This doesn't seem like a very good deal to me. Ross isn't much of a center fielder anymore and they're already committed to others in the corners. So if this means they have to trade Kubel, then I'm not sure how Ross is an upgrade. He's a better defender, but a worse hitter Plus there's Parra and Eaton to deal with. Wouldn't it have been easier just to keep Chris Young?

I'm confused as well. Pretty sure this means Kubel is back in the American League soon.

Kubel's on a decent contract. Maybe they can fetch something worthwhile for him. It's an indirect way to upgrade, but if it works, why not?

Very curious to see what Towers does with his pile of outfielders.

Chris Young would have been better, cheaper and less of a commitment. Strange. But also hilarious!

This doesn't seem like a very good deal to me. Ross isn't much of a center fielder anymore and they're already committed to others in the corners. So if this means they have to trade Kubel, then I'm not sure how Ross is an upgrade. He's a better defender, but a worse hitter Plus there's Parra and Eaton to deal with. Wouldn't it have been easier just to keep Chris Young?

First, you can platoon Ross with Parra occassionally and put Eaton in Center.

Secondly, this means that even Kevin Towers isn't dumb enough to trade Upton now.

But most importantly, what you stat nerds just don't get, is that the high stakes poker games at Casino Arizona have been dead lately. I hear Cody likes to play big and so do I, so I welcome Kevin Towers best acquisition ever with my standard, "I'll start 3, but not heads up,, lets get a game going!!!"

I'm so bored of playing red and brown chip, I want to play green!!!!!

Is this the start to trade Upton? I know a certain team in the AL east that wouldn't mind having him.

Bad deal.

You're paying for ages 32-34 of a late-blooming, RHB, used to be pretty good CF, now probably at best average corner OF. It's not the dumbest thing we've seen but it's too much to pay for a 4th OF and Ross has never quite been full-time starter material.

Secondly, this means that even Kevin Towers isn't dumb enough to trade Upton now.

Huh? With Kubel, Ross, Upton, Parra and Eaton it would seem somebody has got to go ... unless they've lost faith in Eaton. Kubel's not really worth anything -- he doesn't really hit well enough to DH full-time and his fielding is pretty bad. .8 WAR over the last 3 years.

Which brings us back to ... Jonny Gomes. Ross is Gomes with a better glove and probably worse bat and Kubel is the LHB version of Gomes. Gomes got 2/$10 and I could see Ross at 2/$16 maybe being preferable (but why the 3rd year). Surprisingly, Gomes has only been traded once (two mlers I've never heard of) so he's not much of a guide as to Kubel's trade value.

Best of luck to Cody. His walk off against the White Sox was my personal favorite moment of the season (well, second behind Valentine getting fired). I don't think this is a good deal for Arizona but I really hope Ross proves me wrong.

If indeed this precedes an Upton trade, when Cody Ross is what allows you to move Justin Upton, something has gone terribly wrong.

I'm with KT's Pot Arb

I love this move
Cody Ross is a true gamer , a battle hardened post season hero. When you have a chance to sign a veteran like this, you have to take it. He will bring an energy that has been lacking to the clubhouse. He is clearly a “Kirk Gibson” type of player and will fit in perfectly. He’s also a lefty killer, and will be a thorn in the side of The toughest lefties in the division

The Stat heads will pan this deal and point out that he hasn’t had a 2 WAR season since he was 29, and only averaged 1 WAR per season the last three. But if those Saber geeks would actually pull their nose out of their spreadsheets and WATCH a damn game they would know what kind of player Cody Ross is.

Kevin Towers has hit another homerun with this deal. He’s had the best offseason of any GM in the game. He clearly has a plan and has been executing it with precision. The future is bright for the Diamondbacks !

any team that puts cody ross in centerfield in a non-emergency situation is a team that does not understand how ballgames are won

i am not going to believe that the d'backs are so foolish as to have ross play centerfield save for an ebola outbreak that has killed half the roster

Ross used to be a good CF? From watching him this year, I cannot believe it. He's just so bad and easily disoriented out there.

any team that puts cody ross in centerfield in a non-emergency situation is a team that does not understand how ballgames are won

Yeah, but otherwise I'm not sure what Ross actually accomplishes. They've got Parra and Eaton to man center reasonably well. They've got Kubel in left, Upton in right and Goldschmidt at first. They had right handed hitting Chris Young and they traded him for a shortstop they liked so much, they then traded probably their best pitching prospect for another shortstop.

It all seems so pointless.

It all seems so pointless.

Actually Kevin Towers knows that everyone mis read the Mayan Calendar and the REAL end of the world is Christmas Morning. So he has just been messing with us. His entire offseason has been one big cosmic joke that he has been playing on us, since he knows it's all gonna blow up, so he figured he might at least have some fun.

Really don't understand this AZ offseason. I didn't understand the previous, either.

Kevin Towers reminds me of Billy Beane in that he likes to make lots of moves that don't make a lot of sense, except Billy's kinda make sense when you look back, while I don't think Kevin's do.

Huh? With Kubel, Ross, Upton, Parra and Eaton it would seem somebody has got to go

Goldie, Kubel, Parra, & Eaton bat lefty, Upton, Ross righty. Plus defenders: Parra, Upton, Eaton, Decent: Ross Terrible: Kubel.

Even KT can't be dumb enough to move Upton now.

i am not going to believe that the d'backs are so foolish as to have ross play centerfield save for an ebola outbreak that has killed half the roster

Parra and Eaton are going to play center, Parra is fine there but hell Uptons speed might make him the best choice.

