Burns & Gambo draft its own Arizona Diamondbacks Dream Team, Day 2

How would you build the ultimate Arizona Diamondbacks Dream Team?

Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo will be answering that question this week, as hosts John Gambadoro and Dave Burns, anchor Sarah Kezele and producer Jordan Byrd each draft their own squad.

All four will fill out an entire eight-man position lineup, with five starting pitchers and a closer.

With a random drawing for draft order and going snake style, Sarah, Jordan, Burns and then Gambo made up the order.

Once the draft concludes, a panel of three judges of Greg Schulte, Tom Candiotti and Mike Ferrin will pick the best overall baseball team.

Check back here on ArizonaSports.com each night, where we will be recapping the days and breaking down each pick.

Here is where the teams stand through the first four rounds on Tuesday, with a breakdown of the picks you’ll find in the related links.

Team Kezele: Randy Johnson SP, Steve Finley CF, Dan Haren SP, Ian Kennedy SP

Team Byrd: Luis Gonzalez LF, Zack Greinke SP, Justin Upton RF, Robbie Ray SP

Team Burns: Paul Goldschmidt 1B, Brandon Webb SP, Patrick Corbin SP, Miguel Montero C

Team Gambo: Curt Schilling SP, Matt Williams 3B, Mark Grace 1B, Ketel Marte SS

On to the next four rounds from Wednesday.

All statistics via Baseball-Reference

Round 5

17. J.D. Martinez, RF (Team Kezele)

Martinez played 62 games in Arizona and Gambo thinks that should matter. I’m not sure I understand the rules. Anyway, Martinez was a baseball god in that 2017 half-season.

His superhuman OPS of 1.107 only trails Gonzalez’s spectacular ’01 season if we compare it to full seasons.

In terms of the way I view it, I think consistency over a few years matters, so Martinez obviously takes a ding there. But I still think this is awesome value for Sarah. At the 17th pick, she got at No. 1-worthy bat.

18. Jose Valverde, CP (Team Byrd)

What a weird rabbit hole closer is for the D-backs. No one has reached 100 career saves in Arizona, and there have been only 13 seasons where a reliever recorded at least 20.

Of those 13 seasons, Valverde’s 47 saves are the most ever, but he does not rank in the top-3 of any other major statistical category except games finished (59) and strikeouts (78).

I did not like the value here for Byrd and agree with both Burns and Gambo saying they didn’t see much of a difference in the closers.

19. Craig Counsell, 2B/SS/3B (Team Burns)

After reaching out to Burnsy for confirmation, he will be slotting in Counsell as a second baseman for now, so we will grade him there.

Thanks to his terrific defense, Counsell’s 2005 season actually ranks 10th all-time in WAR. He has two of the top four defensive WAR seasons, and that ’05 year wasn’t too bad at the plate with a .726 OPS and 34 doubles.

Taking an average bat this high, though, deserves a bit of a hit on the draft grade, even with the defense. With that said, another model of consistency for Burnsy on his squad and someone he can move around if his draft takes a turn later.

20. Jay Bell, SS (Team Gambo)

Respect to Gambo for this pick.

Bell’s ’99 season is tremendous and not often discussed. In the all-time leaderboards, it ranks third in homers (38), seventh in RBIs (112) sixth in slugging percentage (.557), 11th in OPS (.931) and 17th in WAR (4.9).

Shortstop is sneaky deep, and that Bell season was an out-of-place blip compared to the rest of his D-backs career, but I don’t mind the value here.

Round 6

21. Miguel Batista, SP (Team Gambo)

This pick is why I liked Sarah grabbing three pitchers as high as she did.

As Gambo noted on the show so I didn’t miss it, Batista’s ’03 season is 20th in WAR all-time for D-backs pitchers. That year, Batista had a 3.54 ERA and 1.329 WHIP.

It’s a fine season and Batista was OK through four years, but he doesn’t stand out from the next four or five names on the board. Gambo needed another starter, though, so if he rounds out his rotation in the next two rounds with some balance he’ll be good.

22. A.J. Pollock, CF (Team Burns)

If we’re talking all-time seasons in D-backs history, how about Pollock’s 2015?

It’s fourth in WAR, seventh in batting average, tied for fourth in hits and he got a Gold Glove to boot. In his D-backs career as a whole over seven years, Pollock had a very good .804 OPS.

Burnsy needed a bat to support Goldy in the middle of the lineup and he got it here.

