Offseason Profile
Arizona Diamondbacks
Dan Haren is a great, All Star caliber pitcher. Everyone knows that. But at some point, the rest of his team will have to lend a helping hand. The biggest potential assist, however, is currently shelved with an injury. Not a good sign for a team that struggled mightily in 2009.
The biggest question mark revolving around the Diamondbacks this spring is Brandon Webb.
Will he be ready? Won't he? Will the sinker still work? Does his shoulder still work?
Soemtimes, it doesn't seem like even Webb knows. After all, he looked to be on track for Opening Day earlier this winter. But one bullpen session and a feeling of stagnancy later, and it seems to be more of the same for the injury-plagued Diamondbacks. Without Webb in 2009, Arizona staggered to just 70 wins, lost a manager, hired a young, inexperienced one, and ended the season worse off than the Padres.
Not exactly what management had in mind.
So hopes were a little higher this offseason, with the knowledge that Webb would return, no longer hampered and ready to dominate as he did in his Cy-winning season in 2007, when he lead the league with 22 wins. But the problem persists, and manager A.J. Hinch has had to scramble to arrange a hodgepodge mix of talent and mediocrity in a minimized rotation. It looks as if the team will go with just four starters until the last possible moment, which appears to be around late-April. Coincidentally, Webb himself feels like that is the target for his return, despite the warning words of his doctor. From ESPN:
The late April target is "definitely not set in stone or anything. It's, I guess, a goal maybe," he told reporters.
[...]
"He pretty much said that, 'You just weren't ready to get after it and get on the mound,' " Webb told reporters. "He was like, 'I never had you pegged as an April [return] guy.' He might have told me that before, so he retold me, I guess."
So where are the bright spots for a team that will msot likely struggle to keep pace with the likes of the Rockies, Dodgers and even the Giants in the West? Well, Justin Upton has developed into one of the most powerful hitters in all of baseball, scorching the Arizona night will jaw-dropping bombs. He and the equally powerful (if feast-or-famine prone) Mark Reynolds are as dangerous a 3-4 lineup comination as you'll find in Los Angeles or Colorado. The problem here is depth and consistency. The once-promising Chris Young has flattered to decieve in center, Conor Jackson is coming off an injury, and will have to play well to keep the surprising Gerardo Parra from grabbing his job. Parra was a rare pleasant developement in Phoenix during the 2009 season.
The rotation, aside from Haren, is a huge question mark. Edwin Jackson has all the necessary talent, but after those two, no one knows what to expect. Rodrigo Lopez (who?) has landed the fourth spot in the rotation, while former Yankee castodd Ian Kennedy clinched the third spot, at least until Webb returns. The bullpen is nothing to write home about either. After all, Chad Qualls hardly strikes fear into late-game batters as a closer.
Expect another long season in the desert, unless Hinch can work some previously unfound magic, Webb returns, and Upton and Reynolds launch a plethora of well-timed dingers.
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