D-Backs get younger and older
The Desert Snakes are going to be a little younger in the field and a wee bit older on the mound than they were last year.
The 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks will look a lot different than when they took the field last April. Not only has the roster gone through an overhaul in the past 12 months, the team also has switched from its former purple and turquoise color scheme to a red, sand and black mix.
That should make it very interesting when they take on the Houston Astros who moved to the same colors back in 2000.
The D-Backs should bear another strong resemblance to the Astros this year since both teams will likely struggle to reach the postseason this year. Ah, but we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves.
Several of the roster changes since this time last year took place during the 2006 season as the club started to give some of its youngsters their first taste of the big leagues. Names like Stephen Drew, Chris Young, Carlos Quentin and Miguel Montero began finding their way into the starting lineup in August and will be expected to continue their big league maturation this campaign.
But while the position players were getting younger during the previous season, Arizona’s mound seems a little older than it was when they went to camp last spring. And that’s somewhat remarkable since the Snakes opened the 2006 season with a 40-year-old Orlando Hernandez and a 35-year-old Miguel Batista.
Livan Hernandez was acquired from the Nationals about two months after half-bro Orlando was dealt to the Mets. And during the most recent winter, Arizona traded for a pair of southpaws in two separate deals, adding Doug Davis who had been with Milwaukee and Randy Johnson who had pitched the previous two seasons with the Yanks after spending 1999-2004 with the Diamondbacks.
OFFENSE
Not sure about anyone else, but for me the two most notable subtractions from the team over the winter are outfielder Luis Gonzalez and infielder Craig Counsell. Both players were big contributors to the team over the years, especially in 2001 when the D-Backs won it all.
Drew will now be the everyday shortstop for Arizona, and the younger brother of major leaguers JD and Tim should have an incredible future ahead of him. The former Seminole batted .316 in 59 games last season that included an .874 OPS despite striking out 50 times in about 225 plate appearances.
His doubleplay partner at second will be Orlando Hudson, a slick fielder who also contributes at the plate. The infield corners will once again be manned by the two youngsters who had the jobs last season, first baseman Conor Jackson and third baseman Chad Tracy. Like Drew, Jackson is a former 1st-round pick (2003) and played very well in the field and at the plate in his first full season.
Coming off a 27-HR campaign in 2005, Tracy apparently fell in love with the long ball too much and came up empty at the plate too often in 2006. His strikeout frequency increased from once every 6.4 AB to every 4.5 AB, and his batting average dropped 27 points while his OPS plunged from .912 to .794.
Infield backups are few and far between right now, with Alberto Callaspo and Robby Hammock the primary candidates.
Behind the plate will be Miguel Montero and/or Chris Snyder after Johnny Estrada was dealt to the Brewers in the trade that brought Davis to the Snakes. Veteran Mark Johnson might also see some action at catcher if Montero or Snyder goes down.
On Opening Day 2006, the outfield consisted of Shawn Green in right, Eric Byrnes in center and Gonzalez in left. Only Byrnes remains now and he will shift to left field this season. The ball-to-the-wall Byrnes is coming off an excellent season in Arizona, setting career highs in homers (26) and RBI (79).
The job in center is basically being handed to Young this spring after the Houston native enjoyed a fine Triple-A campaign at Tucson last year, stroking 21 HR and stealing 17 bases with a decent 71/52 strikeout-to-walk rate in 400 AB. Carlos Quentin, another 1st-round pick from 2003, is in right and probably the least known of the D-Backs youth. But the former Stanford Cardinal should become better known this year as he has 20-HR potential in his first full season.
Outfield reserve spots will be manned by Jeff DaVanon and Scott Hairston.
PITCHING
One position that will be the same this year as it was last is that of Opening Day pitcher. Brandon Webb, the reigning NL Cy Young champ, has strung together two remarkably consistent seasons to earn his second nod in D-Backs openers. Coming off a 16-8, 3.10 ERA campaign, the right-hander failed to go at least six full innings in just four of his 33 starts in 2006, including his final go of the year when the Padres pounded him for seven runs in four frames, easily his worst outing of the season.
Newcomer/Oldtimer Johnson is still nursing a bad back and likely will not pitch until well into April. The Big Unit will be out to prove the naysayers wrong after his ERA shot up from 3.79 in 2005 to 5.00 last year.
