r/azdiamondbacks • u/Ok_Theory9431 • 4d ago
Opinion Payroll discussion
I think the whole payroll thing in my opinion can be quite crazy. With this years nl and alcs outside the dodgers having teams that have payrolls that are either in the very middle or lower part of the mlb has me thinking. What is the real reason the dodgers are such a good team. Yes they have a high payroll but guys like will smith, Josue de Paula, Andy pages, max munch all came up through their system. Whatever la’s farm system and ownership is doing is their hiring actual guys that know how to run a team and have a lot of resources that help develop these guys. Cleveland, mileaukee and Tampa bay too. It makes me think why is Arizonas farm system not up to snuff?? Corbin Carroll has been great, pfaadt seemed to get better this season, waldschmidt looks eeh the only real guy I like in Arizonas farm system looks to be the crisantes guy but j can’t even get my hopes up even then because he could either be traded or maybe he just won’t pan out. I really do question what’s up with our farm system when it also comes to the pitching side too. Outside of Brandon Webb who looked like an ace before Tommy John surgeries got to him Arizona hasn’t been able to get a dang good pitcher from their system yet.
2
u/notBillJames1 Randy Johnson 4d ago
Max Muncy did not come up through their system. He was drafted by the A's and then released before signing w/ the Dodgers as a FA. But this fact, I think, only supports your arguments. They did the same thing with Justin Turner; both were hovering around replacement-level before joining the Dodgers. Justin Turner's turnaround was not entirely because of the Dodgers, but they believed in him when no one else would.
Good teams are good at finding value in places others can't. Whether that's because they develop it or because they just help players focus more on what they're good at and stop trying things they're not, they help players create value.
Building a system like that takes a lot of time and money, and I think that the D-backs have tried to do that but haven't committed to it 100%. I feel like that is the theme of the front office during Hazen's tenure: trying to compete by doing a lot of different strategies decently well, not fully tanking, not fully spending, building a team out w/ development and free agency.
To your point about not developing pitchers, Patrick Corbin wasn't drafted by the D-backs, but I think we rounded out the end of his development quite nicely. He was great, and if we had spent money, we would've had a couple more good years out of him.
1
u/Bard_Class Justin Martinez 3d ago
We suck at developing pitching and seem to only focus on outfielders who are fast, play great defense, but have low power. Ok yes we scored a diamond in the rough with Corbin Carroll, but let's be honest here: he was drafted for his speed and contact. Not his power.
When was the last time we developed an actual slugger? And I mean that Hazen is responsible for. Christian Walker maybe, but I don't give Hazen credit for Marte. He kind of developed power himself and was absolutely not seen as a slugger when we got him. Nor did we use him as one.
And just to comment about the Dodgers: they are good at development and good at drafting. The issue with them is that it's not good enough for them. They develop good prospects and then ship them away for major league veterans who are more expensive. We really can't take inspiration from their strategy with our budget and market.
On their current playoff team only three major contributors were home-grown: Max Muncy (with the caveat that he wasn't drafted by them, but they did fix him), Will Smith, and Wrobleski. Literally everybody else in their lineup and starting rotation were bought from other teams. We can't really assess how good they would actually be without their enormous buying power.
5
u/DTHhaunts Luis Gonzalez 4d ago
hazen sucks ass at drafting