Final results of Burns & Gambo’s Arizona Diamondbacks Dream Teams

Burns & Gambo spent four days drafting its ultimate Arizona Diamondbacks Dream Team on Arizona Sports and the results are in.

Judges Greg Schulte, Tom Candiotti and Mike Ferrin scored the draft as a clean sweep for anchor Sarah Kezele, and producer Jordan Byrd sadly had his team picked last in all three votes as well.

The voting went Sarah, co-host John Gambadoro, co-host Dave Burns and Byrd.

For previous draft results, see the related links, and to hear the judging, listen above on the embedded audio.

The full teams you can find below, and here’s our layout for our final day of draft analysis.

I’ll provide each teams’ projected batting order, with the batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and those last two combined (OPS) over their D-backs careers.

With the starting pitchers, we’ve got their win percentage, ERA and WHIP. All those numbers, via Fangraphs, have been divided into only the pitchers’ starts for pitchers like Daniel Hudson who spent legitimate time as relievers.

It’s the same numbers for closers but the percentage of games finished instead of win percentage.

I’ll give my thoughts on each team’s strengths and weaknesses before a conclusion.

Let’s get into it.

All statistics via Baseball-Reference

Team Kezele

Batting order

Tony Womack, SS (.269/.314/.362/.676)

David Peralta LF (.290/.346/.478/.824)

Steve Finley, CF (.278/.351/.500/.851)

J.D. Martinez, RF (.302/.366/.741/1.107)

Eduardo Escobar, 3B (.269/.322/.495/.817)

Aaron Hill, 2B (.273/.331/.439/.769)

Conor Jackson, 1B (.277/.358/.423/.781)

Chris Snyder, C (.233/.335/.402/.737)

Starting rotation

Randy Johnson, SP (.656/2.83/1.068)

Dan Haren, SP (.587/3.56/1.132)

Ian Kennedy, SP (.585/3.82/1.231)

Daniel Hudson, SP (.575/3.55/1.180)

Max Scherzer, SP (.375/3.99/1.350)

Closer

Byung Hyun Kim CP (.612/3.43/1.204)

Strengths: All five of Sarah’s starters have a D-backs ERA under 4.00 and four feature a WHIP under 1.25. She’s easily the only team with those numbers in the rotation and Sarah’s lineup features four players with an OPS above .800 too, where Escobar and Hill as her fifth and sixth hitters is great.

Weaknesses: For the judging, Sarah doesn’t have any iconic franchise players besides Johnson and Finley. Most notably, two of her four best bats in Martinez and Escobar were either barely here or haven’t been here that long. Most criticism for Sarah’s team comes for her hitting, but honestly, I don’t see it. Give some respect to my guy David Peralta, please.

Conclusion: Sarah has the best pitching by a significant margin. She grabbed it right went before it went into a tailspin, and being patient at closer didn’t hurt her. The bats have serious pop at 2-6 in the order, and even with Snyder and Womack as blemishes on the order, Womack at least provides plus-plus speed while Snyder’s .737 OPS is not shabby. The defense is solid too. She’s got the best team.

Team Byrd

Batting order

Stephen Drew, SS (.266/.328/.436/.765)

Orlando Hudson, 2B (.294/.365/.448/.814)

Justin Upton, RF (.278/.357/.475/.832)

Luis Gonzalez, LF (.298/.391/.529/.919)

Chad Tracy, 1B (.280/.339/.453/.792)

Wellington Castillo, C (.261/.320/.452/.772)

Jake Lamb, 3B (.242/.331/.439/.770)

Quinton McCracken, CF (.271/.330/.372/.702)

Starting rotation

Zack Greinke (.655/3.40/1.093)

Robbie Ray (.523/3.96/1.331)

Josh Collmenter (.550/4.03/1.180)

Brian Anderson (.494/4.52/1.278)

Trevor Cahill (.414/4.29/1.408)

Closer

Jose Valverde (.715/3.29/1.173)

Strengths: As stated earlier this week, it is not close after Gonzalez and Goldschmidt for the best bat in franchise history. Having one of those two is a real advantage. Along with that, Byrd put five hitters with an OPS above .750 around him. It’s the most balanced batting order statistically.

