Since Kevin Towers became the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, one thing that he has set his sights on is improving the arms within the organization. All the way from Class A to the big leagues, Towers' goal was to improve the pitching -- both in the bullpen and the starters.
Some trades were made before his time here, but he felt that adding players such as Trevor Cahill, calling up Wade Miley, Patrick Corbin, Tyler Skaggs and Trevor Bauer would all be beneficial to helping the team both in the future and in the present.
The most recent indicator of the Diamondbacks looking to improve themselves was when they called up Tyler Skaggs to pitch in the first game of a doubleheader against the Marlins on Wednesday afternoon. Skaggs went 6.2 innings, giving up just two earned runs.
Then you have guys like Miley and Corbin, two more lefties that have both served time in the bullpen, but when injuries arose, manager Kirk Gibson decided to give them their shots as starters. It was a good thing he did, for Miley has been the most consistent pitcher for the D-backs this year and Corbin has lived up to all the minor league hype he was receiving.
Many question the trade that sent Jarrod Parker and Ryan Cook to Oakland in exchange for Cahill, but when you look at it, the D-backs are complete losers in that deal, either. They still got a young arm that has a manageable contract and is more than sufficient enough to be a bottom of the rotation pitcher.
Let us not forget about Ian Kennedy and the currently rehabbing Daniel Hudson. Kennedy is just 27 years old and Hudson is still a very young 25. At this time last year, those two players were being thought of as the future for the team.
With the plethora of pitchers the Diamondbacks have in their arsenal, there is no reason to think that they couldn't flip those players into position players. They will only need five pitchers in their rotation down the line, so as long as they continue to stock their farm system, they can trade their pitching assets away to gain valuable everyday players.
So the Diamondbacks are doing it right. They draft well, call players up when they see fit and without rushing them and then they extend the key pieces to their ballclub. This is the winning recipe for not only right now, but for the next decade as well.
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