Shelby MIller during the MLB game at Chase Field on April 10, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Shelby Miller is having a hideous season for the Arizona Diamondbacks so far in 2016. Miller has made six starts for Arizona this year, tossing just 23 1/3 innings, striking out 19, walking 19, and pitching to a hideous 8.49 ERA. By Fangraphs’ version of WAR, he’s been the least valuable starting pitcher in all of baseball, and the only pitcher overall that’s been less valuable has been Rangers reliever Tom Wilhelmsen. Only five pitchers in baseball that have thrown at least 20 innings have a worse ERA than Miller’s 8.49.

So needless to say, the trade hasn’t gone as expected for the Diamondbacks so far. According to GM Dave Stewart, Miller is feeling pressure from the trade, and probably the high expectations that would go along with being the #2 starter in Arizona’s rotation to Zack Greinke.

“Shelby Miller, I think it’s more, really, he’s just feeling some pressure: of the trade, the players that we traded for him, trying to fit in,” Stewart told MLB Network Radio. “I think the whole ordeal has just been different for him than it was leaving St. Louis going to Atlanta.”

Arizona is 12-15 this year, but because the rest of the NL West is also struggling, they’re just 1.5 games out of first place. However, Miller isn’t the only Diamondbacks starter off to a bad start. Greinke leads the team’s pitching staff in fWAR, but his ERA is 5.50. No starter has an ERA under 4.00, led by Rubby de la Rosa’s 4.18 mark. As a whole, Arizona’s 4.94 ERA is the fourth-worth in baseball, ahead of just the Brewers, Rockies, and Reds. Their 5.66 rotation ERA is ahead of just Milwaukee’s, and a full run worse than the next-worst team in the NL West, the Giants (4.63).

Stewart, naturally, likes the Diamondbacks’ fledgling rotation.

“We’ve got … four other guys in the rotation. I like our rotation. The reason why you have five starters is that one guy carries the weight one day and the next guy passes it on. So we’ve got time for him to fix whatever it is that’s going on.

“If it’s pressure, then there is no pressure. Take it off yourself and just go out there and be yourself and do what you’re capable.”

The 25-year old won’t be this bad forever. Neither will Greinke or Patrick Corbin (who has a 4.88 ERA in 31 1/3 innings). The team’s bullpen has been fine, if not overused (their 108 2/3 innings is far and away the highest total in baseball). The team has also put together a top ten offensive performance and a defensive performance in the top half of baseball. If the Diamondbacks get better production from Miller and the rest of their starters, they’ll be fine as 2016 rolls along.

However, in time, the Miller trade could work worse, especially as Aaron Blair and Dansby Swanson continue to mature in the Braves’ system. Swanson was just promoted to AA, and has hit .341/.446/.565 in 23 games at the high-A and AA levels. Blair is already in the Braves major league rotation after three starts and AAA, and has a 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings.

If Miller somehow *can’t* turn it around and those two (along with Ender Inciarte, who’s been on the DL since the first week of the season with a hamstring injury) become cornerstone players for the Braves, there could be pressure on more than just Miller when all is said and done.

[ESPN]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.