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Why trade Varsho?
Dealing Varsho was a tough one for the front office, not just because he’s an outstanding player, but also because of how popular he is among his teammates.
But after exploring a lot of different avenues and scenarios since the end of the season, the D-backs concluded that, with Corbin Carroll not on the table, the only way they were going to get the kind of return they wanted was to trade Varsho .
“With Daulton’s performance to this point in his career, and probably rightly so, teams were willing to pay more for that,” executive vice president and general manager Mike Hazen said.
Will they trade catcher Carson Kelly?
They don’t plan on it. They see Kelly’s presence as a way to give Moreno a longer “runway” to get comfortable in the big leagues as opposed to throwing him out there as the starter from Day One.
Will Gurriel play any infield?
It sounded like Hazen didn’t want to commit to that without talking to Gurriel first. For now they see him as a left fielder/designated hitter, but Hazen plans on discussing things with Gurriel when he comes to Arizona, so stay tuned for that.
Did they consider keeping Varsho, Carroll, Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy and letting things sort themselves out during the season?
Of course, but in the end that was something Hazen didn’t think would be wise.
“I’m not sure rolling out the 74-win Diamondbacks team again, with a year of experience but with holes all over the place that clearly showed themselves during the course of our season, that that would have moved the ball forward, either, ” Hazen said. “I didn’t feel like sitting tight and winding it back up again was going to get the job done. Unsure of what’s going to happen at this point moving forward, but that was the thought process around why we did. We aren’t sitting in a place where one player or free agent signing is going to take us where we need to be to compete. You see what’s happening in the National League. We still have a lot of work to do.”
Are they done now for the offseason?
It didn’t sound like it. Hazen would still like to continue to add to the roster — the bullpen likely isn’t a finished product — but he said it would more likely be via free agency at this point than a trade.
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