Diamondbacks will play a part in the NL West title and Wild Card

[Lefty]

How nice will it be to see the Diamondbacks take it to the Padres, Dodgers and Giants? They will have a say in who goes to the playoffs and who stays home.

 

[Phxchris1989]

I hope we can sweep the Rockies and Giants. Those are the teams I hate the most in the NL West.


I plan on going to our game on October first, too watch Gonzo and our last game in purple uni's.

 

[Ryanwb]

How nice will it be to see the Diamondbacks take it to the Padres, Dodgers and Giants? They will have a say in who goes to the playoffs and who stays home.

what if they roll over for all three?

 

[Phxchris1989]

what if they roll over for all three?

hopefully not.

 

[The Commish]

D-Backs, Tribe could spell doom for contenders

By Tim Kurkjian
ESPN The Magazine



It is a word that should be reserved only for baseball, and exclusively for this time of year. A spoiler is a team with no playoff hope that ruins the hopes for one team, if not more, down the stretch. For some teams, it's all there is to play for in September.
Every year, there usually is a different spoiler. This year, the best candidates are the Diamondbacks and Indians.

The Diamondbacks are the perfect spoilers because they were contenders until early September, when they lost six games in a row, including three brutal losses in Washington. Naturally, if they're not going to the playoffs, then they don't want anyone else going, either. Arizona will play only contenders starting Tuesday, when it visits San Diego for the first of seven games against the Padres -- the final four games will be at home, and will close out the regular season. The Diamondbacks have three games with the Dodgers and three with the Giants. Arizona is 6-9 against the Giants this season, 7-8 against the Dodgers (L.A.'s Greg Maddux has only one career victory against the Diamondbacks) and 7-5 against the Padres.

"We want to win as many games as possible, we want to finish on a good note,'' Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "We want to set the tone in the division. We've played well in the division this year. It would be nice to beat up on the teams ahead of us.''

Arizona has a roster full of players who have something to prove and to play for, which is essential for a spoiler. They have young, talented and hungry kids such as shortstop Stephen Drew, right fielder Carlos Quentin and center fielder Chris Young, who have locked up jobs for next year. Rookie catcher Miguel Montero is bidding to share time in '07 with Chris Snyder.

The Diamondbacks also have veteran players with a lot at stake. Left fielder Luis Gonzalez will not return to the D-Backs in 2007, but could impress other teams to consider signing him in the offseason if he has a strong finish. Ace Brandon Webb has a shot to win the National League Cy Young Award; every pitch will count for him the rest of the way. Another starting pitcher, veteran Livan Hernandez, has plenty of experience pitching in games down the stretch. The Diamondbacks are looking for a closer for next year. The wild and erratic Jorge Julio won't be back. Jose Valverde and Tony Pena will use the stretch run to help their causes in winning the job in 2007.





Interesting that Kurkjian agrees that Estrada will be gone. I've speculated for a while that he will be traded this offseason.

 

[boondockdrunk]

By Tim Kurkjian

Interesting that Kurkjian agrees that Estrada will be gone. I've speculated for a while that he will be traded this offseason.

I had heard that Estrada wanted to play in the bay area next year. I think that he would fit right in with A's and according to espn's stat tracker, Oakland has the lowest RBI (49) and HR (3) totals from the catching position and the 27th worst slugging percentage (.348). However, they do have the 5th best runs scored (72) total in the majors.

Estrada also fits into the A's style because he doesn't strike out too much and really puts the ball into play very well. I don't know how many more years Jason Kendall has on his bloated contract but if he is gone after this year, then that makes the trade of Estrada to Oakland much more enticing.

What we could get from them would not be much; perhaps a minor league, middle tier prospect.