The Commish
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Key question to D-Backs - who'll be Nos. 4, 5 starters
John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Dec. 12, 2005 09:50 AM
The biggest question surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks isn't who will play centerfield or shortstop but what the pitching rotation will look like. With Javier Vazquez on the way out - a deal was almost agreed to on Sunday and could be done by later today - and Shawn Estes not coming back, Arizona has two holes to fill in the starting rotation.
It looks like Brandon Webb will make the move up the rotation to staff ace after a solid year in which he went 14-12 with a 3.54 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 229 innings. Webb is a workhorse, having thrown more than 200 innings in each of the past two years, but has never been put in the No. 1 spot. In fact two years ago when he attempted to step up into the No. 2 spot behind Randy Johnson, following the Curt Schilling trade, he struggled. Part of that was the lack of defense behind him. He tried to make too many perfect pitches and ended up walking 119 batters and going 7-16, although his 3.59 ERA was good.
Russ Ortiz could fill the second or third spot in the rotation. He has watched his numbers get worse in each of the past four years, but none were as bad as last year, when he went 5-11 with a 6.89 ERA. He battled a rib injury and only made 22 starts, and he won only one of his final 11 starts and had Diamondback fans wondering why the team invested $33 million over four years in him. Arizona is stuck with Ortiz and will have its fingers crossed that he will bounce back and pitch the way he did when he was a reliable starter with the San Francisco Giants.
Claudio Varags went 9-6 with a 4.84 ERA with Arizona after being claimed off waivers by Washington and is a decent 3 or 4 starter. At times he was the D-Backs' best pitcher and showed enough that he is being penciled into a starter's role.
Just who the other two starters are will be determined in the next few months. The Diamondbacks will bring back a starting pitcher in any deal involving Vazquez. There are four teams bidding on his services, including the Washington Nationals and New York Mets. The Diamondbacks are not interested in Kris Benson, whom the Mets would like to trade. They are, however, interested in Boston's Matt Clement and if a deal involving Troy Glaus can be worked out, Clement could be coming back to the National League.
So at least one of the new starters will come via trade. Another could come from a group that includes Brad Halsey, Edgar Gonzalez and Dustin Nippert, although Arizona would like Nippert to open the season in Triple A. Arizona is not interested in any of the high dollar free-agent pitchers available such as Jarrod Washburn, Kevin Millwood and Jeff Weaver. The team could still sign a free-agent starter but that person would likely be someone who is younger and more cost efficient.
The impending loss of Vazquez will not be a big one. He struggled with consistency all year and ended up going 11-15 with a 4.42 ERA - not what Arizona expected from a guy making $11 million. By trading Vazquez, Arizona will clear $24 million in salary over the next two years, money they can use elsewhere to balance out the 11-man pitching staff.
The Diamondbacks almost got themselves a future ace in Joel Zamaya, a hard throwing right-hander from Detroit. Zamaya may not have started with the big club this year but certainly is a top of the line starter who could have joined the rotation next year. But Vazquez included the Tigers on his list of six teams he cannot be traded to and the deal for Zamaya and centerfielder Curtis Gunderson fell through.
The Diamondbacks may not have a defined staff ace when the season starts. They could have five above-average guys to try to throw every five days. But they also may have the financial flexibility to be a bigger player in free agency next year. And while this free-agent pitching class was nothing to write home about, next year's class will include A's lefty Barry Zito.
The Diamondbacks will field a team this year and attempt to compete in the West. But they understand that they are not close to competing for a World Series right now. They have cooled on adding Cubs centerfielder Cory Patterson and determined that Nomar Garciaparra would not be a good fit in centerfield. They also wouldn't have come close to the $4 million offer that Garciaparra has on the table from the Baltimore Orioles. The good news is, the organization has determined Connor Jackson, Carlos Quentin, Stephen Drew - and even Nippert to some extent - are untouchable. By 2007 all of those players should be regulars in the Diamondbacks' lineup.
So while Arizona tries to fill some key holes and be competitive, it is doing it with one eye on the future. And any pitching the team brings back in deals will take that longer-term approach into consideration.
