USA Today's National League West preview piece hit the world wide web Monday morning, and to almost nobody's surprise, writer Bob Nightengale picks the D-backs to repeat as division champions.

What was interesting about Nightengale's piece is that he includes a "Scout's Take", in which an anonymous MLB scout offers opinions on what they've seen this spring. The following comments were offered on D-backs' starting pitchers Trevor Cahill and Josh Collmenter:

Their starting pitching looks like a mess. Cahill looks like he's throwing (batting practice) out there; his ball isn't sinking at all. He was supposed to be a No. 2 starter but looks no better than a No. 4, and that's being nice. I'm not sure Collmenter would make hardly anyone else's rotation. His velocity is just 86 to 88 mph.

Again, this is just one scout's opinion, but it is at least a little concerning considering that Cahill's strength is his ability to keep the ball down and induce plenty of ground ball outs.

But Cahill has allowed five home runs this spring in just 12.2 innings of work. And he's allowed at least one long ball in each of his four Cactus League outings.

Last season, Cahill allowed 19 home runs in 207.2 innings with the Oakland A's -- but more than half of those innings were compiled at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, which was the toughest park in the American League to hit a home run in last season.

Collmenter's lack of velocity has been talked about ad nauseum since he was called up from the minor leagues in April of 2011. Collmenter relied on location and an unusual over-the-top delivery to fool hitters, which he did quite regularly on the way to a 10-win rookie season.

The good news is that the Diamondbacks have a wealth of young arms like Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs and Patrick Corbin waiting in the wings should any of the current members of the rotation struggle.