2015 Season Report (All-Star Break)

PHOENIX - With the All-Star game looming, the Diamondbacks are essentially waving the white flag. Nothing is going well, but in a sad twist of fate they aren't doing much worse than they did last year when they were trying to get into the playoffs.

The Diamondbacks can essentially be split into Paul Goldschmidt and Not Paul Goldschmidt at this point. Rookies have shown some promise, especially OF Michael Taylor and Eddie Rosario. J.J. Hardy has finally returned on a regular basis, but now OF Ender Inciarte has taken his spot on the DL. Jake Lamb has been disappointing, and Yasmany Tomas has failed to show much power after righting his batting average to eclipse .300. The team limps into the break, and everyone but Goldschmidt (the only Diamondbacks headed to Cincinnati) will be resting during that time.

Corbin's return was promising.

The rotation, to put it bluntly, has fully transformed into a dumpster fire. The very expensive acquisition of Jered Weaver has turned into an equally expensive DL stint. Kyle Lobstein is hurt as well, and Alex Colome is pitching like he should be hurt. At this point the fans are just looking at their watches and waiting until Braden Shipley or Aaron Blair get called up. The only ray of hope came in the return of Patrick Corbin, who tossed a very Corbin-esque game (5.0IP, 3K, 8H, 2ER) in his first outing. The Diamondbacks aren't really looking for him to turn the entire rotation around, but a healthy Corbin puts them in a good position going forward.

Jim Johnson's second turn in Arizona was a disaster.

The team also completed an odd deal with Toronto in order to land a highly touted IFA in OF Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (yes, THAT Vladimir Guerrero). The reports on Guerrero are positive, but most think he lacks the ceiling of his father. The ink on Guerrero's contract wasn't even dry before the Blue Jays sent him to Arizona along with Joe Nathan in exchange for Jim Johnson. Nathan represents a hefty increase in salary ($7.3 million) over Johnson ($5.8 million) with both coming off the books after the 2017 season. The price seemed right to land Guerrero, and Diamondbacks management is hoping Nathan can return to form just long enough to be worth something. This has the feel of the Soria trade in 2014, but at least Soria wasn't nearly as expensive as Nathan.