The rebuilding process has begun for the Arizona Diamodbacks and there are already a bevy of opinions being bantered about in the Valley. Much like a political race, most people are either in one of two categories:

• Top talent has been gutted from an already terrible team
• The rebuilding process has finally started

I place myself in the latter camp. The rotation is a mess, but does it really matter when the bullpen can’t hold a lead anyway? Losing Dan Haren hurts, but the ability to get four pitchers (three lefties) in return was too good to pass up. Trading Edwin Jackson was brilliant considering the return they got (two top ten prospects) and the fact that Jackson will always tantalize teams with his great stuff but probably be inconsistent his entire career.

The Haren deal is going to be hard to judge. When a team trades a top talent for prospects it always looks bad it first, but it can’t be judged right away. The D-Backs were winners for trading for Haren in 2008, but in hindsight they gave up way to much major league talent. They gave up a ridiculous amount of left handed pitching, which they attempted to rectify when they traded Haren away. This deal will have to be judged by what the D-Backs do with the money they saved and how LHP Tyler Skaggs, the top player in the deal, performs.

Still, there is more rebuilding to be done.

The Bullpen

We are all excruciatingly aware of the troubles of this unit. It’s chief offender, Chad Qualls, was finally traded away. The D-Backs have attempted to improve the bullpen by bringing in some new arms, guys like Sam Demel or D.J. Carrasco, but the real improvement will come when this team finds a closer. Thankfully, management has declared that they will pay for a closer next year (you hear that Josh Byrnes?! YOU HEAR THAT?!). Early rumor is that closer might be Octavio Dotel, a 36 year old who has had a decent career and strikes out a lot of batters. Whoever it is, if someone can consistently do the job the rest of the bullpen will become better by osmosis. The D-Backs need to invest in another reliever to go along with a closer, and hope that those two can help change what has been a terrible bullpen the past three years. Considering the success some relievers have had upon their on exit from the D-Backs, namely Jon Rauch, perhaps the coaching needs to be evaluated. Oh, and I could totally see Chad Qualls having a great second half in Tampa Bay.

Rotation

On paper, the rotation got a lot worse. In reality, Dan Haren and Edwin Jackson were a combined 13-18 with a 4.87 ERA, It appears the 2011 rotation will consist of Joe Saunders, Ian Kennedy, Barry Enright and Daniel Hudson. The D-Backs could resign Rodrigo Lopez, a serviceable starter for a rebuilding team. Their rotation isn’t great, but it isn’t horrible. With a decent bullpen the rotation can keep the team competitive, especially if Hudson and Enright continue to develop. Considering some of their other holes, the team should probably avoid spending any money on a starter in the off-season.

Lineup

The D-Backs still boast a lot of hitters that strike out a lot and lack professional approaches at the plate. Mark Reynolds could be the odd man out this off-season, which seems odd because he leads the team in HRs and RBIs. The risk of trading Reynolds is that the D-Backs probably wont get much in return, and if Reynolds ever figures it out in a different uniform it would be devastating. The team will probably need to invest some money in a left fielder, because the Rusty Ryal/Gerardo Parra/Cole Gillespie rotation is not something anyone wants to see in 2011. There will be some decent free agent outfielders this off-season, but in a rebuilding project there is no reason to spend good money on Carl Crawford, Johnny Damon or a Manny Ramirez type. Cheaper alternatives that could work include Xavier Nady, Scott Podsednik and Reed Johnson. Stephen Drew is arbitration eligible next season, I assume the D-Backs will try to keep him, mainly because they don’t have anyone else to take over that role. 1B will probably go to Brandon Allen next season. The rest of the lineup is pretty set with Justin Upton, Chris Young, Miguel Montero and Kelly Johnson.

Coaching

Who will be managing the D-Backs in 2011? The D-Backs are plentiful with in-house options. Although the record doesn’t show it, Kirk Gibson has been a nice change from AJ Hinch. Gibson has done everything he can to eradicate the acceptance of losing that was built under Hinch. The losing and lack of discipline has to be killing Gibson, but he is doing what he can to change it and keeping a positive face. He is laying a foundation, and if he isn’t the manager next year he still needs to be involved in the organization. The two other options include AAA manager Brett Butler, who has received high praise and seems to be manager-in-waiting, and Mark Grace. Grace is a clown in the broadcast booth, but he also knows his stuff. He keeps his frustration in check in the booth, but you can tell he upset with the direction of the team and he clearly has interest in the job. Grace doesn’t have any coaching experience, but I think he has the ability to be a great manager. Regardless of who the team chooses, they have three really good options. What they need to be more concerned about is the rest of their coaching staff. It might serve the D-Backs best to keep Gibson, install Butler as the bench coach, hire a new hitting and pitching coach, and keep the entertaining Grace in the booth.

The D-Backs are at rock bottom right now, which is a good thing. They spent two years getting there, now they can start their ascent. The team is new, the players are younger and the future is brighter. Every game is now building to something, which is a refreshing change from the past two years. There will be losses, but if the D-Backs play hard and the young guys keep improving, it will be a helluva lot better than what we had been seeing.