What are the biggest franchise swings and misses in free agency?
Introduction
This is generally a quiet time for most baseball franchises: the Arizona Fall League has wrapped up, the non-tender deadline has passed, and the winter meetings are still over a week away. I don’t know about all of you, but the productivity around work has taken a similar nosedive as the holidays approach. However, while the rest of us (in the United States at least) will be digesting our estimated 3,000-4,500 calories today, front offices will be looking ahead to the moves still to be made. One of the first big moves of this free agent season has already arrived with news releasing late on Tuesday about Blake Snell inking a five-year deal with the Dodgers (because of course). The D-Backs were obviously never even considering signing him, but it’s never easy to see a divisional rival continue to spend money with abandon – even if there are some major question marks on his health. Still, I would be shocked if the D-Backs failed to make any moves over the next 84 days before the first Spring Training game between the Dodgers and Cubs kicks off. And given that it’s a relatively quiet period, I thought it might be a good time to review the franchise’s hits and misses for free agency and trades – or twice-baked potatoes and cranberry sauce for my favorite and least favorite Thanksgiving sides respectively. Specifically, I want to look at player acquisitions that provided the most value for the least amount of resources invested given the team’s relative paucity compared to their competitors. For this exercise, I excluded anyone who was drafted by the D-Backs since that deserves its own list and focused more on players that were acquired either by trade or free agency. Just to give myself a bit more latitude, I decided to break down each category with one free agent and one trade.
Twice-Baked Potatoes
If you look at the list of most valuable Diamondback pitchers in franchise history, it’s unsurprising to see Randy Johnson at the top. There’s a very specific reason he was a near-unanimous Hall of Fame selection back in 2015 and it wasn’t because of his excellent mustache or his even better photography skills. It’s because he won four straight Cy Young awards, led the majors in innings pitched two times, and struck out more than 300 batters five times. What always amazes me about Johnson’s career though was the fact that he didn’t experience much on-field success until he was functionally in his 30s. Maybe that’s why the Astros felt comfortable allowing him to walk as a free agent following the 1998 season when Johnson was 34. Regardless, after their inaugural season when their pitching was in the bottom-third of the league, GM Joe Garagiola Jr was willing to take a flyer on the 35 year old and both he and the team were rewarded with the aforementioned four consecutive Cy Youngs and some of the best pitching seasons in history. Even better, Garagiola Jr was able to sign him for a relatively paltry $6 million ($9.5 million in 2024), which goes down as one of the best budget signings in franchise history.
On the position player side, Luis Gonzalez stands out as one of the strongest representatives across his eight seasons with the D-Backs. But like Johnson himself, Gonzo was a late bloomer who didn’t see much success until nearly halfway through his career that included a pillow contract with the Detroit Tigers following the 1997 season. However, after another disappointing season in the subsequent campaign with a 65-97 record, the Tigers decided to cut bait and sent Gonzalez to Phoenix in exchange for Karim Garcia. It was an exceedingly brilliant move for the D-Backs and equally disappointing for the Tigers as Garcia would only appear in just over 100 games for Detroit with a .236/.282/.426 slash line. Meanwhile, Gonzalez helped lead the D-Backs to their World Series title in 2001 (including the winning hit off Mariano Rivera in Game 7) and would put together five All-Star seasons in his time in the desert.
Cranberry Sauce
Unfortunately, for every excellent side dish and fortuitous trade, there will be dishes that don’t quite hit the mark or acquisitions that just don’t work very well. While there are plenty of free agent contracts that haven’t gone well, the Madison Bumgarner signing has to be one of the most disappointing in recent history. After a successful, if intermittent, run with the Giants that culminated in multiple World Series titles and several seasons topping 200 innings pitched, Mike Hazen hoped to recreate the Johnson contract with Bumgarner in the 2019-2020 offseason. Instead, Bumgarner never found any real rhythm in the desert and failed to post a full season with an above average ERA+ and saw his home run rate inflate significantly in his three seasons with the D-Backs. Then, when he failed to take any meaningful direction from the Arizona coaching staff early in 2023, the team finally cut their losses and released the veteran after just four starts.
While this article is a bit out of date at this point, the seventh entry on the list still irks me (although number six comes in as a close second) as GM Dave Stewart moved aggressively in the 2015 offseason after a middling 79-83 finish. He elected to sign Zack Greinke – a candidate for the above section – and then bizarrely decided to trade for Shelby Miller, a promising starter coming off an All-Star season with the Braves and paid a steep price. They parted with Aaron Blair, Ender Inciarte, and their number one draft pick Dansby Swanson in the hope that Miller would pair with Greinke as a staff-leading pair. Those three players combined to contribute nearly 23 bWAR in their respective careers with Atlanta while Miller would be a disaster for the Snakes in three seasons. He started just 28 games, posting a 6.35 ERA, 1.676 WHIP, and -1.1 bWAR in the desert before being released after the 2018 season. Meanwhile, Gabe Speier, a throw-in for the D-Backs in the exchange, would never appear in Phoenix and Stewart would be fired after the team took a collective step backwards in 2016 – clearing the way for Mike Hazen’s hiring later that year.
Ultimately, every trade and free agent signing is a roll of the dice. Sometimes those gambles pay off while others blow up your respective faces. It’s easy to question those decisions from the sidelines, but as fans we often want to see front offices be aggressive – even if those moves don’t always work. I am extraordinarily thankful for this community and everything it’s brought to me. What are your favorite dishes? What are the biggest hits and misses in your opinion? Let us know below!