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While the Los Angeles Dodgers are a storied franchise steeped in decades of tradition, the Arizona Diamondbacks are the complete opposite.
Along with Tampa Bay, they are the youngest team in the Major Leagues, playing their first season in 1998.
The team then became the fastest expansion team ever to win a World Series by taking home the title in 2001, in just their fourth season. Along with the 29 other teams the Diamondbacks hope to return to that position in six months’ time, but will they get there?
Well after exploring the Dodgers’ chances of going all the way yesterday, it’s now time to explore the Diamondbacks’ chances of winning the NL West and playing in the playoffs.
After a second place finish in the NL West behind the rival Dodgers, the Diamondbacks hope to go one step further in 2014, especially after the Dodgers celebrated their NL West title in the pool at Chase Field.
To do this, they have been relatively active in free agency to build a strong supporting cast around star first basemen Paul Goldschmidt and right fielder Gerard Parra. This includes trading for former Angels outfielder Mark Trumbo and acquiring closer Addison Reed from the White Sox.
An area in which the Diamondbacks will struggle in 2014 is their starting pitching.
They have just lost their number one pitcher Patrick Corbin to a serious elbow injury that may require season-ending surgery and minor league prospect Archie Bradley will be thrown into the spotlight with a place in the starting rotation.
The initial plan for Bradley was that he would begin the season in the minor leagues to continue development upon his secondary pitches. Without this, I fear that he will lack command of his secondary pitches and batters will exploit this.
This was exactly the case in his final preseason outing against the Mariners last week, he pitched just two innings, allowed four runs on five hits with two walks.
Bradley will be joined in the starting rotation by Saturday’s starting pitcher Wade Miley, Trevor Cahill, who will start on Sunday, Brandon McCarthy, Randall Delgado and off-season recruit Bronson Arroyo.
Arroyo is coming off a mixed season with the Reds in 2013, going 14-12 with a 3.79 ERA, definitely not outstanding but certainly not terrible.
Not one Diamondbacks starting pitcher had an ERA of below three last season, the team ERA, which includes all relievers, of 3.92 was just 10th in the NL.
This must change if they hope to progress to the playoffs this year, unfortunately without ace Patrick Corbin this will be difficult to achieve.
With a relatively average starting rotation, the Diamondbacks must rely on the remainder of the pitching staff to close out matches and keep opposition runs to a minimum.
The bullpen disappointed last year, converting just 38 of 67 save opportunities and closer Addison Reed has been acquired to help improve this conversion rate.
Reed is a fantastic closer entering just his fourth season in the Major Leagues.
He is outstanding against batters from both sides of the plate, right-handed batsmen have just a 0.220 batting average against him while left-handed batsmen have gone just 0.210.
However Reed has had his struggles, especially on the road. While he had just a 2.54 ERA when pitching at home, that rose to 5.29 when on the road last year. The Diamondbacks need Reed to improve on the road if they hope to improve their bullpen this year.
If the Diamondbacks hope to get significant production from the bullpen they will not be able to rely on Reed, they must get adequate support from the setup men J.J. Putz and Brad Ziegler.
The Diamondbacks defensive infield is led by 2013 Golden Glove recipient Paul Goldschmidt.
Goldschmidt was outstanding in just his third season in the majors, as he emerged as one of the best first basemen in the majors, both with the glove and with the bat.
Goldschmidt recorded just 5 errors in 13, was involved in 118 double plays and had a fielding percentage of 0.997.
Goldschmidt is a phenomenal talent but he can’t do it all on his own, he needs support from his infielders.
Goldschmidt will be joined by Aaron Hill at second base, shortstop Chris Owings and third basemen Martin Prado and Eric Chavez.
Hill is an extremely solid veteran, recording just two errors in 84 games played last year and registering a fielding percentage of 0.995.
He will provide strong defence throughout the season. Owings is entering his second season in the majors having played just 16 matches last season.
He has been elevated to the starting shortstop position to replace the promising youngster Didi Gregorius. While Owings currently owns the starting position, it is likely that these two men will share the load throughout the season.
Martin Prado and veteran Eric Chavez will likely share the third-basemen role this season and Prado in particular will have to improve on his performances last year.
Prado recorded 21 errors when fielding at third basemen while Chavez recorded just one in 53 games played.
From a fielding perspective, the Diamondbacks would love to have Chavez starting every match but he has struggled to stay healthy in the past eight years, passing 100 games in a season just once since 2006.
The key addition to the Diamondbacks in 2014 is left fielder Mark Trumbo. Trumbo is an outstanding fielder.
He has a career Major League fielding percentage of 0.992 when at left field and he recorded just one error when fielding in the outfield last year as an Angel.
Trumbo will be joined in the outfield by centre fielder A.J. Pollock, left fielder Gerardo Parra and Cody Ross who will likely fill in at times throughout the season.
All three of those men are very solid fielders, Ross’ fielding percentage has not dropped below 0.980 since 2007. Pollock has made just two errors in his two year career and Parra won a Golden Glove for his work in the outfield last year.
One of the key differences between the Diamondbacks and Dodgers is their batting.
The Dodgers were an excellent side hitting the ball in 2013 while the Diamondbacks struggled.
Goldschmidt was the only shining light on a team that has failed to score 700 runs in a season since 2005. He hit 0.302, 36 rome Runs and 125 RBIs, numbers certainly deserving of Goldschmidt’s first Silver Slugger award.
This makes the acquisition of Trumbo so important, the Diamondbacks’ power hitting was very disappointing last year.
They were tied for 25th in the Majors, and Trumbo has hit at least 29 home runs in each of the past three seasons, improving his home run totals each year.
He did struggle at times with the bat last season, yet still hit 34 home runs and will look to improve upon his career worst 0.234 batting average from last season.
Second basemen Aaron Hill has hit 0.315, 0.302 and 0.291 in his three seasons with the Diamondbacks.
These are fantastic numbers and if he can reverse the downward trend he will play an important role as the second man in the line-up.
The Diamondbacks are a team which, at times, relied heavily on their lone superstar Paul Goldschmidt, in season 2013.
This must change if they hope to improve upon their 81-81 record and win the NL West. The acquisition of Mark Trumbo will help provide Goldschmidt some support but their pitching is an area where they will likely struggle.
The bullpen must pitch incredibly well to make up for an average starting rotation and new closer Addison Reed will be vital to the team’s chances this season.
Unfortunately I don’t think the team has the star power to compete with the Dodgers’ All-Star line-up throughout the whole 162 games and much like last year Arizona will start strong but LA will run over the top of them in the second half of the season.
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