Diamondback Journal

Prospect guru John Sickels posted what he thinks centerfielder Chris Young will do in his career.  He has him leaving the Diamondbacks after he puts in his six years and he has him putting up a pretty solid career.  No 30/30 seasons but he comes close.  And I guess I could live with that 2007 line although he has Young having some of his better seasons for the Rangers.

I thought we’d get a bit more for Jorge Julio but the Diamondbacks traded for Marlins quasi-prospect Yusmeiro Petit.  Julio came over to the Diamondbacks from the Mets in the Orlando Hernandez trade and he eventually took over as closer.  Now we shipped him off to a 22 year old who was bombed in the majors last year and didn’t do much better at Triple A.  Maybe he was playing over his head and hopefully he can get it worked out at Triple A this year since that’s probably where he’s headed.

In the meantime, Jose Valverde will go back to being the teams closer.  So I wouldn’t call it a bad trade, expecially if Petit pans out.  I just expected more of a sure thing.  We also got some cash and we won’t have to pay Julio’s contract so maybe that played into it as well.  And on top of all that, Julio will be a free agent for the first time at the end of the season so we might have lost him anyway.

Jim McLennan at the Hardball Times previewed the Diamondbacks today and he talks about how, based on the projections from their preview book, the Diamondbacks are expected to have the best record in the National League in 2007.  That seems kind of low, but it also goes to show you that while a lot of people are looking at the Dodgers and Padres to walk away with the division, the Diamondbacks should be in the mix themselves.

It’s in a five question format and he talks about Randy Johnson getting back to form and how the Diamondback’s young talent should perform.  Then it closes it up with a discussion on whether attendance will be up the Diamondbacks come through and play well. 

The Diamondbacks dropped another spring game, this time to the Angels.  Enrique Gonzalez got the start and while he went five innings, he gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks.  Jorge Julio was also hit hard and he was tagged for three runs in a single frame.

Conor Jackson had three hits as did Alberto Callapso.  Miguel Montero drove in two with a double but that was really about it. 

Next up for the Diamondbacks are the Giants.  Dana Eveland is schedule to start.

In an interesting article over at Baseball America, Jack Magruder takes a look at how the Diamondbacks could follow the Tigers as one of the great come back stories.  It wasn’t that long ago that the Diamondbacks lost 111 games and now after getting Randy Johnson back, the team looks primed to compete in the NL West.  There’s a lot in there including what the Dbacks have done in the off season and also how some of their rookies are looking.

Here’s a great column by ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick about Brandon Webb and his sinker.  Some of the quotes from outfielder Eric Byrnes are pretty funny and there’s some good stuff about Webb’s personal life and then there’s some good quotes from some of Webb’s competitors.  Nice read.

The Rangers took it to the Diamondbacks this afternoon in a 9-8 beatdown.  The Diamondbacks did show something though because they stormed back and made a game of it after being down 9-1.  Livan Hernandez gave up all nine runs (seven earned) on ten hits and he gave up two homeruns.  Not a good start for a guy who’s supposed to be our number three.

Danny Richard hit a homerun and he drove in two runs while Rich Thompson had two hits and two RBIs in the loss.  Doug Davis will get the start tomorrow in the D-Backs spring game against the Angels.

Beyond the Boxscore recently took a look at the Diamondback’s chances in 2007.  It’s a nice writeup and a more sabermetric analysis of the team.  I really like the additions to the rotation in Randy Johnson and Doug Davis but like Jeff Sackman states, the Dodgers and Padres may be a little too good.  At least this year.  The rise in young talent though should mean the Diamondbacks should become perennial contenders beginning 2008.  I like those projections out of Conor Jackson and Stephen Drew.

The pen is one of the glaring weaknesses although even here, if some things go right, it could mean some additional wins.  The final prognosis is a winning season, which is more then D-back fans have hoped for the past couple of seasons.