The Diamondbacks surprisingly hung around the Wild Card race until mid-September this season, despite shedding the faces of their franchise over the course of the six months previous. The postseason has been a who’s who of important Dbacks of the last half decade, as Patrick Corbin has taken out the rest of the Dbacks former talent core, starting with A.J. Pollock and the Dodgers and Paul Goldschmidt and the Cardinals. He’ll take his best shot at Zack Greinke and the Astros in game 3 of the World Series, aka the former Dbacks ace bowl. Of course, Mike Rizzo, the Nationals GM, is also an ex-Diamondback. He served as Arizona’s Scouting Director from 2000 to 2006. Let’s take a look at some Diamondbacks news from Rizzo’s era up to the present day…
- It’s unsurprising to realize Rizzo repurposed the team-building blueprint from the 2001 Diamondbacks champs in putting together his team in Washington, per MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. Mainly, that means two aces up front and a host of veteran hitters capable of putting together veteran at-bats. All in all, it’s a pretty uncannily accurate casting job on the part of Rizzo. Max Scherzer is Randy Johnson, Stephen Strasburg is Curt Schilling, Patrick Corbin is an evolved Brian Anderson, Anibal Sanchez is Miguel Batista. Many of the vets also fit the mold: Howie Kendrick can play Mark Grace, Gerardo Parra as David Dellucci or Danny Bautista, Ryan Zimmerman as Matt Williams, Asdrubal Cabrera as Jay Bell, Adam Eaton as Reggie Sanders, Matt Adams as Greg Colbrunn and Kurt Suzuki is Damian Miller. In the bullpen, Fernando Rodney is definitely Mike Morgan, Sean Doolittle is Matt Mantei (I guess?), Daniel Hudson is (gulp) Byung-Hyun Kim. Okay, perhaps it’s not 1-1 all the way through, but those Diamondbacks did win the World Series after a 92-win season – after a 93-win season in Washington, Rizzo hopes to replicate his old team one last time.
- Despite two recent aces facing off for different teams in the World Series, the Diamondbacks offseason focus is the offense, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The Dbacks put together a middle-of-the-pack offense in 2019, but the bats went away in an 11-game stretch in mid-September. They went 3-8 and pretty much fell out of race while scoring less than 2 1/2 runs per game. Those are the games that stick out for GM Mike Hazen, who will be on the lookout for ways to diversify their offense. Parsing the profile of the type of hitter Hazen may target is more difficult, as Arizona’s offense didn’t really stand out in any which way. They finished below-average in home runs, but not by a lot, above-average in men left on base and GIDP, but again, not by much. They were exactly league-average in batting average and on-base percentage, while their team slugging (.434 SLG) was below average by .001 SLG – as close to average as any team in the MLB.
- As far as Ketel Marte is concerned, the Dbacks aren’t making a decision about his 2020 defensive home until they build out the rest of the roster. Second base could be where they look to improve offensively, in which case Marte will head back out to center. Essentially, the plan remains the same, with Hazen and the Dbacks set to take full advantage of the versatility Marte affords.
On Ketel Marte’s flexibility…I hope the Dbacks trade for a CF to get Marte off the artificial turf. Whether or not the new artificial turf caused or contributed to the stress reaction in his back, I don’t think it wise to risk the health of your star player. So move him back to 2b.
Please DBacks take JBJ
Dbacks need OFers, CF and RF. Defense first CF is realistic, so JBJ is a possibility. Dbacks would trade 1b/3b Jake Lamb for JBJ and his salary straight up. But for RF, need a big bat.
That is if they tender Lamb which could very well not happen.
Dbacks should also take a look at Shogo Akiyama for CF.
Am I the only person thinking the Nats on here? Shouldn’t have beaten the Brewers, certainly shouldn’t have seen off the Dodgers, shouldn’t have swept the Cards. I know the phrase “playing loose” is overused but in spite of the Astros having an advantage almost everywhere positionally I think the Nats have a punchers chance provided by their pitching throughout. And, sweet Auntie Marjorie, they are playing loose.
Oops – wrong thread. Cut & paste
The Nats have a chance. A strong chance. Greinke hasn’t been on the top of the world this postseason and the Astros don’t have a fourth starter. Their bullpen has been largely great so far but that’s no guarantee to continue. They’ll need huge performances from Cole and Verlander if they get the same 5 inning Greinke we’ve seen all postseason.
I think this was the Astros worse matchup. The Astros in my opinion are the best team in baseball. I’ve thought that all year but the Nationals have a real rotation. I think the Deciding factor in the series is ultimately the Corbin/Greinke matchup and the Sanchez/Urquidy- Bullpen game. If the Nats manage to get the better of those 2 games I think they’re WS champs.
Comparing all those players outside of Scherzer and Strasburg with the 2001 D-Backs is a huge reach… Miller/Suzuki and Sanders/Eaton have nothing to do with each other.
I agree. The 2001 Dbacks are World Series Champions. The Nats haven’t won anything yet!
Wrong Brian Anderson linked
Rizzo has always had an obsession with the 90s Braves. Hence he’s structured every team he’s been with on top heavy rotations with the bullpen being the last thing he prioritizes. It’s an outdated model, regardless of their WS appearance. He’s also had a history of signing the Braves leftovers. Now that I think about it, this guy has done a boatload of the same things the Braves have/are doing. They started drafting pitchers who already have had TMJs, something the Braves started doing when they hit their rebuild. Im starting to think he’s a Braves fan in disguise, tbh.