Eaton is a very interesting, potentially super exciting young player, sort of a late bloomer. So exciting that I'm not sure why KT hasn't traded or released Eatan yet, but I'm glad to get to see him play next year.

Goldie, Kubel, Parra, & Eaton bat lefty, Upton, Ross righty. Plus defenders: Parra, Upton, Eaton, Decent: Ross Terrible: Kubel.

Goldschmidt is a right handed hitter.

To my eyes, Ross looked terrible in the OF last year, although the stats seem to disagree with me. I sure wouldn't want to see him in CF, though. I had expected he was an above-average defensive OF, but that sure isn't what I saw.

On how the Ross deal came together: "It actually happened rather quickly. We started the process on Monday. Met with Cody and (wife) Summer I want to say it was on Tuesday. Really it was kind of prompted by myself and Derrick (Hall) and owner Ken Kendrick looking at the rest of the free-agent list that’s out there. We were talking about our current situation and where we should add. Ken had asked me, ‘Is there there any free agents out there who could improve our ballcub?’ We went through them. We met in Ken’s office and he said, ‘I’ve got a guy.’ He had me guess a little bit. I said, ‘I’ve got a couple of guys as well.’ I said, ‘Who’s your guy?’ He said, ‘Cody Ross.’ I said, ‘That’s my guy as well.’ I think Derrick felt the same way."

Nick Piecoro's blog

Good recap of some of this baffling offseason

Ross used to be a good CF?

OK, "good" was probably stretching it. But solid.

Cody Ross is a true gamer

Well done, reads like a OOTP news story.

Goldie, Kubel, Parra, & Eaton bat lefty, Upton, Ross righty. Plus defenders: Parra, Upton, Eaton, Decent: Ross Terrible: Kubel.

A platoon (plus other PT that comes up) of Ross/Kubel and Parra/Eaton makes all the sense in the world but you don't go 3/$27 for that. If it's followed by an Upton or Kubel trade, then this move will make sense (note, an Upton trade makes no sense ... but an Upton trade would make this move make sense, so that's one upside to an Upton trade :-).

Maybe this is just one of the silly TV money moves I was expecting this offseason and we might see more of next offseason. Signing Cody Ross to be your borderline starter/4th OF at 2/$10 makes plenty of sense and maybe 3/$27 is the new 2/$10.

Or maybe Towers did something dumb.

America, you decide!

Goldschmidt is a right handed hitter.

I was in a hand, and delegated fact checking that post. My assistant will be summarily fired once I finally get even and am able to leave this game.

Goldschmidt is a right handed hitter

Aye, but Harry Agganis is a left handed hitter.

I was at a Marlins game where Cody Ross hit a walk off home run. That is all.

Feinsand: Swisher will sign with the Indians for $56M/4 and a fifth-year vesting option.

The Dbacks offseason has been more tragicomical than last winter. I was howling with laughter reading the account (Kevin Towers's words) of how the deal came together. People put more thought and analysis in which shoes they'd wear on a first date. It appears that the holy trinity in Arizona (Towers, Kendrick and Hall) are going by tried and true baseball player evaluation criteria such as chemistry, team influence, ability to grind, local residence, and intangibles as they construct their roster. Never mind that they have more shortstops and outfielders than they can possibly use in a rational matter. Baseball rules allow for 25 grinders on a major league roster, and by golly, the Dbacks will maximize their roster with grinders. Upton better start grinding it out, that is all. Much as I hate to write this, as I think Derrick Hall is a really nice guy, but his tweets from last night left me truly worried about the future of the Dbacks. Or rather, they would have left me scared if I actually gave a rat's behind about the Dbacks, their "sexy # 1" GM, and the 3 confused chefs cooking stuff up in the front office. At least thee moves enable me to plan for a long and productive baseball-free summer next year. No time for dumb baseball teams.

It appears that the holy trinity in Arizona (Towers, Kendrick and Hall) are going by tried and true baseball player evaluation criteria such as chemistry, team influence, ability to grind, local residence, and intangibles as they construct their roster.

To be fair, "local residence" is the one category where Arizona has a big advantage over most teams.

[28] I don't know when "grinding" became such a virtue as it seems to be code for "he sucks, but he keeps trying." Regardless, it's one word I fervently wish would leave the baseball lexicon immediately.

[30] Google "Kirk Gibson keep grinding". That's all.

"grinding" ......... seems to be code for "he sucks, but he keeps trying."

I'm stealing that. ;)

Good recap of some of this baffling offseason

How many GMs still simply take little more than wild guesses as to who they should pick up during an offseason--is it down to a half dozen?

C'mon now, that description doesn't mean they hadn't done their due diligence on Cody Ross ... and who needs to do due diligence on Cody Ross at this point? Really, every GM should be able to tell you off the top of their head whether a given ML free agent would help their ballclub and, off the top of their head, roughly what they would pay for them. If GMs need to do research on simple questions like that, they should be canned.

I look at the currently available list and I'm not sure Ross wasn't the best available player unless you're a Rafael Soriano fan. There hasn't been anything in the 2B/SS/3B box all offseason.

Doesn't make Ross at 3/$27 any better of a deal but he does improve their ballclub and probably was the best available FA for them.

Looking at the free agent prediction thread I find that I hilariously predicted Greinke to the Dodgers ... then responded to other suggestions of Greinke to the Dodgers that it "made no sense". I love that!

I think I deserve half-credit for Swisher since I WAG'd the Pirates ... Indians, Pirates same thing.

Napoli to the Sox and Kuroda to the Yanks, I'm sitting on a measly 7 points. Still a couple out there that might come through but probably not.