Diamondback Journal

Jeff Sackman at the Hardball Times recently penned a great column about bullpens that are in a flux and topping the list are the Arizona Diamondbacks.  You’ve got three guys in Jose Valvarde, Tony Pena and Jorge Julio who could all see time as the Dbacks closer in 2007.  It’s a great read so be sure to check it out.

It doesn’t look like the Diamondbacks will be signing first round draft pick Max Scherzer anytime too soon.  The Diamondbacks apparantly have an offer on the table but Scherzer’s agent, Scott Boras, is looking for something similar to what the top pick, Luke Hochevar, got when he signed with the Royals.

Of course the Diamondbacks are no strangers to this because they had to go through something similar with Stephen Drew.   And this will also be the last of it’s kind because under the new CBA, team’s only have until August 15th of the year of the draft to sign their players.

Baseball America recently unveiled their top ten Diamondback prospects and man is there some talent in this system.  2005 first round pick Justin Upton comes in at number one after a solid season at Low A. He’ll move up to High A in 2007 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he got bumped up to Double A at some point in the season.  Upton is still at least a year and a half away though, so don’t expect much from the 19 year old yet.

Coming in at number two is Chris Young, who should start for the Diamondbacks in 2007 after a solid season at Triple A and a cup of coffee in 2006.  Young is potential 30/30 guys and it’ll be interesting to see how he does with a full season in Arizona.

Number three is outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who had a very nice year in High A but struggled once he got bumped up to Double A.  Gonzalez’s biggest problem may be that he’s also an outfielder but if all three of these guys work out right, Upton, Young and Gonzalez could provide a cheap, talent filled outfield in 2009.

Alberto Callapso comes in at number four and like Young, he should spend most of his time with the Diamondbacks in 2007.  He’s a solid second baseman but he can play anywhere in the infield so he’ll probably be the teams utility infielder.  On the face of things, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of power with only seven homers last year, but he also belted 24 doubles and 12 triples at Triple A and finished with a .478 slugging.  It’d be nice to see some of those doubles and triples carry over the fence as he ages.

Rouding out the top five is catcher Miguel Montero.  The Diamondbacks catcher of the future, Montero had a nice season at Triple A and while he might start as the Diamondbacks backup catcher in 2007, this guy will be the starter at some point in the near future.

The problem is pitching.  The top pitching prospect doesn’t come up until number six (Micah Owings) who will probably see time with the Diamondbacks in 2007 if someone goes down, but in Triple A, his batting average against was .291 (somehow, he went 10-0 though).

So the outfielders are there as well as a couple of other parts, but the Diamondbacks will probably have to look outside the organization for pitching help.  Still, there’s some star talent on this list.

It’s nice seeing the words “Diamondbacks” and “playoffs” in the same column.  Aaron Gleeman recently wrote up a preseason preview for the Diamondbacks at NBCsports.com and you have to like the good news that thet Diamondbacks have a young team that’s stocked with talent.  In fact Eric Byrnes appears to be the senior statesman in the lineup and he’s only 31. 

The biggest move of the offseason is the obvious one, and that’s the trade for Randy Johnson.  While well past his prime, Johnson will be back in the National League and he’ll be with the team he had the most success.  When combined with Brandon Webb, you have one of the best one-two punches in baseball.

The final prognosis is that the Diamondbacks are definitely a potential sleeper team. Regardless, this will be team that should be fun to watch with all the young hitters.

The Diamondbacks locked up their last arbitration eligible player and they won’t have to go to the arbitration table.  The last holdout was Eric Byrnes, and the Diamondbacks signed the outfielder to a one year, $4.575 million deal today.  Byrnes was very good in 2006 when he hit 26 homeruns and stole 25 bases.  The team wasn’t willing to commit to a long term deal because they think they have better players coming up through the system.