Arizona Diamondbacks: 8 Reasons Why D-backs Can Repeat Success of 2011

Before 2011, there were not too many people picking the Arizona Diamondbacks as a playoff team—and certainly not a team to dethrone the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants.

The snakes came out of nowhere in 2011 to steal the N.L. West division crown from the world champs because of a young core of ballplayers that reflected the hard-nosed, gritty playing style of their rookie manager Kirk Gibson and a roster that was rebuilt by general manager Kevin Towers.

2012 will provide no such surprises for this D-Backs team because the bar was set so high last year.

The Diamondbacks will likely have a target on their back as they attempt to defend their 2011 N.L. West crown. An element of expectation will come into play this year more so than it did last year on a national level.

Here are 10 reasons why the Diamondbacks can repeat their success of 2011.

The Coaching Staff

The coaching staff in 2012 will be the same coaching staff that completely changed the culture—not only in the clubhouse, but also within the entire organization. Is there a better group of coaches to help a young team continue to build on success than this one? Absolutely not.

It was manager Kirk Gibson's way or the highway, which was evident when he started tightening up the clubhouse rules and having the players use the weight room before and after games. He provides a fiery, yet calm influence for his guys and has assembled a cast of great chemistry ballplayers in his clubhouse with Kevin Towers.

To Gibby, failure is not an option, and he—along with his coaches—will make that clear in training camp. This collection of coaches helped the development of players maturity-wise and talent-wise as well.

Hitting coach Don Baylor is largely responsible for the success of finally emergent superstar Justin Upton. He served as a mentor to the still extremely young and raw right fielder, which showed in the batter's box last season.

Three pitchers in the starting rotation pitched for over 200 innings before the postseason last year, and a revitalized bullpen can be credited to pitching coach Charles Nagy. Nagy will have another young gun to work with in the rotation and more options in the pen this season.

Starting Rotation Depth

Chase Field is now home to one of the deepest and youngest starting rotations in all of baseball—one that has the potential to go toe-to-toe with the division rival San Francisco Giants' rotation and propel their team to a deep playoff run.

The addition of Trevor Cahill gives the organization three young, 200-inning workhorses in Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson and Cahill.

Josh Collmenter is the fourth starter in the rotation and will be working on his curveball this offseason. This will allow him to go deeper into games and pitch better against teams the second and third times through the batting order.

The fifth spot will likely be occupied by someone in house in order to save money, which points to candidates such as Wade Miley, Barry Enright, Patrick Corbin and David Holmberg.

Those who do not make the Opening Day roster will join a group of pitching prospects that has simply run out of superlatives. Big-name prospects Trevor Bauer and Tyler Skaggs will spend more time in the minors to gain necessary experience and will, more likely than not, join the club sometime later in the season.

Bullpen Depth

The D-Backs' biggest improvement last season was their boys in the pen. The same could potentially be said about this season with the arrival of veterans Craig Breslow and Takashi Saito. Both of them join an already solid bullpen that improved by a full run in collective ERA. While an improvement of an entire run is a lot to ask for during this season, still expect an improvement out of the pen.

With late-inning options in J.J. Putz, David Hernandez, Brian Shaw and Brad Ziegler already in place, Saito and Breslow will just complement that mature group of players. Putz will man the ninth coming off a spectacular year, while the eighth will be David Hernandez's to lose. Saito will likely assume the seventh inning setup role.

Both Hernandez and Saito will be asked to close from time to time to give J.J. some days off with Ziegler, Breslow and Shaw also late-inning candidates. The depth of a bullpen is so valuable because it allows more dominant inning-to-inning pitching.

Outfield Depth

Kevin Towers surprised a lot of people by signing free-agent slugger Jason Kubel at a time when the Diamondbacks were thought to be pursuing a starting pitcher to fill the fifth rotation spot. This raised many eyebrows because the outfield seemed to be the most set unit on the team. While this move was probably not very popular among the fans that had come to love Gerardo Parra's spectacular defense in left field, it provides manager Kirk Gibson with some flexibility.

Jason Kubel will slide in nicely behind Justin Upton as the cleanup hitter in the lineup card by providing good protection for the young slugger and having the potential to hit 30 homers in a very hitter-friendly park.

