An obituary for the 2015 Arizona Diamondbacks

With a 5-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, the 2015 Arizona Diamondbacks were officially eliminated from postseason contention. At third place in the NL West with a 71-78 record, the Diamondbacks have just about met, if not exceeded their preseason expectations, despite a bizarre move or two during the season. Here are the highlights of Arizona's 2015 season:

The strange Touki Toussaint trade

On June 20, Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart traded 2014 first-round pick Touki Toussaint to the Braves along with the $9.5 million salary of Bronson Arroyo for 26-year-old utility man Phil Gosselin. Reaction to the trade around baseball was somewhat along the lines of this tweet from MLB.com's Jim Callis:

Touki Toussaint giveaway by @Dbacks to @Braves to dump $9.5 mil of Bronson Arroyo's salary is the most inexplicable trade I have ever seen.

— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) June 21, 2015

Stewart and team president Tony La Russa called the trade a cost-cutting move for Arizona, but many viewed it as highway robbery for Atlanta. Gosselin did play 15 games for the Diamondbacks this season, hitting .233/.327/.419 with a pair of home runs.

Paul Goldschmidt's monster season

Despite Arizona's struggles in general this season, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was once again one of the best players in baseball. Goldschmidt has had arguably his best season in 2015, hitting .315/.433/.550 with 28 home runs in 148 games. His 158 wRC+ to date is third in the National League behind Joey Votto and presumptive MVP Bryce Harper and his 6.5 fWAR is good for sixth in all of baseball. However, his All-Star campaign was not enough to push Arizona over the top.

The return of Patrick Corbin

After missing all of 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Diamondbacks lefty Patrick Corbin made his return to the mound on July 4 against Colorado, giving up two runs on eight hits in five innings of work. Corbin had made 14 starts this season, and Arizona's ace seems to have picked up right where he left off, with a 2.99 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 75⅓ innings.

With Corbin back in the fold and Goldschmidt not going anywhere anytime soon, Arizona looks to have a pair of stars to build on for 2016 and beyond.