The Diamondbacks have long resided in the same economic bracket as the San Diego Padres, fellow residents in the National League West. And yet, in moves made a couple of months apart, the Diamondbacks traded their face-of-the-franchise player in slugger Paul Goldschmidt while the Padres are about to dish out $300 million to land star infielder Manny Machado.
The optics of the moves side-by side do not look good for the Diamondbacks. But Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall contended the Goldschmidt decision was never entirely about economics, drawing parallels between his team’s signing of Zack Greinke three offseasons ago and the Padres’ deal with Machado.