That leaves Livan Hernandez and Davis to battle it out for the early 2-hole in the rotation. Hernandez has been a slow starter the last two seasons, and neither has Davis who saw his numbers take a similar turn for the worse in 2006 like Johnson.
The final couple of rotation openings will be decided this spring between Juan Cruz, Enrique Hernandez and Edgar Hernandez. Put your money on Cruz and Edgar Gonzalez coming out of the chute.
The bullpen is a thin and puzzling mix and, for my money, the weakest link in Arizona’s chain coming into the season. Considering how huge the bullpen has become in baseball over the years, that is not a good sign.
Jose Valverde is the closer entering camp. Again. He’s had the job going into the season since his nice 2003 season, but has never been able to hold the job for a full year due to injury, ineffectiveness, or both.
Jorge Julio, who is reportedly being shopped around, is currently listed as the #2 reliever on Arizona’s depth chart. That means he is about five rungs of the ladder to high for me. Also in the bullpen mix are Brandon Medders, Brandon Lyon and Tony Peña. The only lefty who is likely to start the year in relief for the D-Backs is Doug Slaten who has been knocking around in the Arizona minor league system since 2000 before getting his first MLB action late last year.
Key Player(s): While many will have their eyes on Johnson to see if he can bounce back from a poor 2006, watching Webb as he tries to defend his 2006 Cy Young award, or keep track of youngsters like Drew, Young and Jackson, the most critical component on this team is the bullpen. It’s thin and stocked with either unproven arms or arms that have proven to be unreliable.
Futures: The Greek has set their win total at 78½ while BetCRIS is currently using 78 for the over/under break. Pinnacle has the D-Backs at +664 to win the AL West, in line with Bodog who lists Arizona at 6:1. Bodog also is showing the Snakes at 20:1 to win the NL and 45:1 to win the World Series.
The simulations for Arizona this season jumped around like a butterfly with hiccups. And that very likely goes back to the bullpen that can secure a lot of close games or blow a lot of close games. The win totals varied from 73 for a low to 86 for a high. I think they’ll be much closer to 73 than they will be to 86.
The Desert Snakes are going to be a little younger in the field and a wee bit older on the mound than they were last year.
The 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks will look a lot different than when they took the field last April. Not only has the roster gone through an overhaul in the past 12 months, the team also has switched from its former purple and turquoise color scheme to a red, sand and black mix.
That should make it very interesting when they take on the Houston Astros who moved to the same colors back in 2000.
The D-Backs should bear another strong resemblance to the Astros this year since both teams will likely struggle to reach the postseason this year. Ah, but we’ve gotten ahead of ourselves.
Several of the roster changes since this time last year took place during the 2006 season as the club started to give some of its youngsters their first taste of the big leagues. Names like Stephen Drew, Chris Young, Carlos Quentin and Miguel Montero began finding their way into the starting lineup in August and will be expected to continue their big league maturation this campaign.
But while the position players were getting younger during the previous season, Arizona’s mound seems a little older than it was when they went to camp last spring. And that’s somewhat remarkable since the Snakes opened the 2006 season with a 40-year-old Orlando Hernandez and a 35-year-old Miguel Batista.
Livan Hernandez was acquired from the Nationals about two months after half-bro Orlando was dealt to the Mets. And during the most recent winter, Arizona traded for a pair of southpaws in two separate deals, adding Doug Davis who had been with Milwaukee and Randy Johnson who had pitched the previous two seasons with the Yanks after spending 1999-2004 with the Diamondbacks.
OFFENSE
Not sure about anyone else, but for me the two most notable subtractions from the team over the winter are outfielder Luis Gonzalez and infielder Craig Counsell. Both players were big contributors to the team over the years, especially in 2001 when the D-Backs won it all.
Drew will now be the everyday shortstop for Arizona, and the younger brother of major leaguers JD and Tim should have an incredible future ahead of him. The former Seminole batted .316 in 59 games last season that included an .874 OPS despite striking out 50 times in about 225 plate appearances.
His doubleplay partner at second will be Orlando Hudson, a slick fielder who also contributes at the plate. The infield corners will once again be manned by the two youngsters who had the jobs last season, first baseman Conor Jackson and third baseman Chad Tracy. Like Drew, Jackson is a former 1st-round pick (2003) and played very well in the field and at the plate in his first full season.
