azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Scott Bordow, Tribune Columnist
I wrote a column last Friday that you'll never read. It was a brilliant piece of journalism, a Pulitzer Prize winner, if I may say so myself.
I hammered the Diamondbacks for not finalizing a contract with Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green. I wondered how they could be so stupid as to not know what Green would demand in terms of a contract extension.
I ended the column this way: It's going to be a long summer at Bank One Ballpark, and unless the Diamondbacks' owners get their act together, an interminable stretch of bad baseball.
They botched Jerry Colangelo's ouster.
They hired manager Wally Backman without doing a background check.
And now, they've failed to connect Point A (Randy Johnson) to Point B (Green).
Three swings. Three misses.
Not-so-mighty Arizona has struck out.
On second thought. . .
Give the Diamondbacks credit. In landing Green and pitcher Javier Vazquez, they kept their promise that they'd get two credible major league players for Johnson and, in the process, restored the credibility of an organization that for much of the offseason looked like it was being run by Larry, Moe and Curly.
So, what have the Diamondbacks accomplished after their overhaul of the past month?
Well, they're not going to win the World Series, but in the wobbly National League West, a team that lost 111 games may find itself — incredibly — in a playoff race.
Think about it. What NL West club improved more this offseason?
The Los Angeles Dodgers will drop in class after losing Green, Steve Finley and Adrian Beltre.
The San Francisco Giants signed Moises Alou and Omar Vizquel, but the team is so old it might need a walker to get around the bases.
The San Diego Padres haven't done much with the exception of trading for center fielder Dave Roberts, and the Colorado Rockies are, well, still the Rockies.
The Diamondbacks might not have the nicest house in baseball's subdivision, but they're living in the right neighborhood.
“I am not ashamed to go out and play this season with the team we have,” said managing general partner Ken Kendrick. “We think we have a team, because our division is not the American League East, that can be competitive.”
And the Diamondbacks aren't done yet.
Once the Green deal is finalized, a center fielder is acquired — Arizona will pursue either Oakland's Eric Byrnes or the New York Mets' Mike Cameron — and veteran help is added to the bench and the bullpen, the team will pursue a starter to fill one of the top three spots in the rotation.
The Diamondbacks have about $5 million to spend — Kendrick said the club is well within its payroll budget of between $60 million and $65 million — and are willing to part with some of their top minor league prospects.
Two possibilities: Oakland's Barry Zito, if the A's are still slashing payroll, or Florida's A.J. Burnett.
How about this starting five come April: Vazquez, Burnett, Russ Ortiz, Brandon Webb and Shawn Estes.
There's not a Johnson or Curt Schilling in the bunch, but with an improved offense and healthy bullpen, Arizona might have enough starting pitching to win the division.
There is a downside, however, to the way the Diamondbacks are doing business.
By signing veterans like Green, Ortiz and Troy Glaus to long-term deals, Arizona is eschewing what many in baseball would consider the more prudent path: Rebuilding with younger players rather than trying to hoist a pennant right away.
If the Diamondbacks don't win with this group — and they unload some of their better prospects along the way — the Valley won't see baseball in October for a long, long time.
“We made a calculated decision not to rebuild, but reload,” Kendrick said. “We don't know if that's the right one.”
It's a refreshingly honest answer, and while the long-term wisdom of some of the Diamondbacks' moves can be debated, at least fans know ownership is serious about winning and willing to spend money to do it. In the immediate aftermath of Colangelo's ouster, that was a legitimate concern.
And now, six words that sounded like a death sentence have gotten a reprieve:
Pitchers and catchers report Feb. 16.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=34543
I wrote a column last Friday that you'll never read. It was a brilliant piece of journalism, a Pulitzer Prize winner, if I may say so myself.
I hammered the Diamondbacks for not finalizing a contract with Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green. I wondered how they could be so stupid as to not know what Green would demand in terms of a contract extension.
I ended the column this way: It's going to be a long summer at Bank One Ballpark, and unless the Diamondbacks' owners get their act together, an interminable stretch of bad baseball.
They botched Jerry Colangelo's ouster.
They hired manager Wally Backman without doing a background check.
And now, they've failed to connect Point A (Randy Johnson) to Point B (Green).
Three swings. Three misses.
Not-so-mighty Arizona has struck out.
On second thought. . .
Give the Diamondbacks credit. In landing Green and pitcher Javier Vazquez, they kept their promise that they'd get two credible major league players for Johnson and, in the process, restored the credibility of an organization that for much of the offseason looked like it was being run by Larry, Moe and Curly.
So, what have the Diamondbacks accomplished after their overhaul of the past month?
Well, they're not going to win the World Series, but in the wobbly National League West, a team that lost 111 games may find itself — incredibly — in a playoff race.
Think about it. What NL West club improved more this offseason?
The Los Angeles Dodgers will drop in class after losing Green, Steve Finley and Adrian Beltre.
The San Francisco Giants signed Moises Alou and Omar Vizquel, but the team is so old it might need a walker to get around the bases.
The San Diego Padres haven't done much with the exception of trading for center fielder Dave Roberts, and the Colorado Rockies are, well, still the Rockies.
The Diamondbacks might not have the nicest house in baseball's subdivision, but they're living in the right neighborhood.
“I am not ashamed to go out and play this season with the team we have,” said managing general partner Ken Kendrick. “We think we have a team, because our division is not the American League East, that can be competitive.”
And the Diamondbacks aren't done yet.
Once the Green deal is finalized, a center fielder is acquired — Arizona will pursue either Oakland's Eric Byrnes or the New York Mets' Mike Cameron — and veteran help is added to the bench and the bullpen, the team will pursue a starter to fill one of the top three spots in the rotation.
The Diamondbacks have about $5 million to spend — Kendrick said the club is well within its payroll budget of between $60 million and $65 million — and are willing to part with some of their top minor league prospects.
Two possibilities: Oakland's Barry Zito, if the A's are still slashing payroll, or Florida's A.J. Burnett.
How about this starting five come April: Vazquez, Burnett, Russ Ortiz, Brandon Webb and Shawn Estes.
There's not a Johnson or Curt Schilling in the bunch, but with an improved offense and healthy bullpen, Arizona might have enough starting pitching to win the division.
There is a downside, however, to the way the Diamondbacks are doing business.
By signing veterans like Green, Ortiz and Troy Glaus to long-term deals, Arizona is eschewing what many in baseball would consider the more prudent path: Rebuilding with younger players rather than trying to hoist a pennant right away.
If the Diamondbacks don't win with this group — and they unload some of their better prospects along the way — the Valley won't see baseball in October for a long, long time.
“We made a calculated decision not to rebuild, but reload,” Kendrick said. “We don't know if that's the right one.”
It's a refreshingly honest answer, and while the long-term wisdom of some of the Diamondbacks' moves can be debated, at least fans know ownership is serious about winning and willing to spend money to do it. In the immediate aftermath of Colangelo's ouster, that was a legitimate concern.
And now, six words that sounded like a death sentence have gotten a reprieve:
Pitchers and catchers report Feb. 16.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=34543
