Nick Piecoro

azcentral sports

The tone in Diamondbacks General Manager Dave Stewart's voice suggests a level of trust in Wade Miley and Josh Collmenter, two pitchers he seems comfortable slotting into his 2015 starting rotation, perhaps near the top.

Beyond them, Stewart sounds less convicted, more cautiously optimistic. He believes he needs to upgrade, and he hopes to take steps in that direction at this week's general manager's meetings, which will be held in the Diamondbacks' backyard at the Arizona Biltmore beginning today.

"I don't know if we get it accomplished this week," Stewart said, "but by the time we start the season I'd really like to try to improve our starting rotation."

This season, the Diamondbacks had the National League's second-worst rotation ERA, but Stewart seems to like their chances for improvement.

He figures to have left-hander Patrick Corbin, who needed Tommy John surgery before this season, back by June. Stewart hopes to get better a performance out of Trevor Cahill. He's considering the idea of moving Daniel Hudson back into a starter's role.

Stewart liked the way Chase Anderson and Vidal Nuño threw this season, and he values the depth Randall Delgado provides. He also likes the potential that prospects Archie Bradley, Braden Shipley and Aaron Blair represent.

Still, he wants to add a proven starter. And he seems more open to a trade than he did when he spoke to reporters shortly after the season.

"If we can clearly improve our team, then I'm not hesitant to make a trade," Stewart said. "I don't know that we will or that we won't. What I know is that there's some clubs out there that we've had some conversations with that includes pitching, pretty good pitching. It's a matter of if we can make it happen or not."

He wouldn't go into detail about those discussions other than to say they didn't involve the Diamondbacks' shortstop surplus. It's possible, then, talks could have involved catcher Miguel Montero, who rival executives say has been made available.

"A lot of teams have called and asked about him," Stewart said of Montero. "He's an All-Star catcher for us and a leader in our clubhouse, and he's a big piece of our baseball team."

Stewart doesn't think the Diamondbacks can afford to pursue the big three free-agent starters — Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, James Shields — and the club could be priced out on others, as well, including Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda.

But Stewart sounded as if he would still go after Maeda, assuming the Hiroshima Carp make him available through the posting system.

"I think that he's going to be a great addition to the club that's going to be able to get his services," Stewart said. "We definitely have interest in him."

The trade market figures to include some high-profile arms. The New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds could each deal a starting pitcher, and Athletics right-hander Jeff Samardzija also could be moved again.

The Diamondbacks might have had the worst record in the league, but Stewart thinks they should show significant improvement next season.

"Once again, I will say I don't know how we lost 98 games," he said. "I don't know that it's necessarily the players that took the field vs. how we played the game that created a situation of 98 losses.

"Are we going to throw the same bunch of guys out there again? Probably not. I think there are probably going to be some changes, but I think at this moment the one area that we've focused on is our pitching."