23. Stephen Drew, SS (Team Byrd)

As mentioned with Bell, shortstop is kind of deep when we’re talking four top names. Drew arguably had a better overall career than Bell.

He posted an OPS above .800 in three of his first five seasons, and his defensive WAR in 2009 of 1.6 is top-20 all-time. Drew also hit at least 28 doubles in four straight D-backs seasons.

Byrd gets his natural two-hitter to go ahead of Gonzalez and Upton here. He looks to have the best squad through six rounds.

24. Aaron Hill, 2B (Team Kezele)

Hill’s 2012 has the third-highest OPS among seasons by a D-backs second baseman. A line of 26 homers, 85 RBIs and a .302 batting average provides some pop for Sarah’s lineup. A Silver Slugger in the sixth round ain’t too shabby.

My only counterpoint to this pick is that second base is the deepest position by far. With two teams having picked one already, Sarah could have used that to her advantage by waiting really late on it and getting top value, even if Burns and Gambo move theirs around and grab another. *nudges Byrd

Round 7

25. David Peralta, LF (Team Kezele)

One of the most underrated D-backs ever.

Of the 27 players in franchise history to record at least 1,500 plate appearances, Peralta’s .824 OPS ranks fifth. He’s one of two D-backs to earn a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award.

Sarah did a terrific job of evening out her batting order.

26. Orlando Hudson, 2B (Team Byrd)

Dang it, Byrd! I was hoping he’d wait till the end to go with the second baseman. The O-Dog is one of three-to-five names that’s still a respectable selection at this position.

A two-time Gold Glove winner in Arizona, Hudson’s .814 OPS with the D-backs ranks just behind Peralta on that aforementioned list in seventh.

Byrd’s top-four in the order is deadly.

27. Mark Reynolds, 3B (Team Burns)

A controversial pick. Reynolds’ .892 OPS in 2005 is the best ever by a D-backs third baseman that made over 500 plate appearances. He also struck out 223 times that year, to go with the 44 dingers and 102 RBIs, and was notoriously problematic in the field.

Again, though, that list I mentioned with Peralta and Hudson places Reynolds’ .817 OPS sixth. He was more consistent than you might remember.

Burnsy can now shift Goldy to hit third and lead-off with Counsell and Drew. Another great top-four of the order.

28. Wade Miley, SP (Team Gambo)

Look at Gambo strategizing! He grabs two of the best half-dozen or so starters left, and if he drafts another in the next round, he could have the best rotation all but sealed up.

Miley was pretty great in 2012 and 2013, recording a 3.33 ERA and 3.55 ERA in those two seasons, respectively. On top of that 2012 ERA being top-25 on the leaderboards, so too was Miley’s WHIP of 1.182.

A good choice to grab one of the best lefties for the middle of the rotation.

Round 8

29. Damian Miller, C (Team Gambo)

As we covered with Montero, catcher is rough. And as Gambo said when he made the pick, he believes there are only two good catchers to choose from.

Miller had an .OPS of .773 over his five seasons in Arizona.

Like Burnsy picking Montero, Gambo takes a hit to be afforded the luxury of a half-decent catcher. His team is in a good-enough spot to do that.

30. Chris Young, OF (Team Burns)

This is the right range for Young. He has two of the top eight defensive WAR years and his 2010 season ranks 12th all-time in WAR. With that in mind, his OPS never broke .800 for a season and he was a career .239 hitter in Arizona.

Young made sense on a team that wasn’t going to have to rely on his bat, and Burnsy has that setup in place.

31. Chad Tracy, 1B/3B (Team Byrd)

Tracy was more or less looked at as a disappointment for his D-backs career but the history books do him some favors.

In 2005, Tracy hit .308 with a .911 OPS, both of which rank top-15 in the all-time leaderboards. That was his only real standout season but over six seasons, his OPS was a very solid .792 throughout his time in the Valley.

A solid choice for Byrd, especially given how he can play Tracy at either first or third and let the draft dictate where he goes next.

32. Daniel Hudson, SP (Team Kezele)

Sarah’s killing it. Huddy is a great No. 4 in the rotation.

In 2010, Hudson had a great 3.8 WAR (through only 11 starts!) and his 2011 ERA (3.49) and WHIP (1.203) were very decent as well, all three of which rank highly in the leaderboards.

Unless Sarah drafts Casey Fossum as her fifth starter she’s got the best starting pitching locked up.

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