The move also balances out the lineup to keep the righty-lefty element something for pitchers to worry about. His addition also pushes Parra into the fourth outfielder role, though he should still get many AB's according to Kirk Gibson.

Parra will be able to see his fair share of at-bats by providing more potential days off not only for Jason Kubel, but also for Chris Young and Justin Upton as well. He will be an integral part of keeping all of those guys fresh, which, in turn, should keep their production at a sustainably high level throughout the grueling MLB season.

Balance of Youth and Maturity

In 2011, Kevin Towers made team chemistry a priority by bringing in veteran players to show the younger guys how to play the game correctly, in addition to shipping off some talent that proved cancerous to the clubhouse. Those same veteran leaders will be back to continue their role-player occupations.

Henry Blanco took Miguel Montero under his wing, as Willie Bloomquist did Justin Upton. Is it a coincidence that both of those players had their best seasons as Major League ballplayers? Blanco's and Montero's presences in the clubhouse are more value than anything either of them will likely do on the diamond this season.

With experienced players on the pitching staff and in the field, a veteran approach to the game will reverberate through the team more so than it did last year. A still-young core of ballplayers will be dangerous to the rest of the league and is optimal for a team trying to punch a ticket to the World Series.

They say nothing is more dangerous than young talent.

"Gibby Ball"

Prior to 2011, the Diamondbacks played a different brand of baseball. It was a brand that included setting the record for most strikeouts by a team in a season in the history of this game and a more individualized approach to the game.

Kirk Gibson changed all that, with some help from Kevin Towers, by bringing in the type of players that fit what he was trying to do.

The team focused more on doing the little things right—specifically the fundamentals of the game. Aggressive baserunning—maybe too aggressive at times—situational hitting and throwing to the cutoff man in the right spot were all products of "Gibby Ball," and the result on the field was 94 wins and an N.L. West division title.

After the end of last season, Gibson still had more fundamental ideas for the team to improve on during this season's spring training.

Priorities for the manager were cutting down on the outs at third base and positioning players in the field to better succeed at taking outs when the opposing team presents them.

Improvement will be made if training camp is anything like it was last season, when the players were so tired after practices that they played like it on the field.

Trade Chips to Spare

If Diamondback fans have learned anything about Kevin Towers so far, it is that he is willing to deal and he has a win-now mentality. Towers has never been a GM to shy away from pulling the trigger on a deal that he believes is going to make his ballclub better. That being said, the Arizona Diamondbacks look like a playoff team once again on paper, but there is always the 2008 season in the backs of fans' minds.

Luckily, Kevin Towers is now the one steering the ship and will make the necessary personnel moves if he has to during the season. If the team does hit a spot during the schedule at which it is clear they need an upgrade at a position, they definitely have the farm system to go out and get an impact player to help them win now.

Towers knows as well as anyone that however good a prospect may look in the minor leagues, it doesn't always translate to similar production or growth at the next level. This may be the organization's biggest advantage on the trade market because of the depth at pitching which is always in demand.

Lack of Offseason Moves by the San Francisco Giants

San Francisco will likely be the Diamondbacks' biggest challenger this season, as it was last season, because of its ridiculously deep rotation and bullpen. Its Achilles heel was—and still will be, until proven otherwise—its ridiculously anemic offense. The Giants only did the minimum to try to improve personnel-wise this offseason.

Trading Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera and banking on the healthy return of Buster Posey are the only significant moves this team has made all offseason. As shown last year, you can have all the dominant pitching you want, but if you can't score runs, then you don't beat out the Diamondbacks for the division title.

The Giants will rely heavily on their arms once again this season and count on their young studs Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval to carry their offense. Two batters does not an offense make, because the Giants lack a leadoff man and their depth on the bench is worse than what they have on the field.

Prospect Brandon Belt will be looked at to provide some thump in the lineup as well, but relying on the production of an unproven rookie does not seem to be a sufficient move.

The D-Backs and Giants will definitely have their wars this upcoming season, but the Diamondbacks are more prepared for the entire season than the Giants are, which will set up a playoff run after a second consecutive N.L. West division title.