Winners and losers of the 2015 MLB Winter Meetings

Neutral – Arizona Diamondbacks

During the 2014-15 offseason, the San Diego Padres made a slew of win-now moves designed to re-invigorate fan interest and make the club into a contender immediately. That didn’t work out so well as the Padres finished in fourth place, a full 18 games behind the Dodgers for the division crown.

While one could hardly fault the team for making such a push, there were lessons to be learned there about veteran acquisition and youth sell-down. The Arizona Diamondbacks took something away from the Padres experience, but don’t seem to have fully grasped the parable.

Arizona got things underway by inking Zack Greinke to a monster deal just prior to the meetings, but they were sure to tell everyone that they weren’t done making moves yet either. They cemented that by going headlong into acquiring young right-hander Shelby Miller from the Atlanta Braves. In Miller, they acquire a controllable arm at an affordable price that allows them to slot in a top of the rotation that looks like Greinke, Patrick Corbin, Miller. Not to shabby.

However, I’m neutral on whether they were a winner or loser though due to the high cost of acquisition. Yes, they managed to hold on to A.J. Pollock, but instead gave up two promising young prospects in Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair. Coupled with their trade of Touki Toussant to Atlanta at the trade deadline and the loss of their pick in the first round of 2016 due to signing Greinke, Arizona puts themselves in a big hole by being without a first round selection in their system for three straight years.

Winning now is indeed admirable, but at the cost of long-term success, it become questionable to justify the cost.

Next: Loser - Cincinnati Reds