Arizona Diamondbacks

In an anaemic NL West last year Arizona's record of 77-85 landed them in second place. With a new GM and some of their best prospects starting to be Major League ready, there will be pressure on Bob Melvin to improve that record.

Pitching

Brandon Webb is greatly undervalued by many. After a rough sophomore year, which was more down to poor defence behind him than anything, he finished last year with a 3.54 ERA, 14 wins for a poor side and 229 innings pitched which I think are solid numbers for a top of the rotation guy. He’s still got that nasty sinker and this year the club has given him some help with the addition of Orlando Hudson to field those ground balls.

Russ Ortiz is greatly overvalued by many. After a breakout year under the tutelage of pitching guru Leo Mazzone he has been average to poor and seems to create problems for himself by not getting ahead in the count early and the sad thing is that he has the ability to use his fastball to do that. To a lesser extent Orlando Hernandez has a similar problem but with his plethora of arm angles and breaking pitches he seems to do OK.

The bullpen should be interesting with questions as to who will be the clubs closer. Miguel Batista is most likely headed to the rotation but has had success as a closer. Brandon Lyon did a good job for Arizona last year till injury hit and he was supplanted by Jose Valverde who did a better job.

Doug Slaten is the only lefty reliever on the 40-man roster at the moment which is a problem as he’s never pitched in the Bigs.

Defence

Johnny Estrada and Koyie Hill give the defence a strong building block behind the plate. Estrada has a stronger throwing arm but both are solid across the board.

There are question marks as to who the everyday shortstop will be with hot prospect Stephen Drew getting a look during Spring Training. If the club feel they want to give him more time in the minors to develop then Alex Cintron will likely claim the spot. Cintron is probably the stronger defender but both will give Gold Glover Orlando Hudson a good foil at the pivot. Newly acquired prospect Alberto Callaspo could figure into the middle infield mix, he’s one of the many vaunted youngsters the Angels have been brewing and can certainly flash the leather.

The outfield is another interesting situation possibly involving a good young player. The corners will be manned by Shawn Green and Luis Gonzalez and whilst time and injuries have hurt their mobility both are solid fielders with safe hands (although LuGo’s arm is very weak after all the surgeries). Centerfield could be manned by Carlos Quentin as there is no standout player to otherwise man the position. Quentin has great range for a right fielder but not necessarily for a centerfielder and while it’s a less than ideal situation he wouldn’t let the side down out there.

Offence

Craig Counsell should return to the top of the order and he’s a solid performer in that role. He’ll be backed up by an order which could conceivably have the clubs top three prospects in key roles. Conor Jackson will be the clubs first baseman for many years to come. He has tremendous discipline at the plate (some might argue that he is too passive at times) and tremendous strike zone awareness and is an on-base machine but sometimes that comes at the expense of his power.

Carlos Quentin is another player with a great eye and tremendous baseball instincts. He is also not averse to being hit by a pitch either (72 HBP over two years!!) and even though he crowds the plate he still manages to handle the inside pitch and hits to all fields with good pop and the only reason he hasn’t been on the big league roster already has simply been because he has been stuck behind the likes of Gonzalez and Green.

Shawn Green and Luis Gonzalez might not have the power they used to but still provide above average left handed pop in the order and know how to be productive.

Rookie Watch

Stephen Drew is almost a carbon copy of his brother J.D. and pretty much is strong in every aspect of the game. But like his brother is can be prone to injury and questions have been raised about his intensity and work rate but when you are as talented as this people won’t complain until you stop producing but it can’t be easy knowing that it won’t be long till Justin Upton takes his job away.

Whilst Drew will probably start the year back at the farm, Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin have nothing left to prove in the minors and its time for them to fulfil their promise.

Management

GM Josh Byrnes comes to the club with a reputation of being a very progressive and forward thinking executive have last been assistant GM to Theo Epstein in Boston. He inherits a good farm system but will likely want to imprint his personality on the club and that could make things awkward for Bob Melvin. Melvin watched over the rapid demise of the Mariners and Arizona looked very average under his tutelage last year.

Outlook

Arizona has a lot of good players but no great ones and are generally just an average team. In an NL West that does not seem to have a dominant team and with the unbalanced schedule they certainly have an outside chance at winning the division but so much is reliant on the rookie bats coming through as their pitching just isn’t good enough to carry them.