NL West Preview: Dbacks to Make It 2 in a Row, Win the West

What a year 2011 was for the Dbacks, Justin Upton exploded in the second half, Ian Kennedy became an All-Star and the pen went from one of the worst of all time, to one of the better back ends in the bigs.

Biggest questions:

Can JJ Putz repeat a 2 ERA season?

Will Steven Drew bounce back from his horrific home plate 180 twist-a-foot?

Can Kennedy, Danny Hudson and new addition Trevor Cahill combine to win 45-50 games?

Will the new addition of Jason "Kubes" Kubel's bat but mediocre (to be kind) defense be an acceptable replacement for Gold Glove winner LF Gerardo Parra?

Will setup guy Davey Hernandez continue to evolve into one of the better setup men in the game?

Balls Deep productions believes the answer to most of these is a resounding "yes," and thus picks the Backs to win 93+ games, and the NL West. Balls Deep also firmly believes the Backs are a legit shot to win the NL, and be the third team in a row to rob the Texas Rangers of a trophy.

Let's move to the most popular part of the article/show: Kings, Crumbums and Codgers.

Kings

Plenty to go around, but we will focus on stud RF Justin Upton, who has become a top 10 overall player in the game. He should hit 35-40 bombs this year, and we expect him to surpass 30 SBs for the first time.

Ian Kennedy: We find it hard to expect 21-4 (the losses aren't sustainable, for anyone) with a sub-3.00 ERA, but even a low-3.00 ERA should land Kennedy over 16 wins with a top 3 NL offense.

JJ Putz: I really feel if anyone is going to fall off, it's going to be this guy. He had a fairly healthy, and certainly dominant 2k11 (2.17 ERA, .91 whip, 45 saves) that's going to be hard for anyone, including Mo Rivera, to duplicate. We can see a 3 ERA for this big fella.

I expect both Trevor Cahill (league switch from Oakland/AL) and Daniel Hudson to improve quite a bit. Both young and improving pitchers, I will not be surprised if their K rates improve by 10 percent or more. The talent is there.

Crumbums

Not many to go around on this young, up-and-coming team, but 3B Ryan Roberts is all I could find. Why, you ask? The tattoos all over his body. It's nasty and a bad sight for youngsters these days. They need good role models, and only hookers, convicts and Navy seamen have tats covering their bodies. It's frowned upon in the Army, Air Force and Marines.

Codgers

Such a young team really has no weaknesses in its starting lineup. Lyle Overbay, backup 1B, is a stinky player. He hit 234 last year with nine bombs. But if the biggest codger you can find is a backup 1B, then you're doing OK in Balls Deep's book.