Josh Byrnes’ Bargain Bin Off-Season

Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes must have gone to a lot of swap meats and garage sales as a kid, because he has employed bargain shopping strategies this baseball off-season. For a team that has to win now but is also on a budget, I don’t know if Byrnes’ off-season could have gone any better. I, like a lot of D-Backs’ fans, spent the past season criticizing Byrnes. Now it is time to give credit where credit is due. Josh Byrnes has put together a very nice off-season.

The Trade

Plenty has already been written on this site about the D-Backs trading Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth for Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. While I still feel this was a risky move, it has grown on me. Dan Haren, Edwin Jackson and Brandon Webb (assuming a somewhat return to form) give the D-Backs one of the top rotations in the National League. The wildcard is Ian Kennedy, but if it was just the New York pressure that was causing him to not live up to his rather large billing then it’s a good trade for the team. Think of it this way: For 2010, Jackson and Kennedy are significant upgrades over Scherzer and Schlereth. This may be a much different story in 2012, but we are only focusing on the upcoming season.

Aaron Heilman and Bobby Howry

The first move the D-Backs made this off-season kind of flew under the radar, but for a team that had a terrible bullpen last season the acquisition of Aaron Heilman was huge for this team. Heilman has stumbled a little in past seasons, putting up a ERAs of 5.21 and 4.11 the last two years, but he is the kind of consistent performer this team craved last season. Heilman has appeared in over 70 games each season since 2006 and was a key reliever for the Mets in the middle of the decade.

The D-Backs also went out and acquired 12 year veteran Bobby Howry. Howry is a lot like Heilman, a consistent bullpen performer that won’t wow anyone but is exactly what this team has needed. Howry had a 3.39 ERA last year and has a 3.66 ERA for his career. I’ve already heard people refer to him as “the John Garland of relief pitchers.” That’s good enough for this bullpen. Heilman and Howry pretty much guarantee the bullpen won’t be a complete disaster in 2010 like it was in 2009. These aren’t stoppers however; they aren’t going to strike late-game fear into anyone. For the price the D-Backs got them for they were good acquisitions.

Kelly Johnson and Adam LaRoche

In an effort to improve their offense, which was dismal at times last year, the D-Backs added the right side of the Atlanta Braves’ infield. Kelly Johnson will man 2B for the D-Backs in 2010 (while the organization is saying he will have to compete for a starting spot it’s almost guaranteed that he is starting on opening day). Johnson had a sub par 2009 season but he has been a pretty effective lefty bat for the majority of his brief career. A typical Johnson season will find him hitting somewhere around .275 with 12 homers and about 60 RBIs, which is just fine for what the club paid.

Last month the D-Backs announced they signed Andy LaRoche, which is a real coo for this team. LaRoche gives the D-Backs a true first baseman that they haven’t had since Mark Grace in 2002. LaRoche is a plus defender, which should almost instantly help Mark Reynolds cut down on his errors. 1B is the most underrated defensive position in baseball. Most teams try to stick a poor fielder there, but there are multiple runs to be saved by having a good defender at first. LaRoche’s presence also allows the team to keep Conor Jackson in LF, where he is a much better defender. With Jackson in LF, Gerardo Parra becomes the 4th outfielder for this team. Parra had a solid rookie year, but the D-Backs are in much better shape with him being the 4th outfielder than him starting (added bonus: Eric Byrnes gets less playing time!) LaRoche is also a good hitter, a lefty power bat who is usually good for 20-25 home runs a year. For a D-Backs team that used to lack any sort of left-handed presence in their lineup, the team will have four lefties in the starting lineup on opening day (Drew, Montero, LaRoche and Johnson)

What is impressive about these off-season moves is Josh Byrnes didn’t tie up much money in them. LaRoche, Johnson and Howry were all signed to one year deals at fair value. The D-Backs put themselves in a position to compete next year without hamstringing themselves financially. If this year is a disaster like 2009, they can easily build for the future. With the signings of these players, however, I find it hard to believe 2010 will be anything like 2009.

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Tags: Aaron Heilman, Adam LaRoche, Bob Howry, Conor Jackson, Eric Byrnes, Josh Byrnes, Kelly Johnson, Miguel Montero