Former D-backs manager: Chip Hale, team can handle expectations

Expectations are a good thing in that having them means you should be pretty good, but at the same time, they can add a layer of pressure that could prove to be too much.

In the case of the 2016 Arizona Diamondbacks, a 15-win improvement from 2014 to 2015 along with an offseason that saw the team make a host of big-time acquisitions has many believing they could make a run in the very competitive National League West.

But there is a considerable difference in what constitutes success.

Last season, simply being competitive after posting the worst record in all of baseball was reason to smile. This year, just being competitive would be a disappointment.

It’s not playoffs or bust, but the season ending at game 162 would be a downer.

Even with that in mind, though, broadcaster Bob Brenly — who guided the 2001 D-backs to a World Series title as manager — thinks this year’s club and its second-year skipper can handle the shift.

“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about with Chip Hale and his staff, and certainly the guys above him, Tony (La Russa) and Dave Stewart, De Jon Watson and the guys, Derrick Hall,” Brenly told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Friday. “It really is a team effort and I don’t think Chip feels any undue pressure as a manager because of the expectations of us in the media or the fans at the ballpark, or anything like that.”

Brenly, who guided the Diamondbacks to three winning seasons and two NL West titles in his three-plus seasons with the team, mentioned the sports cliche about trusting the process because it is a long season and a team cannot get down after a bad series or worry too much about big picture goals.

“If you get caught up in that stuff and looking ahead, that’s when the problems start,” he said. “You just have to trust the process, trust your players, and I think Chip has done a tremendous job already in his time here given the talent he’s had to work with, and I expect it just to get better. The talent is much better this year, the experience — another year under their belt for some of these guys — some new guys coming in that certainly add a lot to the game.

“I think it’s going to be a great year; I don’t think there’s going to be any added pressure on Chip at all.”

The best way to remove any pressure, real or perceived, would be to win games, and Brenly believes the D-backs have the pieces in place to do that. However, that does not mean the roster is perfect, as there are some question marks, starting with Yasmany Tomas.

“We got to see him look really good at times last year and then not so good toward the end of the season,” he said. “Certainly some of that can be attributed to the length of season as opposed to what he was used to. I think you’ve got to see what you get from Yasmany Tomas, but that being said, there’s enough depth that, ideally, if he does stumble at some point in the season you should have somebody on the bench ready to step in there and take over a couple, three days a week, whatever it is to let him get his legs back underneath him.”

In 406 at-bats last season Tomas hit .273 with nine home runs and 48 RBI. After the All-Star break, however, he batted just .208 while hitting four home runs and driving in 13.

Brenly also pointed to third base, where Jake Lamb is penciled in as the starter but Brandon Drury and Phil Gosselin could see some innings.

“That’s a position where you’d like to see some consistency, a day-in and day-out, grind-it-out kind of a guy,” he said. “It may be one of those three guys; it may be a combination of those three guys.

“But at least going in, if you’re looking for question marks, I’d say that would be one going into the season.”

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