Playing Pepper 2009: Arizona Diamondbacks

As the players start getting themselves ready for another season, I thought it'd be a good idea to do the same. I contacted a blogger for each major league team and posed to them five questions. This is the result. You can find the tentative schedule of teams here and today's main post is right here.

For such a young team, the Diamondbacks have a little history with the Cardinals. We remember the '01 NLDS, where a blooper by Tony Womack sent the D-Backs on to their eventual World Series title. We remember the Cardinals winning the '02 rematch.

Then there is last year, as the Cards, who were already eliminated, played some of their best ball against Arizona, knocking them out of playoff contention as well.

To see how the Snakes were looking for this year, I turned to Jim of AZ Snakepit. He talked about the rotation and about a former Cardinal taking over at second base.

C70: What's the biggest strength of the Diamondbacks as they are presently constructed?

AS: Their starting rotation, which looks to be one of the best, top-to-bottom, in the major leagues. The arrival of Jon Garland has taken a lot of pressure of prospect phenom Max Scherzer, who can now sit at the back of the rotation.

In Garland, Webb, Haren and Davis, the team has four pitchers among the top 25 in the majors, for innings pitched, over the past few seasons, and that should mean the team has a good chance to win almost every day. Haren and Webb were among the top pitchers in the National League last season, and there's no reason to expect anything should be different this season, providing they remain healthy.

C70: Will Arizona miss Orlando Hudson and is Felipe Lopez going to be the starting second baseman?

AS: To answer the second part first, yes. Lopez will get the vast bulk of the playing-time at second. Augie Ojeda will be his backup and is probably better defensively, but the offensive gap is too large to ignore. However, Ojeda may see most of his starts with Webb om the mound, due to our ace's groundball tendencies.

Orlando's offense will probably be missed—second basemen who bat .300 don't grow on trees, though his power was almost only at Chase, with just two road homers in 226 AB. However, his defense will likely continue to decline, especially since he is now age 31.

The key issue is, which Felipe Lopez do we get? The one who batted .234 for Washington or the one who hit .385 in St. Louis?

C70: Can Mark Reynolds cut down on his strikeout total or is that even a focus for him?

AS: This was his first full season in the majors, having made the jump from Double-A in the middle of 2007, and so he should be cut some slack for that.

The key issue is really his contact rate: he swung and missed more often than any other player in the big leagues last season, and if he can put the ball in play or even foul off some more of those pitches, that will be a big step forward. Most of the projection systems expect the strikeouts to decline somewhat: PECOTA, for example, expects less than 140, though the other systems have him anywhere up to 182 (Bill James). If he can live up to the more optimistic predictions, without sacrificing the power he showed, he could well become one of the most productive hitters on the team.

C70: What is the general fan sentiment toward ownership/management?

AS: To be blunt, some fans still yearn for the Jerry Colangelo era, remembering only the World Series win and forgetting the quarter-BILLION dollars in deferred salary that was accumulated. This helped lead to the disastrous 111-loss season just three years after our triumph.

It's now a more cautious era in Arizona, hence the reluctance to offer Randy Johnson what he wanted to see him get win No. 300 in purple—though you can argue RJ's performance overall last year merited it, it would have been a significant risk, and 'innings eater' Garland is probably a better investment. If you understand the limitation and restrictions under which the franchise now operates, you probably better appreciate what current ownership and management are trying to do.

C70: If you have to have one of them for Game 7 of the World Series, would you take Dan Haren or Brandon Webb?

AS: Get us to Game 7 in the World Series, and I'd be happy with either of them. Heck, I'd settle for Brandon WALSH. [Oops, just dated myself there, didn't I?]

But Brandon Webb has shown himself to be among the very best pitchers in baseball over the past few seasons, finishing in the top two of the Cy Young for three consecutive seasons. I think most Diamondback fans are particularly fond of Webb as he's the first real star to have come up through the organization, rather than having been bought in or traded for—like most of the World Series team. That'll likely change before too long [paging Justin Upton...]. But right now, there's no-one, probably in the entire major-leagues, I'd rather have on the mound for Game Seven.

Thanks to Jim for that report from the desert.  With that one-two punch at the top of the rotation, plus as he noted the strength behind them, Arizona will be a force to be reckoned with once again.