Once again, an Arizona team went from worst to first in the National League West, surprising the baseball world with a 94 win season and a playoff berth. Changes in the front office, the bullpen, the improvement on offense from a number of players and the emergence of the first staff ace since the days of Dan Haren gave them not only a great base for this past season, but with some players coming up in the minor league system, a great core for the future.
WHAT WENT RIGHT
Both Ian Kennedy and Justin Upton emerged as top flight players. Kennedy led the league in wins (insert arbitrary stat quip here), but had a sub-3.00 ERA and was a strikeout shy of 200. Advanced wise, he was definitely above average, but was in the Top 20 of the NL in stats such as FIP or xFIP as opposed to near the top. He has room to improve on that, as well, as he will be going into his age-27 season. Meanwhile, Upton had his best season yet and looks to be blossoming into the superstar everyone thought he would be. On top of that, Chris Young had a bounceback year, Miguel Montero emerged as a top flight offensive catcher and Ryan Roberts filled in very nicely at third base after the trade of Mark Reynolds. And while Kennedy got all the ink for his work in 2011, Daniel Hudson was just as good in many of the advanced stats and became a strong #2 starter. On top of that, the rebuilt bullpen turned in a great season, led by a resurgent closer in J.J. Putz and a great season from setup man David Hernandez.
WHAT WENT WRONG
It wasn’t much, but the injury to Stephen Drew was probably the only thing that truly went wrong for the Diamondbacks. It was a gruesome injury, but with it only being a broken bone, he should be able to bounce back nicely in 2012. I guess Zach Duke went wrong, but at the same time, there wasn’t much expected of him. Kelly Johnson somewhat went wrong, as well, but he wasn’t a huge disappointment and was still a 2-win player. You also had little bullpen help from anyone earlier than the eighth inning.
SURPRISES
The arrival of Paul Goldschmidt and instantly inserting him into the starting lineup was a ballsy move and exactly the type of move that Arizona needed to make for the stretch run. He didn’t cost the team anything at all and he was an instant upgrade in power at a position they had missed power at for much of the year. On top of that, the switch of Kelly Johnson for Aaron Hill and the addition of John McDonald at short was a surprising move but a good one, as Hill took those last few weeks and put himself into good position for him getting his options picked up.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
All in all, there wasn’t anyone that truly stood out as a disappointment simply because the players were exactly who everyone thought they were going to be. The team lost $20 million in payroll to start the season and ended up a much better team, igniting a 29 game swing from 2010 due to trusting that the young core would figure things out. That’s insane.
2012 CHANGES
With Jed Hoyer moving on from his San Diego spot to Chicago, his predecessor, Kevin Towers, came over to Arizona and brought in a similar style to what made his San Diego team in 2010 so great that he left for Hoyer: namely a young core being trusted to work out the kinks and a strong bullpen to backup a young rotation. And now, he has the fantastic young duo of Jarrod Parker and Trevor Bauer waiting in the wings to join Kennedy and Hudson. If Parker’s Tommy John surgery recovery is for real and Bauer skyrockets through the minors as expected, the Diamondbacks could boast a young starting rotation on par with any in the Major Leagues.
Elsewhere, the field is set up for the long hall. Hill’s options should get picked up, and with Drew returning from injury, that sets up a great core up the middle with Young and Montero. The Diamondbacks should be able to stand pat and see their success continue in 2012.
POSITION BATTLES
I don’t really see too many position battles for the D’Backs outside of maybe the starting rotation slots near the back end. Kennedy, Hudson and Collmenter basically have spots, but if Arizona wants to go get somebody to help bolster the back end for the short term until Parker and Bauer are ready, they should be able to do that without raising the payroll that much. Joe Saunders might stick around, but is more likely to get non-tendered considering he made $5.5 million in 2011 and won’t be getting nearly that in 2012. Overall, a team with this much continuity shouldn’t have too much trouble coming back and being another high-functioning team, and as of right now, the D’Backs are the prohibitive favorites to repeat in the NL West.
