azdad1978
Championship!!!!
John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Apr. 4, 2005 09:15 AM
In their eight-year existence the Arizona Diamondbacks have never entered a season with more uncertainty than the one that starts today. Following an off-season that included a complete overhaul of a roster that lost 111 games, the Diamondbacks enter this season with the possibility of finishing anywhere from first to fourth in the National League West.
Where they end up will depend largely on whether the Diamondbacks' four biggest acquisitions - Troy Glaus, Shawn Green, Javier Vasquez and Russ Ortiz - can perform up to expectations following disappointing seasons.
Without a dominant team in the division, it appears the West is up for grabs. If those key players should perform to their capabilities, Arizona could very well find itself in the pennant race coming down the stretch.
Vasquez may be the key of all the newcomers. He replaces Randy Johnson as the staff ace, no small task considering what Johnson had meant to the team. But just which Vasquez shows up this year is a huge question mark. Is it the one who won 13 games, struck out 241 batters and worked 231 innings while with Montreal in 2003? Or the one who won only four games and had an ERA of 6.92 after the All-Star break last year with the Yankees?
Vasquez doesn't need to be Johnson. He doesn't even have to win 20 games. But he must stop losing streaks, eat up innings and lead the staff. His spring ERA of 6.65 is a concern.
After watching Glaus hit two rockets into the left-field seats against the Red Sox on Thursday night, it's hard not to picture him hitting at least 40 home runs while playing half of his games at Bank One Ballpark. Glaus, a three-time All-Star who was the World Series MVP in 2002, hit 147 home run his first four full years in the big leagues and is every bit the power-hitter that Sexson was when Saxon got here. But Glaus did lose four months last year to shoulder surgery and had his worst season in 2003 when he hit just .245 with 16 home runs and 50 RBIs. Laser-eye surgery after that season is believed to have helped.
Green had the worst numbers of his career in 2003, .280, 19 home runs and 85 runs batted in and had shoulder surgery that October. He struggled in the first half of last season but went on to hit 18 of his 28 homers after the All-Star break. Green is hoping that he has fully recovered from the shoulder injury and that knowing he is the everyday right fielder will help him get comfortable right from the get go. The Dodgers had experimented with him at first base last season, a position switch he never really took to.
Ortiz is an innings eater, having logged 200-plus innings in each of the past four seasons and he has won at least 14 games in all six of his full seasons in the big leagues. His ERA has risen in each of the past three seasons and ended up at 4.13 last season, which could be a concern. Ortiz is a workhorse and should fill the role of the No. 2 guy much better than Brandon Webb did last season. In his lone post-season start last year for Atlanta, Ortiz was roughed up, lasting only three innings. So while his track record has been very good over his career, he comes into this season with something to prove.
Last season everything went wrong for Arizona. The starters couldn't get past five innings, the bullpen was one of the worst in baseball, the fielding yielded a franchise-high 139 errors, the offense managed just 135 home runs and 19 players spent time on the disabled list. Not to mention the manager got fired.
What Arizona was last year was young, too young. So it went out this season and brought in veterans like Royce Clayton, Craig Counsell, Shawn Estes, Tony Clark and Jose Cruz Junior to go along with the above mentioned newcomers. The hope is that a veteran lineup will make fewer mistakes defensively and find ways to keep innings alive offensively.
After watching Casey Fossum, Steve Sparks, Casey Daigle, Elmer Dessens and a bunch of fill-ins like Edgar Gonzalez, Andrew Good, Shane Reynolds and Lance Cormier get knocked out of games before the fifth inning with regularity, the one thing Arizona needed was pitchers who could go deep into the game. Vasquez, Ortiz and Estes should fill that bill.
The future looks bright with Carlos Quentin, Connor Jackson and Sergio Santos slated to be in the majors within a year or two, but credit Arizona's brass for deciding that it wants the team to compete in the meantime. The roster is filled with question marks, but the upside is tremendous. If the big four (Glaus, Green, Vasquez and Ortiz) deliver, this team could be real good. Good enough to finish first or second in the West.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cheapseats/gambo/0404rant.html
Special for azcentral.com
Apr. 4, 2005 09:15 AM
In their eight-year existence the Arizona Diamondbacks have never entered a season with more uncertainty than the one that starts today. Following an off-season that included a complete overhaul of a roster that lost 111 games, the Diamondbacks enter this season with the possibility of finishing anywhere from first to fourth in the National League West.
