The 2009 Diamondbacks Season

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:31:30 -0500

A few days back i wrote a (lengthy) piece on the 2008 Diamondbacks season, with a promise to write a follow-up post about where the Dbacks go from there. This is that post.

That 2008 column ended with a line about the Dbacks facing a mountain of questions going into the 2008 off-season and into 2009. While an admittedly cheesy wrap-up to the post, it was nonetheless true. The Dbacks have a ton of questions they need to answer, and i'm not sure where they (or i) will even begin.

Let's start with a big one: The Big Unit. Randy Johnson is sitting on 295 wins, just five short of they mythical 300. There's no denying it would be a great accomplishment for him, and based on the way he pitched the second half of this season he will get it next year. But will he be in a Diamondbacks uniform? Hard to say.

The Dbacks aren't going to pay Johnson a lot of money. They still owe him something like $41M for his last contract with the Dbacks (no, not this one. The one from before. You know, back from when he won the World Series here?). It's hard to tell what Randy will do; He's always been a bit of a selfish player, but i wonder if he recognizes he should stay here and win 300 with the team he's going into the Hall of Fame with. If he does re-sign here, look for it to be around only $4M, even though he could command upwards of double that in the open market.

Staying in the starting rotation, you have Webb and Haren as the unquestioned leaders. Behind that? Murky. Doug Davis is a crap-shoot as to whether he will be back or not. Max Scherzer will be your number 4, probably regardless of who is here and who isn't. A rotation of Webb, Haren, Johnson, Davis and Scherzer isn't bad. Webb, Haren, Scherzer, Petit, and a started to be named later not as much.

The bullpen is even worse. Depending on who you listen to, the Dbacks need to either get rid of everyone or everyone had an off year and will be better next year. Realistically it's somewhere in the middle. I don't know how you bring Jon Rauch back after his trainwreck of a season here. Chad Qualls is the 2009 closer, mark it down now. He will be fine in that role. Move Lyon back into the 8th inning, i think he will be fine there as well. Either Tony Pena or Juan Cruz are likely gone; Make the other the 7th inning guy.

Billy Buckner and Leo Rosales will be the long-relief guys. What the Dbacks are in desperate need of, and what they have been in desperate need of for years, is a left handed reliever. Sorry Doug Slaten, you are not the answer. Will Ledezma, a late season pickup, could be it. He pitched fairly well in admittedly limited action.

Looking out into the outfield, there is a logjam. Chris Young is the starting Center Fielder. His bat suffered this season, but his defense is gold-glove-worthy. Justin Upton is the Right Fielder. His defense is suspect, but he's only 21. And his bat became electric the last month of this season. In left-field you have some issues.

After the way CoJack adjusted to the switch and how he started to hit once out there, you are basically forced to leave him in left. Problem is you're paying Eric Byrnes $10M a year to be the left fielder. And i know not many people remember this, but when healthy Byrnes isn't a bad player. He hit .276 in his two full season with the Dbacks, 2006-2007, and has some pop in his bat. Not to mention he's the best base-stealer on the roster, something the Diamondbacks sorely missed this year. From the things Bob Melvin and Derrick Hall have been saying, it sounds like Byrnes will go into 2009 as the 4th outfielder. Hard to put $10M on the bench, but in this case it looks like the best option. He'll get plenty of chances to play.

On the infield you have a total disaster. Shortstop is the only position locked up with Stephen Drew. Drew really came around the last month and is poised to have a seriously good breakout season in 2009. The rest of the infield is completely up in the air. Mark Reynolds will be there, though there's no telling where. Third clearly isn't the best place to put him (though he played pretty well there in 2007). There are a lot of rumors about him moving to second, which is where he played in the minors, to replace Orlando Hudson, who will be gone. Just in the last week there has been some talk of putting Reynolds at first as well.

Where Reynolds plays will depend largely on what the Dbacks do in the offseason. If they can get a good third baseman, Reynolds moves to the right side of the infield. If the Dbacks get a stud second baseman, Reynolds may stay at third. The Dbacks do have some options already here. Augie Ojeda and David Eckstein wouldn't be a bad combo at second for the year. Both are good with the glove and good enough from the plate. If the Dbacks go that route, i could see them going after a third baseman in free agency or through trade, and putting Reynolds at first.

Either way, there are a lot of choices and decisions to be made. The Dbacks could also bring Jamie D'Antona up; He can play either corner infield spot. And, of course, all of this is assuming Adam Dunn is gone as well. There has been talk of the Dbacks trying to re-sign him, but i don't think it will happen. Dunn strikes out too much in a lineup filled with people who strike out too much, and is a defensive liability pretty much everywhere on the field.

The last position is catcher. Unlike every other position on the Dbacks, catcher is locked up. Chris Snyder is the starting catcher, he can play almost every day, and he brings a decent bat to the order. Behind him could be interesting. Miguel Montero has been rumored to be working out at third base in the offseason. If that's the case, Robby Hammock would likely be the back-up catcher.

No matter how you shake it, the Diamondbacks will be a very different looking team in the 2009 season. It would not surprise me to see 8-9 players from this season's team gone next season. And while that is a lot of change, it is not necessarily a bad thing. As we saw down the stretch this season, something needs to be done. Let's just hope the Dbacks can pull the right strings...

Diamondbacks breeze past Marlins

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:47:06 -0500

The Skinny: Yusmeiro Petit continued his solid starting pitching, yielding only 2 hits and 1 run over six innings, as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins 7-1 Saturday at Chase Field. Chris Young and Miguel Montero each homered, and the bullpen mixture of Chad Qualls, Tony Pena and Leo R

MLB Youth Movement: A Report

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:33:08 -0500

Over the past several years teams have been looking more and more toward the future of the franchise instead of today. The "Win Now" mentality is waning and a youth movement has begun. Below we have several teams' profiled and broken down to show the climate change in Major League Baseball.

Yardbarker: Leo Rosales

The 2009 Diamondbacks Season

Diamondbacks breeze past Marlins

MLB Youth Movement: A Report