Thursday, May 21, 2020
State of the Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks should be near the bottom of a brutal rebuild, but someone forgot to give that memo to GM Mike Hazen. He has deftly transformed the roster from top-heavy superstar-based to a more evenly balanced with suprisingly strong results.
Ownership: It's not a good look that 3 minority owners are suing principle owner Ken Kendrick or that the D'Backs are already looking for a new stadium. On the other hand, Kendrick has approved reasonable free agent deals and trades which reallocated the money saved from unloading Zack Grienke and Paul Goldschmidt.
Grade C+.
Management: What can I say? Mike Hazen has defied expectations in the wake of being saddled with a crippling contract for Grienke and being forced to trade franchise cornerstone, Goldschmidt. With a long series of trades and lesser free agent signings he created a balanced roster with a decent, if young farm system and bypassed the classic "teardown" that generally starts a rebuild these days.
Manager: Torey Lovullo has been in place since 2017 and trails Bob Brenly by .001 for top winning percentage of all D'Backs managers and he's done it with a team that was rebuilding.
Grade A.
Current Roster:
Starting Eight: Carson Kelly C, Jake Lamb/Christian Walker 1B, Ketel Marte 2B, Eduardo Escobar 3B, Nick Ahmed SS, David Peralta LF, Starling Marte CF, Kole Calhoun RF.
Bench: Stephen Vogt C, Ildemaro Leyba IF, Ildemaro Vargas IF, Tim Locastro OF.
Starting Rotation: Madison Bumgarner LHP, Robby Ray LHP, Mike Leake RHP, Luke Weaver RHP, Zac Gallen LHP.
Key Relievers: Archie Bradley RHP(Closer), Andrew Chafin LHP, Yoan Lopez RHP, Alex Young LHP.
Madison Bumgarner will be challenged by a much less pitcher-friendly home environment, but he's also likely to get better run support. The rest of this roster does not have any obvious lead dogs but also does not have obvious laggards. The bullpen could use more depth.
Grade B.
Farm System: The farm system is young with 5 of the top 6 prospects age 20 or younger. It's deep enough that Seth Beer, a very good hitting prospect is ranked #12 by MLB Pipeline. Speaking of Beer, his value will go way up with a universal DH.
Grade C+.
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Is AZ ahead of SF in their rebuild? Will SD put it together?
ReplyDeleteIf there's a season, even with an additional 2 WC teams, unless there are a couple 3+ WARs from rebounding vets and the rotation hangs together and there's a credible 'pen, the Giants won't compete for the playoffs. Lots of if's.
The vets including many pitchers should get the shot out of the gate, but if they fail, it would be more useful to the future to see if the 26-30 yo guys who wouldn't see playing time otherwise get a good look. Maybe Slater, Duggar, Shaw, Davis, Avelino, or ? would perform if played regularly. And, in at least one case, stays healthy.
Or, anyone who doesn't get a good look isn't in FZ's future.
Yes, the D'Backs are ahead of the Giants in their rebuild but looking at the respective farm systems, the Giants are in significantly better shape so may ultimately have a higher ceiling.
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