D-backs key questions roundtable: Lamb’s consistency, Pollock’s future

As the Arizona Diamondbacks come off a playoff appearance and 93 wins in 2017, several key questions face the team in 2018.

Assessing the whole roster, editors and reporters from 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station take a look at what those questions are and what the answers might be.

At 27 years old, is this the year Jake Lamb becomes more consistent or is an alternative player like Deven Marrero to rotate with him more optimal?

Craig Grialou (reporter): If Jake Lamb can’t hit left-handed pitching, then he’s never going to be considered an everyday third baseman, nor be paid as such. Now, Lamb needs to be given opportunities to face lefties because that’s the only way 1) he will get better and 2) the D-backs can gain a fair evaluation of Lamb’s future in Sedona red.

Vince Marotta (co-host of Bickley & Marotta and sports editor): I’m not sure what’s more perplexing about Lamb – his struggles against lefties or his seemingly annual second-half swoon. In the last two second halves, Lamb has produced decent power numbers (20 homers), but his batting average is a scant .200. Marrero is versatile, and a wizard defensively, but hasn’t hit lefties much in his career either (.233/.280/.430) with four career home runs.

Kellan Olson (sports editor): This is the season the D-backs need to answer this question because of their reliance on Lamb. To reference our previous roundtable on who will be the D-backs’ best hitter behind Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona needs it to be Lamb more than ever with J.D. Martinez gone. There’s no reason to believe he can take a step forward, but he needs to.

Kevin Zimmerman (sports editor): The issue isn’t just about hitting lefties. All players slump for a month or even two, but Lamb’s steady declines into sub-.230 batting struggles at the end of each of the 2016 and 2017 seasons were concerning. Marrero slashed .291/.344/.600 against lefties in 2017 (55 at-bats). If that trend continues, he is a nice insurance option behind Lamb. Marrero, however, has enough to prove himself as a batter. It seems more likely Lamb remains the third base regular and learns to manage his slumps enough to remain a threat.

Matt Layman (social media manager): Lamb is a career .250 hitter, averaging 25 home runs every 162 games, but those numbers dip to .159 and eight home runs against left-handed pitching. In four big league seasons, he’s never registered an on-base percentage above .280 against left-handed pitching for a year. Lamb was deservedly an All-Star last season after a big first half, but hitting lefties has never been his forte – and it’s hard to predict whether that will change. As for Marrero, it seems like he adds depth to the D-backs after Steven Souza went down, with Chris Owings presumably having to take over some of the right field duties along with Jarrod Dyson.

Where do you stand on A.J. Pollock and his free agency next offseason?

CG: Can he stay healthy? Let’s see how Pollock gets through 2018. There’s no question Pollock plays a solid center field, and at Chase Field, the D-backs need someone who can cover a lot of ground. But it does the team no good to pay a player who is on the disabled list.

VM: Pollock is a great D-back, but the potential for an extension is tied to two things: health and age. He’s been severely limited by injuries in each of the last two seasons, and he’ll be 31 in December. Then consider Goldschmidt’s status – he’s going into the second-to-last year on his affordable deal. At some point, the D-backs are going to have to break the bank for him, no? I don’t think that bodes well for Pollock’s future in Arizona, especially as long as Zack Greinke’s $35 million annual price tag is still on the books.

KO: Pollock not only needs a season relatively free of injuries — he needs to perform. With the D-backs’ success last year, Pollock’s poor 2017 campaign went under the radar. He hit .266 with 14 home runs and 49 RBI, and if that sounds “fine” to you, that’s because Pollock was one of the best outfielders in the National League in 2015 when he had a batting average of .315 with 20 home runs and 76 RBI. Pollock needs to be closer to his 2015 form than 2017 in order to really warrant serious attention to a contract extension.

KZ: A down season for Pollock in 2017 led to many people forgetting something: He was still the second-best all-around position player behind Paul Goldschmidt. Maybe Steve Souza Jr., Ketel Marte or even Jake Lamb could make a run for that spot this year, but if Pollock can stay on the field and push closer to his 2015 production, the Diamondbacks need to think long and hard about extending or re-signing him (make it heavily front-loaded to protect the team). If Pollock doesn’t, or he’s not healthy, it would be easier to choose long-term flexibility.

ML: Pollock is certainly a good enough player that it’s easy to say you’d want to lock him up for a while with a contract extension. The question is what that would cost, both in actual dollars and in opportunity cost. This offseason made it hard to know what to believe now in terms of what kind of money players can/should fetch for new contracts. Pollock also hit .266 last year, far below the .300+ seasons he had in 2014 and 2015. Those factors, combined with the D-backs’ other financial obligations, seem to really complicate things. On the other hand, Pollock is a huge part of the team in just about every aspect and a tremendous defender. I think the jury is still out on what the right move is, since we don’t know how this season will affect the cost of extending or re-signing him, nor what the team’s needs will be a year from now.

Will the bullpen be better or worse than it was last season?

CG: A lot went right for the D-backs’ bullpen in 2017. The team hit on several players who made the team after signing minor league contracts. On paper, the bullpen looks to be deeper. But can they all deliver? If the D-backs are right on Yoshi Hirano and believe Brad Boxberger has put his injury concerns behind him, then yes, the bullpen can be better. It is going to be difficult to replace Fernando Rodney. His arrival in the ninth inning did cause stress, but he got those final three outs more times than not.

VM: Of the potential seventh, eighth and ninth inning candidates, I think the closest thing Arizona has to a sure bet is Bradley. Hirano’s numbers in Japan look good, but there could be an adjustment to facing major league hitters every night. Boxberger is three years removed from a 41-save season in 2015, but has been a part-time setup guy the last two seasons (only appearances since 2016). My inclination is to say the bullpen won’t be an immediate strength for Arizona.

KO: I grade a bullpen member by how nervous you get when they enter a game. Jorge De La Rosa, J.J. Hoover, T.J. McFarland and Fernando Rodney all graded quite high on that spectrum and all of them threw at least 40 innings for the D-backs last year. Some of those players are back, but the additions of Hirano and Boxberger bring a certain ease to the D-backs not having to rely on one of those guys in the seventh before Archie Bradley dominates the eighth, per usual. With that, I’ll say it is better, hoping we see more of Jimmie Sherfy as the year goes on.

KZ: Is it good there are already three players tabbed as high-pressure bullpen options? Yes. The D-backs didn’t have that going into last year and arguably lacked a go-to third option at all. Is it good that two of those three have looming question-marks (Boxberger’s health and Hirano’s adjustment to MLB)? No. The odds are on this unit being worse than 2017’s even though this group has a higher ceiling.

ML: That really depends on Brad Boxberger. As much as we heard about the “Fernando Rodney experience,” last year, he still had 39 saves. Boxberger has been a closer only once, but had a league-leading 41 saves when he did so. Can he do it again? If the D-backs can maintain stability in the ninth inning, the rest of the group looks pretty solid. Bradley was phenomenal in 2017, Hirano had a high ERA in the spring but didn’t walk a batter in nine outings, a few of last year’s relievers are back and Arizona also adds Fernando Salas, who had an outstanding spring.

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