Biggest Offseason Acquisition: Brandon McCarthy. In an offseason full of acquisitions, some of them good, most of them puzzling, McCarthy is a big pickup because he’s the kind of pitcher who can succeed at Bank One Chase Ballpark Field. Namely, a groundball pitcher. He bolsters an already strong and deep rotation.

Potential Fatal Flaw: Corner outfield defense. Jason Kubel and Cody Ross aren’t exactly Mike Trout and Ben Revere. The Arizona outfield is spacious and they’ll need a lot of help from rookie Adam Eaton in center to make up for those two black holes. Otherwise, Chase Field might lead the league in doubles.

Ceiling: Division winner.

Floor: 4th place in the NL West.

Overall: You have to start with the trades of Chris Young, Trevor Bauer, and Justin Upton. Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers, this offseason, said something to the effect of “we want gritty ballplayers.” I’m of the mindset that talent is a few times better than grit. Grit doesn’t get on base. Grit doesn’t throw strikes. Grit is just a buzzword that people who don’t understand the importance of statistical analysis use to describe white players who aren’t very talented. {Plug: Read this}

Trading Chris Young for Cliff Pennington isn’t terribly egregious. It’s not wise, but Young had pretty much maxed out in Arizona. Trading Trevor Bauer, a player the Diamondbacks took with the third pick in the 2011 MLB Draft for Didi Gregarious, a light-hitting shortstop prospect is egregious. The Diamondbacks didn’t like Trevor Bauer’s attitude. Or something.  Didn’t like that he wouldn’t throw strikes, or that he was in love with his curveball. Or something. Didn’t like that he raps (he is absolutely terrible at it). Or something. So they gave up on a 22 year old pitcher with #1 starter potential for a defensive shortstop who isn’t quite Major League ready. Not how you run a team.

But the Diamondbacks weren’t done with idiotic trades. They were able to turn one of the young stars of the game into Martin Prado. Prado is a really good ballplayer. Justin Upton, at the age of 25 (seriously, he’s only 25), is a 2-time All Star and Silver Slugger winner. Upton, at 25, is coming off a down year that saw him hit .280/.355/.430. Prado, in a good year, hit .301/.359/.438. And yes, the Diamondbacks got Randall Delgado in the trade as well. But when it comes to elite prospects, I’d rather have Bauer anyway.

The point of all of this is that I don’t know that the Diamondbacks know what they’re doing. They have a fairly good Major League team assembled. Their pitching is very good. And deep, with reinforcements like Tyler Skaggs and Delgado ready to take over any open spot in the rotation.

But I keep looking at that offense and finding myself increasingly underwhelmed. There are good hitters there, but not necessarily a good collection of hitters. There’s not a ton of power. There’s not a lot of on-base focused hitters. There are just a bunch of guys who can hit fairly well. The word is “underwhelming.”

Predicted Finish: 80-82