D-backs’ lineup ranked No. 24 in baseball by Bleacher Report

The Diamondbacks have undergone some turnover this offseason after they decided to reshape their roster following the 2018 season, heavily impacting the construction of their lineup.

The team parted ways with two of its best everyday position players in Paul Goldschmidt, who was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in December, and A.J. Pollock, who reportedly signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent on Thursday. Their departures leave a lot of question marks to be answered by the group of guys still remaining.

Because of these question marks, Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer listed the D-backs at No. 24 in his column ranking every team’s lineup heading into Spring Training.

Paul Goldschmidt was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in December, and with him went a .947 OPS and 30 homers per year since 2013. The Arizona Diamondbacks will be hard-pressed to replace that production.

It might be doable, however. David Peralta and Eduardo Escobar are coming off strong seasons, and Ketel Marte was quite good for most of 2018. If healthy, Jake Lamb and Steven Souza Jr. each have 30-homer potential.

The D-backs will undoubtedly miss Goldschmidt and Pollock’s contributions, but like Rymer said, they still have some pretty good pieces left over from last year.

Peralta had a career-high 30 home runs and an impressive slash line of .293/.352/.516, and Escobar finished second in the entire league with 48 doubles to go along with 23 home runs and a .272 batting average. Marte is also a player to watch next season, as he hit .277 with 13 home runs from May 9 through the end of the season last year.

However, even with Goldschmidt in the lineup, the offense was inconsistent.

Still, some perspective is in order. The Snakes ranked ninth in the NL in runs and put up a 94 wRC+ last year with Goldschmidt. Even if they do make up for his absence, they’ll still be a ways from having a good offense.

The real concerns for the D-backs come in after you get past the guys at the top, as the rest of the lineup consists of players who were disappointing with the bats last season. The team’s 94 wRC+, a stat which adjusts for factors like home ballpark and offensive environment, was six points below league average even with Goldschmidt and Pollock.

The D-backs will need guys like Souza Jr. and Alex Avila to return to their 2017 forms if they want to have a respectable lineup next season. If they can’t, it may be an uphill battle for them in 2019.