Weaknesses: Byrd’s pitching drops off considerably after Greinke, and Greinke is the worst ace of the four teams. The WHIP of Ray, Anderson and Cahill, in particular, is where he’s gonna allow a lot of guys on base. His depth in bats is reliant upon Tracy and Lamb, who despite good OPS’, were notoriously inconsistent as D-backs. And McCracken is just a rough pick with the names available.

Conclusion: I like Byrd’s team. In what will become a theme of the teams outside of Sarah’s, though, there was less depth at pitching than hitting in the player pool, and her team was the only one that didn’t get damaged by it.

Team Burns

Batting order

Craig Counsell, 2B (.266/.348/.357/.705)

A.J. Pollock, CF (.281/.338/.467/.805)

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B (.297/.398/.532/.930)

Mark Reynolds, 3B (.242/.334/.483/.817)

Reggie Sanders, RF (.263/.337/.549/.886)

Miguel Montero, C (.264/.342/.421/.763)

Chris Young, LF (.239/.318/.437/.755)

Nick Ahmed, SS (.236/.289/.387/.677)

Starting rotation

Brandon Webb (.584/3.27/1.239)

Patrick Corbin (.509/3.91/1.285)

Omar Daal (.456/4.11/1.337)

Zack Godley (.571/4.75/1.390)

Joe Saunders (.412/3.97/1.342)

Closer

J.J. Putz (.731/2.81/1.091)

Strengths: Burnsy has the best mix of eras and notable names in franchise history. You can tell this was his biggest priority. Along with that, his batting order is solid and it’s the best defensive team, even with Reynolds. Like I said with Byrd for Gonzo, having Goldy is huge, and he’s got power up and down the order.

Weaknesses: There’s a big dip in both groups for Burnsy after Goldschmidt in the order and Webb in the rotation. That’s where taking Counsell and Montero in the top-five rounds hurt him. He doesn’t hit for average all that well and, again, the rotation is not great after Webb compared to other teams. Did we mention strikeouts yet? Yikes!

Conclusion: Another very good team. Burnsy is not that far off from Sarah for the top spot. I only pause with the pitching, where the reliability after Webb doesn’t exist. That’s ironic because he’s got the most “consistently good over long stretches as a D-back” guys on his team. His argument is getting Corbin, Daal and Godley at their best, which is absolutely a good case for him having the number one squad. Their overall numbers in Arizona, though, say otherwise.

Team Gambo

Batting order

Jean Segura, 2B (.319/.368/.499/.867)

Ketel Marte, CF (.290/.358/.497/.855)

Jay Bell, SS (.263/.355/.458/.812)

Matt Williams, 3B (.278/.327/.471/.798)

Mark Grace, 1B (.268/.359/.416/.774)

Shawn Green, RF (.285/.352/.457/.809)

Damian Miller, C (.269/.336/.437/.773)

Gerardo Parra, LF (.274/.326/.395/.721)

Pitching rotation

Curt Schilling (.674/3.14/1.036)

Miguel Batista (.500/4.15/1.390)

Wade Miley (.521/3.79/1.323)

Doug Davis (.452/4.22/1.542)

Andy Benes (.519/4.36/1.380)

Closer

Brad Ziegler (.371/2.57/1.159)

Strengths: This is the best hitting of the four teams. By getting Segura and Green late, Gambo smoothed out the edges of his lineup and does not have anyone batting below .260. Just one OPS is below .770 and it’s Parra’s respectable .721. Schilling as an ace is big-time.

Weaknesses: Oof, the pitching. Only one starter with an ERA below 3.75 and four WHIPs above 1.31, including Davis’ awful 1.542. Even with Schilling, that’s brutal compared to the field.

Conclusion: Gambo’s case is his bats, but Segura’s a tough sell on just one year in Arizona, a year that was way above his career numbers. Schilling is a great ace but I can’t bet on the pitching after him winning a series. The other deduction for me is every other team has the other-worldly bat — Martinez, Gonzalez, and Goldschmidt — that his lacks. Some will argue Williams but the career numbers in Arizona are underwhelming comparatively.

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