2010 record: 65-97
Biggest offseason acquisition: Armando Galarraga, who will bring with him all the luck of a man who was denied a perfect game by an indecisive umpire.
Biggest offseason loss: Mark Reynolds. Now that he’s in the AL East, could he become the first man to strikeout 300 times in a season?
How can a team with this much talent perform as badly as it did last year?: With just the right amount of counterbalancing suck.
Best name on 40-man roster: Leyson Septimo, master of darkness!
The That Guy’s on This Team? Award: Take your pick. Melvin Mora, JJ Putz, Aaron Heilman, Xavier Nady, Mike Hampton…it’s like the bargain bin at the Ex-Mets Yard Sale.
Spring standout: In a typically Diamondback-esque performance, Justin Upton already has 7 RBIs, 3 homers–and 13 strikeouts.
Probable Opening Day starter: Ian Kennedy, presumably due to his ex-Yankee pedigree. It certainly ain’t for the 25 hits he’s given up in 17 innings pitched.
Biggest question for 2011: Is this the year Arizona’s young core makes the transition from promising to disappointing?
Strengths: Well-regarded GM, no actual snakes on premises
Weaknesses: Copious amount of strikeouts can cause brief cyclones
Semi-serious assessment: The “young” Diamondbacks are rapidly becoming middle aged, in baseball years anyway, with little to show for the promise shown way back in 2007. In fact, much of that “young” lineup has been whittled away, to where it’s essentially Upton and Chris Young. The pitching has disaster potential written all over it. It doesn’t take much to compete in this division, but the Diamondbacks don’t have it.
Continue reading Scratchbomb’s Thoroughly Compromised 2011 MLB Preview: NL West