Season Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks

dhivy: while they lost innings-eater (and presumably, eater of everything else in sight) livan hernandez, the d-backs' trade for dan haren gives them as fearsome a front three as there is in the majors. brandon webb spent most of last year as a cy young candidate and assuming he can stay healthy, horny wiener still has the skills to dominate. what they get out of their silver slugger micah owings may determine how this team performs. aside from his .333 batting average, owings finished the season with 15 shutout innings. if the youngster plays up to his ability and gains some confidence, the nl west could be in trouble. arizona took a risk in trading their closer and resident maniac jose valverde to the astros, but management is confident in the players they have. houston returned chad qualls and he and tony pena will play the setup role. brandon lyon falls into the closer role and relies on a nasty curve to retire batters. he's a bit of an unknown but he's better than their other option (brandon lamb).

no one in arizona's lineup really stands out as a great hitter, but there's depth 1 through 8 and five of their starters are under 25. with time, you can expect this group to round into a very productive unit. chris b. young was just short of joining the 30-30 club last year, despite his .237 batting average. there's a lot of space to patrol in 'zona's centerfield, and young does so admirably. their off-season trade of carlos quentin signals the beginning of the justin upton era, an era sure to be rife with jokes about his brother being named 'bj'. and while he can't make an appearance on baseball tonight without looking like he just rolled out of bed, eric byrnes is as reliable hitter as they have and makes their outfield a potentially scary one.

questions marks lurk at the corner infield spots. mark reynolds was a highly-touted call up that had solid numbers, but struck out in once in every three at-bats. conner jackson split time with tony clark last year, but has been thrust into the full-time role. expect chad tracy to see time at both spots if either struggles. the offense may hinge on what they get up the middle from stephen drew and orlando hudson. if they can pull a steve nash on this phoenix team, the diamondbacks could outrun the competition and fast break to a division title. that made no sense.

the d-backs were an intriguing case last year. bob melvin's crew won 90 games, but had a run differential of minus 20. in fact, only one other team had a winning record with a negative margin (seattle). some would call this occurrence a reflection of a solid bullpen, but i call it a reflection of solid luck. things tend to even out in baseball more than any other sport, strictly because of the season's length. so while arizona made some shrewd off-season decisions and their young studs should develop further, a wild card birth might be their most attainable goal in '08. aside from the goal of not looking like an absolute mess on national television.

joe: The National League West has an infatuation with sick pitching staffs. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-Backs (I love how the text on their uniforms sometimes makes it seem like they are called the D-Bags) augmented their core of filthy sinkerballer, and Cy Young contender Brandon Webb; Power hurler, and Home Run King contender Micah Owings; and grumpy old man, and Father of the Year contender Randy Johnson with the under appreciated, yet ridiculously effective AL CY young contender, Danny Haren from Oakland. When you add Doug Davis to this foursome, the D-Bags easily have a top three starting rotation in the National League. Jose Valverde pitched his way into a big payday last year and his spot has been filled by Brandon Lyon, a player we've heard a lot about for a while now, but has never been handed the keys to the closer spot until this year. It'll be interesting to see if he can be as effective or more importantly as excitable as Valverde.

What the D-Bags have pitching-wise is the exact opposite of what they have offensively, on paper at least. The D-Bags finished in the bottom 3rd of the majors in OPS, as well as in the bottom sixth in Runs and Batting Average. The young lineup however, is teeming with talent and are perhaps one year away from being just as dynamic in the field as they are on the hill. Aside from their perpetual blowhard left-fielder, Eric Byrnes, I am absolutely smitten with the D-Bags outfield. Chris B. Young and Justin Upton can be the Darryl Strawberry and Kevin Mitchell of the early eighties Mets, sans drug paraphernalia and velour sweatsuits. I am a little upset that Eric Byrnes ruins the group as a whole. A friend of mine asked why I hate Eric Byrnes so much even though I am generally in love with hustle hard - balls to the wall type players like Grady Sizemore, and i replied to him that when Grady makes an unbelievable "how did he do that without breaking his neck?" catch he gets up dusts his uniform off and runs back to his position emanating greatness. I am no baseball purist by a a longshot, I love braggadocio, but I would much rather Grady's approach than Byrnes' constant demonstrative "hang loosing" and head-banging. The D-Bags infield, I am less than impressed with, Stephen Drew has tons of 'talent' but he also has tons of 'having Drew as his last name' which kind of means he will never flourish. Orlando Hudson and Connor Jackson come off as solid but unspectacular and Mark Reynolds will be a solid third baseman in the league someday, but I believe he is at least one year away. The scary part is that even with an underwhelming offense, the D-Bags were able to win 90 games and get into the playoffs. This was without Dan Haren, and with their young sluggers still learning on the job. The team as currently constituted should easily be in contention in the tough-tough NL West.
Unsung Hero

• Micah Owings (d)
• Tony Pena (j)
• Tony Pena (q)

Achilles' Heel

• Mark Reynolds (d)
• Eric Byrnes (j)
• Eric Byrnes (q)

Favorite Moment

• The constant struggle to differentiate between Chris B. Young and Chris Young of the Padres. (d)
• Micah Owings finds out that he is pitching an hour before game time against the Pirates late in the season, he proceeds to go 4 for 4 with 3 RBI and gets the win. (j)
• Eric Byrnes was in a kayak during the All-Star game and for some reason brought his dog who jumped into the cove and swam away. (q)

Bold Prediction

• Pitcher Billy Buckner sets a record for lowest fielding percentage when every ball hit at him goes through his legs. (d)
• Justin Upton and Stephen Drew have a rousing game of "my brother is better than your brother". After losing the baseball points, Drew petulantly repeats "oh yea, well my brother makes more money than yours". (j)
• Micah Owings finishes the season with more pinch-hit home runs than wins. (q)