Lefty

I still not have given up on this team and believe they have a good run in them. If byany chance they are out of the playoff race by mid July do you trade any of the veterans?

The players I think they might trade are Finley, Womack, Mantei and even one of the young arms. I think all this playing time for the young guys will benefit the team immensely and I see this team being very competitive in the years to come, including next year.

I think the Diamondbacks need to acquire a power-hitting outfielder either thru a trade or free agency. The Diamondbacks will be getting rid of some big contracts like Williams and Womack, and possibly Mantei or Finley.

This team is a couple of players away from being a World Series contender. When Koplove, Mantei and Prinz come back the bullpen is very good. Throw in Villareal and all they need is a good lefty to have one of the best pens in baseball.

The infield is young and talented with Shea, Alex, Junior and Lyle. Also, Chad Tracy could also make an impact next year.

As for the starters, Curt will be the ace and hopefully Randy will come back strong. Webb, Gonzalez and Batista make a very good starting rotation. I think maybe Dessens or Patterson could be traded and then there is Good and maybe Gosling who can contribute also.

The outfield is where changes need to be made. This team desperately needs a right fielder with power to help Gonzo in the line-up. If Finley is traded then they might have to go for a centerfielder also.

Most teams have a bad year and with all the injuries this team has gone thru it is no surprise they are where they are. I think if the team makes some changes like I mentioned above, I have no doubt next year and beyond the Diamondbacks will be challenging for the title.

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IndyDevil

With Hillenbrand at 3B, would it make any sense to play Chad Tracy in the outfield? We all know what happened when we tried Durazo out there, but one would assume that Tracy would have a much better (and healthier) arm, making the transition a bit easier.

BTW, what was the reason for signing Mike Myers again? Oh yeah, to get out LH hitters...I'm just curious when he will actually start doing that again!!

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AZ: Arian(s) Nation

fielder\'s choice

IMHO, after this last injury, Valverde's sucess-youth-low salary (take your pick), next year's $8 mil option, and the value of a proven closer, Mantei is expendable and should be traded for excellent, power outfield prospects regardless if the D'backs are still in the hunt in July. Spend the money saved from him, Williams, and Womack on resigning Schilling to an extension.

Fins is another matter. Good defensively, still can hit - albeit streaky. Need him for outfield depth if D'backs have a run in them for this season. But I agree, if the D'backs are double digits out of the division and wild card lead by trading deadline - Fins and/or D. Bautista might be worth trading. Can always bring Terrero up to play CF and split time with Hammock/McCracken/Delucci in RF.

Like Matty, Womack is a "designated to assignment" waiting to happen. No trade value whatsoever. IMHO, when Counsell comes back, Womack is gone and infield will likely be Overbay/Grace, Spivey, Cintron, and Hillenbrand with Counsell back to super utility player. Now, an interesting twist to watch might be to see if the D'backs put Counsell at 2B and start playing Spivey at RF. I don't think that this sort of experiment will happen in midseason, but next spring training I wouldn't be surprised if Spivey is tried out in RF.

Other expendable players to use in putting together trades:

J. Patterson - may get it together, but I don't see it happening here. He's older with injury history, but starting pitching always has value.

Overbay - admittedly not quite fair as I would like to give him a full season to properly evaluate, but has not shown enough to prevent including him in a trade to make this team better.

D. Bautista

unc84steve

I don't see why the sooner isn't better to make moves regarding positon players. I strongly believe that advancing pitchers should be avoided as much as possible, yet fans and the club tolerate it without qualms. (In other words at the minor league levels you can manage pitch counts and days between appearances because those are barely disguised exhibition games).

Fans take no time to get excited about Robby Hammock & accept Shea Hillenbrand (including me ). If we can get maximal trade value from contenders who think they "need" Steve Finley, Curt Schilling, Byung-Hyun Kim (oh he's gone), Tony Womack, Randy Johnson, etc. why wait? Similarly, why wait to try Chad Tracy or Junior Spivey in the OF, Shea Hillenbrand at 1B (he played first plenty for Boston). Again, let's take advantage of Mark Grace's "mentoring" with Shea at 1B, Robby at 3B vs. lefties.

Seriously, I think it's a joke not to give Chad Tracy a shot at hitting MLB pitching. He was out-hitting Robby Hammock at Tucson. If I were GM, I'd try to trade T-Wo and see what the market was even if we picked up the tab to save face. If it's "thanks, but nope", I'd designate Tony for assignment, let him find out how lonely it is out there. Maybe another team would pick him up for free as opposed to "trading" for him (like the Cubs "traded" for Damian Miller).

Whatever. Their loss/gain.

Depending on the timing (re: CC's return), I'd call up Chad Tracy and designate Quinton McCracken who's been useless THIS YEAR. I'd hope that Q would accept the assignment to Tucson (as opposed to Tony), because Q could turn it around in the next 2 years. I'd sit down and schmooze him first (explain what we were trying to do--that's the problem with disrespecting Matty), and hope he'd stay, but tell him it would be his right to go.

It would be riskier because Q has a 2-year contract to go. But geez, look at his lack of protection. That's why his contraction was such a hamstringing waste.

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Steve