What’s Your Deal, Arizona Diamondbacks?
By Erie's Scribe on Feb 05, 2008 with Comments 0
These guys won the NL West last year!??
Pitchers and catchers haven’t reported to camp yet, but they have at least finalized their airline reservations for their flights to Arizona or Florida. At The Legend, we think it’s never too early to start talking some baseball. Especially since the Santana trade stirred the pot.
I’m an Indians fan, and I don’t pay all that much attention to the goings ons in the National League. This kills me in fantasy every year. Did I hear that the Brewers were good last year? I’ve decided to remedy this problem by randomly looking in at NL teams to figure out their deal, and by seeing how their off-season went.
So the Arizona Diamondbacks, what’s their deal? I see they won the NL West last year. That’s a good sign. They allowed more runs than they scored, though. I don’t know much about sabermetrics or that Bill James stuff, but I know enough to say that’s a bad sign. But they made it to the NCS, and that’s a great sign.
A glance at their lineup doesn’t reveal much spectacular, but supposedly they have a really deep farm system and a lot of good young hitters. Hey, I like that Eric Byrnes guy. He’s a nutty, all hustle, surfer dude right? He had a big year. And that Chris Young guy, he hit 32 homers last year. Not much to report besides those two guys. It’s time to sink or swim for the young Diamondbacks. Potential is great in the minors, let’s see some production in “the show.” Who are these guys?
Rotation wise they now have Dan Haren and Brandon Webb at the top. That my friends, is a hell of a one two punch. After that you have 44 year old Randy Johnson (uh-oh), Doug Davis (career wins: 75, career losses: 75) , and Micah Owings. At least I think that’s the way the staff shakes out heading into spring training. You can’t be to wild about those 3-4-5 starters.
In the pen, they traded away Jose Valverde and his 47 saves in the off-season. Part of the reason for the trade was to shore up the middle of the bullpen by adding Chad Qualls. I know that closers can appear out of nowhere, but that open closer’s spot is a glaring hole.
I guess I haven’t learned that much about the Diamondbacks. Can their prospects turn into good major league producers? Can Haren and Webb carry the rotation? Does Randy Johnson have anything left? Can they find some young arms from the minors? Who will be their closer, and can he do so effectively? This team has question marks everywhere.
In that division they could finish first or they could finish last, I have no idea what their deal is. I hope I have better luck with my next NL research project.
Filed Under: Uncategorized