Where they end up will depend largely on whether the Diamondbacks' four biggest acquisitions - Troy Glaus, Shawn Green, Javier Vasquez and Russ Ortiz - can perform up to expectations following disappointing seasons.
Without a dominant team in the division, it appears the West is up for grabs. If those key players should perform to their capabilities, Arizona could very well find itself in the pennant race coming down the stretch.
Vasquez may be the key of all the newcomers. He replaces Randy Johnson as the staff ace, no small task considering what Johnson had meant to the team. But just which Vasquez shows up this year is a huge question mark. Is it the one who won 13 games, struck out 241 batters and worked 231 innings while with Montreal in 2003? Or the one who won only four games and had an ERA of 6.92 after the All-Star break last year with the Yankees?
Vasquez doesn't need to be Johnson. He doesn't even have to win 20 games. But he must stop losing streaks, eat up innings and lead the staff. His spring ERA of 6.65 is a concern.
After watching Glaus hit two rockets into the left-field seats against the Red Sox on Thursday night, it's hard not to picture him hitting at least 40 home runs while playing half of his games at Bank One Ballpark. Glaus, a three-time All-Star who was the World Series MVP in 2002, hit 147 home run his first four full years in the big leagues and is every bit the power-hitter that Sexson was when Saxon got here. But Glaus did lose four months last year to shoulder surgery and had his worst season in 2003 when he hit just .245 with 16 home runs and 50 RBIs. Laser-eye surgery after that season is believed to have helped.
Green had the worst numbers of his career in 2003, .280, 19 home runs and 85 runs batted in and had shoulder surgery that October. He struggled in the first half of last season but went on to hit 18 of his 28 homers after the All-Star break. Green is hoping that he has fully recovered from the shoulder injury and that knowing he is the everyday right fielder will help him get comfortable right from the get go. The Dodgers had experimented with him at first base last season, a position switch he never really took to.
Ortiz is an innings eater, having logged 200-plus innings in each of the past four seasons and he has won at least 14 games in all six of his full seasons in the big leagues. His ERA has risen in each of the past three seasons and ended up at 4.13 last season, which could be a concern. Ortiz is a workhorse and should fill the role of the No. 2 guy much better than Brandon Webb did last season. In his lone post-season start last year for Atlanta, Ortiz was roughed up, lasting only three innings. So while his track record has been very good over his career, he comes into this season with something to prove.
Last season everything went wrong for Arizona. The starters couldn't get past five innings, the bullpen was one of the worst in baseball, the fielding yielded a franchise-high 139 errors, the offense managed just 135 home runs and 19 players spent time on the disabled list. Not to mention the manager got fired.
What Arizona was last year was young, too young. So it went out this season and brought in veterans like Royce Clayton, Craig Counsell, Shawn Estes, Tony Clark and Jose Cruz Junior to go along with the above mentioned newcomers. The hope is that a veteran lineup will make fewer mistakes defensively and find ways to keep innings alive offensively.
After watching Casey Fossum, Steve Sparks, Casey Daigle, Elmer Dessens and a bunch of fill-ins like Edgar Gonzalez, Andrew Good, Shane Reynolds and Lance Cormier get knocked out of games before the fifth inning with regularity, the one thing Arizona needed was pitchers who could go deep into the game. Vasquez, Ortiz and Estes should fill that bill.
The future looks bright with Carlos Quentin, Connor Jackson and Sergio Santos slated to be in the majors within a year or two, but credit Arizona's brass for deciding that it wants the team to compete in the meantime. The roster is filled with question marks, but the upside is tremendous. If the big four (Glaus, Green, Vasquez and Ortiz) deliver, this team could be real good. Good enough to finish first or second in the West.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cheapseats/gambo/0404rant.html
