ESPN: Arizona Diamondbacks’ future isn’t bright

The Arizona Diamondbacks finished dead-last in the MLB last year and haven’t tasted the postseason since 2011. According to ESPN, the future is going to be just as ugly.

Predicting the next five years, the D-backs have the third worst future ahead of them out of the 30 MLB teams, according to the Insider piece.

The future rankings were based on five categories: The quality of the current big league roster, the quality of prospects in the farm system, the money each team can spend, the value and stability of the management system, and whether each team has young, cheap players or old, immovable guys.

The D-backs are tied for second worst in terms of talent on the big-league roster right now and have the third worst management system in the league. Their best ranking is the talent in their farm system, but even that is only 13th best in the league.

Here’s the overview of the D-backs’ situation:

The franchise has collected a number of big arms and is betting that major rotation options will emerge from the group of Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster, Robbie Ray, Yoan Lopez, Archie Bradley and Braden Shipley. — Buster Olney

But the problem is, as they see it:

The Diamondbacks won’t be relevant again until they can trade for or develop a high-end starting pitcher (or two) to compete with the Dodgers, Giants and Padres in the NL West. They do have a lot of good young arms. — Jim Bowden

According to the piece, only the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies have less to look forward to for the next half decade than Arizona.

As for the team with the most promising future, that would be the Boston Red Sox.

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