Nick Piecoro

azcentral sports

As if the Diamondbacks’ season hasn’t been miserable enough, a cruel twist of the baseball schedule will bring shortstop Dansby Swanson to Chase Field Monday night for the start of his first road trip in the major leagues.

Swanson will not only face the club that traded him just six months after drafting him with the No. 1 overall pick, he will represent all that has gone wrong for the Diamondbacks this year, the key piece of what has been a disastrous trade that is threatening to define both a season and the legacy of a front office.

The Diamondbacks believed that in acquiring right-hander Shelby Miller in the deal that sent Swanson, outfielder Ender Inciarte and pitcher Aaron Blair to the Atlanta Braves that they were adding the final piece they needed to become a contending team.

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Instead, the Diamondbacks are on pace for 95 losses, Miller is in Triple-A Reno and the organization appears to be considering another regime change, which would be its third in the past six years.

The Diamondbacks say they would not have made the Miller trade if they hadn’t made an even more high-profile acquisition only days earlier with the signing of right-hander Zack Greinke to a six-year, $206.5 million deal. With Greinke joining their core of prime-age position players, they felt the time was right to add another frontline starter.

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“We had to solidify our rotation with who we thought would be the next best guy to Greinke,” General Manager Dave Stewart said.

They weighed several options, including Miami’s Jose Fernandez and Cleveland’s Danny Salazar, but Stewart said the cost for both was even higher than what it took to get Miller.

“It was just the quantity and the quality of players in both of those deals,” Stewart said. “It was just an unbelievable ask.”

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Sources say both clubs were insisting on center fielder A.J. Pollock, whom the Diamondbacks did not want to move, and the Marlins were intent on getting Pollock and left-hander Patrick Corbin in a deal for Fernandez.

Initially, the Braves were also asking for Pollock, and for weeks leading up to the winter meetings, the Diamondbacks were reluctant to include him. When they arrived in Nashville, sources say the Diamondbacks told the Braves flatly they would not move Pollock, adding that they would, however, be open to discussing a deal involving Inciarte plus just about anyone else. Once the Braves realized that included Swanson, talks progressed quickly, sources say.

But Stewart and Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa said they did not do the deal haphazardly.

“Dansby was the one piece of the whole deal that bothered me the most,” Stewart said.

Said La Russa: “Including Ender was just as difficult as including Dansby. He’s a really good player. But you don’t win without pitching.”

The trade floored many in the industry, the consensus being that the Diamondbacks gave up too much. The reaction was so overwhelming that, in the time between when the deal was reported to when it actually became official, some in the Braves organization were concerned the Diamondbacks might try to back out, according to sources.

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La Russa paused when asked what he thought of the industry reaction. He said he understands the attention the trade received, particularly since the club had given up another first-round pick, pitcher Touki Toussaint, earlier in the year. But he questions the perception that everyone in baseball disliked it for the Diamondbacks.

“How many front offices, if you polled the other 29, how many would have questioned it or said it was a bad deal?” La Russa asked. “At the same time that we were hearing the criticisms, I was also hearing from people that I knew personally saying, ‘Hey, man, we know where you were coming from. We were interested in Shelby, as well.’

“I would always like to know who criticizes it. There are some people that I have a ton of respect for and there are others I don’t have the same level of respect. If it’s somebody I have big levels of respect, then I would be bothered. If it’s not, then I’m not.”

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The Braves’ end of the return hasn’t been overwhelmingly positive. Inciarte’s offensive numbers are down from last year, but he remains a positive contributor, in large part because of his outfield defense. Blair has struggled in his 11 big-league starts. Swanson had solid minor-league numbers before his surprise call-up last week.

In Miller, the Diamondbacks felt they were getting at worst a mid-rotation starter, and given his age (25) and his track record, they believed he had enough upside remaining that he could develop into a No. 1.

But in 14 starts before the All-Star break, Miller posted a 7.14 ERA. Still, the Diamondbacks say they have not given up on him. In seven starts since his demotion, Miller has a 3.52 ERA, 51 strikeouts and eight walks in 46 innings, and La Russa said he is close to returning to the majors.

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The Diamondbacks understand how the deal looks today, but both La Russa and Stewart believe the scales will look more balanced as time passes.

“Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks and our fans, our season this year does not give any answers in support of the moves that were made,” La Russa said. “Sometimes the results are not as immediate as you want. It’s not fantasy island; it’s the reality of playing the game. We are still very solid in favor of having Shelby as part of our organization.”

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.