Changing Faces

Whatever else is written about the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, they deserve this much: The team wasn’t afraid to take a risk. The D-Backs finished last season as a disappointing third in the NL West. The team brass responded by trading their franchise player—the hyper-talented but maddeningly inconsistent Justin Upton—to...

By Ed Kummerer

March 28, 2013

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Whatever else is written about the Arizona Diamondbacks this season, they deserve this much: The team wasn’t afraid to take a risk. The D-Backs finished last season as a disappointing third in the NL West. The team brass responded by trading their franchise player—the hyper-talented but maddeningly inconsistent Justin Upton—to the Atlanta Braves for third baseman Martin Prado and a boatload of prospects. It’s the sort of trade that could launch the D-Backs into title contention if it works out. It’s the sort of trade that could get a ton of people fired if it doesn’t. And it’s the sort of trade that looms in the background as the Diamondbacks start the 2013 season.

Arizona will open the season at Chase Field on Monday, April 1, against the St. Louis Cardinals in a duel between pitchers Adam Wainwright and Ian Kennedy.

Mon., April 1, 7:10 p.m.; April 2-3, 6:40 p.m., 2013

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