La Russa and Stewart - and as a by-product, Hale - will be remembered for engineering some of the most widely-panned transactions in baseball during their time with the organization. While much has been written about these moves, the path to guiding the Diamondbacks to their first winning season since 2011 has yet to be charted. Here are some thoughts to possibly speed up the ardent task.
1) Move into the 21st Century with the new front office - One of the biggest criticisms of La Russa and Stewart was their reliance on outdated methods of player evaluation and roster construction. Despite occasional lip-service to the importance of analytics in interviews, the actions taken by the La Russa-led front office suggest they refused to accept the length to which the landscape has changed in the past five years. This group succeeded the tandem of Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson who even La Russa noted were behind the times in THEIR acceptance of modern metrics.
2) Rebuild the farm system - Probably the most damning evidence of damage done by La Russa and co. was their dismantling of a once-promising farm system. Since the arrival of Stewart, the Diamondbacks have traded away former No. 1 overall pick Dansby Swanson (rated the #4 prospect in baseball per MLB.com in 2016), Touki Toussaint and Aaron Blair (both in the top 70 of MLB.com's 2015 rankings) among others. Their overall farm system ranking plummeted from the sixth-best in baseball to 22nd.
3) Move on from Yasmany Tomas - Immediately upon handing Tomas a 6-year, $68 million contract, scouts and analysts throughout baseball wondered what the Diamondbacks had in the 24-year-old Cuban. About two weeks into spring training, it became clear what they had - a Designated Hitter stuck in the National League. It almost seems laughable the amount of time they put into trying Tomas at third base. He isn't much better in the outfield and despite hitting 31 home runs in 2016, the rest of his game is so poor, he accumulated -0.4 wins above replacement bringing his two-year total to -1.7 WAR. Due to his power and relative youth, Tomas is much more valuable as a trade piece to an American League team in a hitter-friendly park than he is to the Diamondbacks and could bring back a decent return.
4) Improve the defense to improve the pitching - While much of the focus on the disappointing 2016 season centers around the two high-visibility acquisitions of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller and the poor run prevention in general, every starting pitcher with 20 starts for the Diamondbacks had a FIP (fielding-independent ERA) between 0.25 and 1.28 higher than their ERA, with Miller having the largest separation. Removing Tomas' 35 fielding runs below average (Rtot on baseball-reference.com) from the equation would go a long way to helping, however, the rest of the team still fielded to an additional 15 runs below average. A full season from a healthy A.J. Pollock in 2017 will go a long way to improving the outfield defense without the need for a new player. Two of the leaders this season in fielding runs ABOVE average, by the way? Former Diamondbacks Ender Inciarte (+27) and Adam Eaton (+22).
5) Make an educated guess on Jean Segura's future - This is where things get tricky. Jean Segura came to the Diamondbacks over the winter from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for back-end starter Chase Anderson, Aaron Hill with two prospects traded in the deal also. He entered spring training in a battle for at-bats in the middle infield and never looked back. He exceeded expectations from day one and finished with a league-leading 203 hits and a slash line of .319/.368/.499. His 5.4 WAR led the team. Is this the case of a young player finally making adjustments, having a fresh start and reaching his potential? Or - is this a career-year fueled by a .353 BABIP and a career-high 8.5% HR/FB rate. The Diamondbacks still have Segura under club control for two seasons before reaching Free Agency so even if he comes back down to Earth in 2017, he is still a good value but then they aren't beating the market, so-to-speak. If the new management team decides this is the player Segura is now, they would be wise to lock him up to a team-friendly contract before he reaches Free Agency. If they feel he outperformed his future potential, they would be wise to see what they can get for him after such a fine season.
6) Cornerstones on the corners - While Paul Goldschmidt is considered one of the top all-around players in the game, Jake Lamb cemented himself this season as an upper-echelon everyday third baseman across the diamond before a late-season slump diminished his season-ending numbers. Despite the swoon, Lamb still finished with an .840 OPS. On defense, Lamb battled some issues this season but his track record suggests this was a product of the adjustment to being an everyday player or just a case of a defensive slump. The other issue where poor management led to a lack of growth was Lamb's regression against left-handed pitching. In the minors, Lamb displayed an ability to hit lefties at every level. Unfortunately, Hale decided to sit Lamb against most left-handed starters for the past two seasons and in the few opportunities he received, the rust was apparent with a .573 OPS over 202 plate-appearances. One of the things Lamb is lauded for by scouts is his approach, so there is hope that he can overcome the lack of reps from the past two seasons to reach his full potential.
7) IF Chip Hale didn't irreparably ruin Daniel Hudson, the Diamondbacks have their closer - The morning of June 21, Hudson woke up with a 1.61 ERA, a 24/9 K/BB ratio and had given up two home runs in 28 innings. That night, in Toronto, Hale decided it would be a good idea to send a pitcher with TWO Tommy John surgeries in his rear-view mirror out to the mound for a third consecutive night. Two nights later, Hudson began a stretch that lasted 32 days and included 15 appearances, 9.1 IP a 10/7 K/BB ratio and a 24.21 ERA. From August 5 through the end of the season, Hudson rebounded strong with 21.1 IP that featured a 24/6 K/BB ratio and a 1.66 ERA. Hale finished the season by pitching Hudson three consecutive days again, but one hopes his blatant carelessness doesn't cause Hudson harm down the road. If Hudson is managed properly, he has the makeup and ability to be an ideal high-leverage reliever.
*Baseball-reference was used for all stats and info in this article.