John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Dec. 12, 2005 09:50 AM
The biggest question surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks isn't who will play centerfield or shortstop but what the pitching rotation will look like. With Javier Vazquez on the way out - a deal was almost agreed to on Sunday and could be done by later today - and Shawn Estes not coming back, Arizona has two holes to fill in the starting rotation.
It looks like Brandon Webb will make the move up the rotation to staff ace after a solid year in which he went 14-12 with a 3.54 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 229 innings. Webb is a workhorse, having thrown more than 200 innings in each of the past two years, but has never been put in the No. 1 spot. In fact two years ago when he attempted to step up into the No. 2 spot behind Randy Johnson, following the Curt Schilling trade, he struggled. Part of that was the lack of defense behind him. He tried to make too many perfect pitches and ended up walking 119 batters and going 7-16, although his 3.59 ERA was good.
Russ Ortiz could fill the second or third spot in the rotation. He has watched his numbers get worse in each of the past four years, but none were as bad as last year, when he went 5-11 with a 6.89 ERA. He battled a rib injury and only made 22 starts, and he won only one of his final 11 starts and had Diamondback fans wondering why the team invested $33 million over four years in him. Arizona is stuck with Ortiz and will have its fingers crossed that he will bounce back and pitch the way he did when he was a reliable starter with the San Francisco Giants.
Claudio Varags went 9-6 with a 4.84 ERA with Arizona after being claimed off waivers by Washington and is a decent 3 or 4 starter. At times he was the D-Backs' best pitcher and showed enough that he is being penciled into a starter's role.
Just who the other two starters are will be determined in the next few months. The Diamondbacks will bring back a starting pitcher in any deal involving Vazquez. There are four teams bidding on his services, including the Washington Nationals and New York Mets. The Diamondbacks are not interested in Kris Benson, whom the Mets would like to trade. They are, however, interested in Boston's Matt Clement and if a deal involving Troy Glaus can be worked out, Clement could be coming back to the National League.
So at least one of the new starters will come via trade. Another could come from a group that includes Brad Halsey, Edgar Gonzalez and Dustin Nippert, although Arizona would like Nippert to open the season in Triple A. Arizona is not interested in any of the high dollar free-agent pitchers available such as Jarrod Washburn, Kevin Millwood and Jeff Weaver. The team could still sign a free-agent starter but that person would likely be someone who is younger and more cost efficient.
The impending loss of Vazquez will not be a big one. He struggled with consistency all year and ended up going 11-15 with a 4.42 ERA - not what Arizona expected from a guy making $11 million. By trading Vazquez, Arizona will clear $24 million in salary over the next two years, money they can use elsewhere to balance out the 11-man pitching staff.
The Diamondbacks almost got themselves a future ace in Joel Zamaya, a hard throwing right-hander from Detroit. Zamaya may not have started with the big club this year but certainly is a top of the line starter who could have joined the rotation next year. But Vazquez included the Tigers on his list of six teams he cannot be traded to and the deal for Zamaya and centerfielder Curtis Gunderson fell through.
The Diamondbacks may not have a defined staff ace when the season starts. They could have five above-average guys to try to throw every five days. But they also may have the financial flexibility to be a bigger player in free agency next year. And while this free-agent pitching class was nothing to write home about, next year's class will include A's lefty Barry Zito.
The Diamondbacks will field a team this year and attempt to compete in the West. But they understand that they are not close to competing for a World Series right now. They have cooled on adding Cubs centerfielder Cory Patterson and determined that Nomar Garciaparra would not be a good fit in centerfield. They also wouldn't have come close to the $4 million offer that Garciaparra has on the table from the Baltimore Orioles. The good news is, the organization has determined Connor Jackson, Carlos Quentin, Stephen Drew - and even Nippert to some extent - are untouchable. By 2007 all of those players should be regulars in the Diamondbacks' lineup.
So while Arizona tries to fill some key holes and be competitive, it is doing it with one eye on the future. And any pitching the team brings back in deals will take that longer-term approach into consideration.
