The Arizona Diamondbacks played the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend and their current general manager is a guy that is pretty familiar. Angels GM Jerry DiPoto was once the interim general manager of the Diamondbacks and was the one who orchestrated the trade that sent pitcher Dan Haren to the Angels.
Now he runs the team that has Haren and believes that the trade was a good one. "When that trade was made, it was the right thing to do for the Diamondbacks and the Angels," DiPoto told Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times.
The Angels were looking for another proven arm to take them to the postseason. Haren has been solid, winning 25 games for the Angels since his arrival.
The D-backs picked up Tyler Skaggs, Patrick Corbin, Joe Saunders and Rafael Rodriguez in the the trade. Saunders may turn into a trade piece, Skaggs is one of the team's top prospects and Corbin has already been in the major leagues.
"We didn't want it to be a five- or six-year rebuild, but we didn't think it would happen in one year - that wasn't planned," Dipoto said. "We went from a club that was out of the running, operating at maximum payroll with a minor league system barren of pitching prospects, to a division winner with a pretty good stock of 25-and-under pitchers."
At first glance, the D-backs got the better end of that deal. They have been to the postseason and got salary relief, while the Angels have not.
DiPoto has the rare situation where he is running the team he traded a player to. Clearly, both teams got better, but Arizona definitely got the better end of the deal.
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