ESPN Insider: Diamondbacks projected for slight improvement in 2017
Mar 23, 2017, 11:13 AM | Updated: 11:37 am
Arizona Diamondbacks' Phil Gosselin (15) gets a Gatorade bath by teammates Yasmany Tomas, top left, and Dominic Leone, top right, after hitting the game winning RBI single against the San Diego Padres during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016, in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks defeated the Padres 3-2. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
(AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
One ESPN Insider believes the Diamondbacks will do better in 2017 than 2016, but it might not be as much of a bounce-back season as some fans would hope for.
Joe Peta, contributing to ESPN.com, wrote in a recent Insider piece that the 2017 Diamondbacks are likely to see an uptick in performance from last season. He patted himself on the back in writing that he correctly predicted last year’s flop, but stated the latest changes to the roster could set the D-backs for an improvement, albeit a small one.
After a fourth-place, 69-93 finish in 2016, Peta has the Diamondbacks going 77-85 this season — good for third place in his projection of the NL West.
Greinke and his catcher
Peta wrote that the struggles of Zack Greinke — who signed a six-year, $206.5 million contract in the offseason — were inevitable.
“With batterymates that are a pitch-framing liability, and backed by one of the worst defenses in baseball in an extreme hitters park, Greinke was set up to fail,” he wrote.
Greinke was nearly unhittable in 2015 when he was still with the Los Angeles Dodgers, finishing with the MLB-lead in WHIP (0.844) and ERA (1.66) and placing second in NL Cy Young Award voting.
But in 2016, the former AL Cy Young Award winner saw his ERA balloon nearly three whole runs to 4.37, his worst such finish since he posted a 5.80 ERA with the Royals in his 2005 sophomore season.
This year, the Diamondbacks are hoping for improvement out of their ace, the second-highest paid player in baseball who said he’s feeling better. But Peta jabbed at the front office with their loss of catcher Wellington Castillo and acquisition of Chris Iannetta.
“It’s tougher to put any sort of positive spin on the loss of catcher Welington Castillo to free agency,” Peta wrote. “His offensive production surely won’t be replaced by Chris Iannetta but, unfortunately, his deficiency in framing strikes probably will, which calls into question whether the front office really has improved its thinking.”
As Arizona Sports reported last month, Iannetta was once one of the game’s best at pitch-framing, but has since regressed. The question of how he’ll handle the strike zone in 2017 is up for debate.
Offense
As for the offense, Peta wrote that “A.J. Pollock’s return to the lineup is among the spring positives for the D-backs.”
“Pollock will team with last year’s breakout star, Jake Lamb, and the sublime Paul Goldschmidt to form a formidable top of the order,” Peta stated. “When … 2015’s breakout star A.J. Pollock injured his elbow on the eve of Opening Day, Arizona’s 2016 fate was sealed before a pitch had been thrown.”
Indeed, the Diamondbacks dearly missed Pollock’s bat — not to mention his glove. The now-29-year-old played just 12 games last year, but put up gaudy numbers two years ago, hitting .315 with 20 home runs and 76 RBI to go along with 39 stolen bases and 111 runs.
But Pollock’s 2017 production will be tasked in part with replacing the productivity of infielder Jean Segura, whom the Diamondbacks traded to the Seattle Mariners for shortstop Ketel Marte and starting pitcher Taijuan Walker.
Peta praised the Diamondbacks for “selling high.”
“Arizona’s front office has made a number of boneheaded decisions the last few seasons, but trading Segura, coming off a monstrous career year, accompanied with unsustainably high sabermetric readings (.353 BABIP and 13.5 percent FB/HR rate) to Seattle for starting pitcher Taijuan Walker and perhaps a shortstop of the future in Ketel Marte, grades very well through the ‘sell-high’ lens.”
The shortstop job remains open for the Diamondbacks for now, but Marte and Chris Owings could possibly battle it out without Nick Ahmed in the picture, according to rumors.
Bullpen woes?
Perhaps the most poignant of Peta’s highs and lows for the Diamondbacks was his doubt in the Diamondbacks’ bullpen.
“The free-agent signing of Fernando Rodney to close games cements that doubt,” he wrote.
Curiously, Rodney put up a 0.31 ERA last season in 28 games with the Padres but held a 5.89 ERA in 39 games with the Marlins after a mid-season trade (and, ironically, San Diego’s Petco Park is more of a hitters’ park than Marlins Park, according to ESPN’s park factors).
The D-backs acquired Rodney this offseason, looking to fill a void left by Brad Zielger, who led Arizona relievers last season with a 2.82 ERA before he was dealt to the Red Sox. The 40-year-old Rodney is fifth among active pitchers in career saves with 261, but hasn’t posted a sub-three ERA for a season since his 2.85 mark with the Mariners in 2014.
Peta closes by stating he believes this year’s Opening Day roster is better than last, but with starting pitchers looking to rebound and several new faces on the roster, only time will tell the fate of the 2017 D-backs.
Fans will see exactly how it plays out when the season begins on April 2. The D-backs open against the Giants at Chase Field; first pitch is at 1:10 p.m.