Coming off a 27-HR campaign in 2005, Tracy apparently fell in love with the long ball too much and came up empty at the plate too often in 2006. His strikeout frequency increased from once every 6.4 AB to every 4.5 AB, and his batting average dropped 27 points while his OPS plunged from .912 to .794.
Infield backups are few and far between right now, with Alberto Callaspo and Robby Hammock the primary candidates.
Behind the plate will be Miguel Montero and/or Chris Snyder after Johnny Estrada was dealt to the Brewers in the trade that brought Davis to the Snakes. Veteran Mark Johnson might also see some action at catcher if Montero or Snyder goes down.
On Opening Day 2006, the outfield consisted of Shawn Green in right, Eric Byrnes in center and Gonzalez in left. Only Byrnes remains now and he will shift to left field this season. The ball-to-the-wall Byrnes is coming off an excellent season in Arizona, setting career highs in homers (26) and RBI (79).
The job in center is basically being handed to Young this spring after the Houston native enjoyed a fine Triple-A campaign at Tucson last year, stroking 21 HR and stealing 17 bases with a decent 71/52 strikeout-to-walk rate in 400 AB. Carlos Quentin, another 1st-round pick from 2003, is in right and probably the least known of the D-Backs youth. But the former Stanford Cardinal should become better known this year as he has 20-HR potential in his first full season.
Outfield reserve spots will be manned by Jeff DaVanon and Scott Hairston.
PITCHING
One position that will be the same this year as it was last is that of Opening Day pitcher. Brandon Webb, the reigning NL Cy Young champ, has strung together two remarkably consistent seasons to earn his second nod in D-Backs openers. Coming off a 16-8, 3.10 ERA campaign, the right-hander failed to go at least six full innings in just four of his 33 starts in 2006, including his final go of the year when the Padres pounded him for seven runs in four frames, easily his worst outing of the season.
Newcomer/Oldtimer Johnson is still nursing a bad back and likely will not pitch until well into April. The Big Unit will be out to prove the naysayers wrong after his ERA shot up from 3.79 in 2005 to 5.00 last year.
That leaves Livan Hernandez and Davis to battle it out for the early 2-hole in the rotation. Hernandez has been a slow starter the last two seasons, and neither has Davis who saw his numbers take a similar turn for the worse in 2006 like Johnson.
The final couple of rotation openings will be decided this spring between Juan Cruz, Enrique Hernandez and Edgar Hernandez. Put your money on Cruz and Edgar Gonzalez coming out of the chute.
The bullpen is a thin and puzzling mix and, for my money, the weakest link in Arizona’s chain coming into the season. Considering how huge the bullpen has become in baseball over the years, that is not a good sign.
Jose Valverde is the closer entering camp. Again. He’s had the job going into the season since his nice 2003 season, but has never been able to hold the job for a full year due to injury, ineffectiveness, or both.
Jorge Julio, who is reportedly being shopped around, is currently listed as the #2 reliever on Arizona’s depth chart. That means he is about five rungs of the ladder to high for me. Also in the bullpen mix are Brandon Medders, Brandon Lyon and Tony Peña. The only lefty who is likely to start the year in relief for the D-Backs is Doug Slaten who has been knocking around in the Arizona minor league system since 2000 before getting his first MLB action late last year.
Key Player(s): While many will have their eyes on Johnson to see if he can bounce back from a poor 2006, watching Webb as he tries to defend his 2006 Cy Young award, or keep track of youngsters like Drew, Young and Jackson, the most critical component on this team is the bullpen. It’s thin and stocked with either unproven arms or arms that have proven to be unreliable.
Futures: The Greek has set their win total at 78½ while BetCRIS is currently using 78 for the over/under break. Pinnacle has the D-Backs at +664 to win the AL West, in line with Bodog who lists Arizona at 6:1. Bodog also is showing the Snakes at 20:1 to win the NL and 45:1 to win the World Series.
The simulations for Arizona this season jumped around like a butterfly with hiccups. And that very likely goes back to the bullpen that can secure a lot of close games or blow a lot of close games. The win totals varied from 73 for a low to 86 for a high. I think they’ll be much closer to 73 than they will be to 86.