatively young ball club.
As a fan of the Diamondbacks, I'm really not OK with this baseball move. Not only did they sign a 35 year old, injury prone first baseman, they take the bat out of Brandon-I-will-never-play-in-the-big-leagues-Allen's hands completely and are now thinking about trading him. This also goes away from exactly what Towers was trying to establish. He wanted less strike-outs, so he trades away Mark Reynolds and lets Adam LaRoche walk. However, if you compare Reynolds with Branyan and look at strikeout rates, Reynolds struck out in 33.6% of his career plate appearances with Branyan coming in at a close 33.1%.
While I understand that they would be paying Reynolds a lot more to produce eerily similar numbers, they wouldn't be taking the bat out of a top prospect's hands. Kevin Towers, you suck. Please stop tweaking this team and go trade for Michael Young already. Also, I wouldn't mind cutting half of the pitching staff and signing someone from Japan. Fun fact, the Diamondbacks are 1 of 3 clubs left in the majors to never employ a Japanese baseball player. Can you guess the other 2?
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Marlins and Reds?
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