2012 Arizona Diamondbacks Preview
By Freddy Wills on 02/29/2012 7:39 PM
The Diamondbacks are a real threat in the NL West once again and are listed as "contenders" in our MLB Win Totals Preview article. Vegas Odds set the total wins for the regular season at 86 after they won 94 a year ago.
Can the Diamondbacks find consistency? Before last year the Diamondbacks finished in the NL West basement in back to back seasons, but with a lot of help from Manger Kirk Gibson this team won the division by 8 games over the World Champion San Francisco Giants. They were 9th in the league in runs per game and home runs. Their pitching was middle of the pack, but was better than average in allowing runners on base thanks to their bullpen. Unfortunately, the Milwaukee Brewers got the best of them in a best of 5 series which ultimately came down to which team was home. There are some additions and some losses for the 2012 Diamondbacks that we will go over below which will lead to our 2012 outlook. Our career MLB POD record speaks for itself make sure you pick up our MLB early bird specials.
Notable Losses:
Not much to report here other than utility man Sean Burrough, who hadn’t played since 2006, but was a key member of the team particularly off the bench where he came up with some big hits. The other loss is OF/1B Xavier Nady. Nady was supposed to be the starting LF but that never panned out for him as he struggled in the spring and lost the position battle. He later fractured his hand which ended his season in August. Diamondbacks have a similar situation with one of their additions in 2012 when they signed Jason Kubel to compete once again with Parra.
Notable Additions:
There are some key acquisitions this team made that could improve their club particularly in their OF and starting rotation and depth out of their bullpen. I’ll highlight a few of the key additions below.
OF Jason Kubel joins the Diamondbacks from the Minnesota Twins. Kubel who signed as a free agent projects to get most of the playing time in left field. He had just 366 AB a year ago hit .273 with 12 HR while producing a (.766 OPS) for a Twins team that struggled to score runs. He really struggled without a healthy Joe Mauer all year.
SP Trevor Cahill is the key addition that joins a strong probable rotation led by Ian Kennedy. Cahill took a step down last year with a 1.43 WHIP and 4.16 ERA (2.97 in 2010) for Oakland and now goes from pitching in one of the friendlier pitching parks to one of the friendlier hitting parks. However he will be pitching in the National League which should benefit him and he is also a sinker ball pitcher which could see good results even at Chase Field.
Projected Rotation: (2011 Stats)
1. Ian Kennedy, (21-4, 2.88 ERA)
2. Daniel Hudson, (16-12, 3.49 ERA)
3. Trevor Cahill, (12-14, 4.16 ERA)
4. Joe Saunders, (12-13, 3.69 ERA)
5. Josh Collmenter, (10-10, 3.38)
Projected Batting Order (2011 STATS):
1. SS Willie Bloomquist: (.266 BA, .317 OBP, .340 SLG, 4 HR, 26 RBI)
2. 2B Aaron Hill: (.315 BA, .386 OBP, .492 SLG, 2 HR, 16 RBI )
3. RF Justin Upton: (.289 BA, .369 OBP, .529 SLG, 31 HR, 88 RBI)
4. C Miguel Montero: (.282 BA, .351 OBP, .469 SLG, 18 HR, 86 RBI)
5. 1B Paul Goldschmidt: (.250 BA, .333 OBP, .474 SLG, 8 HR, 26 RBI)
6. LF Jason Kubel: (.273 BA, .332 OBP, .434 SLG, 12 HR, 58 RBI)
7. CF Chris Young: (.236 BA, .331 OBP, .420 SLG, 20 HR, 71 RBI)
8. 3B Ryan Roberts: (.249 BA, .341 OBP, .427 SLG, 19 HR, 65 RBI)
2012 Diamondbacks Predictions
Arizona definitely over achieved last year and really got lucky with the production they got from Manny Parra and Josh Collmenter who both seemed to come out of nowhere. However, they got Justin Upton back who is clearly the face of the franchise and can continue to improve.
What I like about them is they added depth on their pitching staff and their bench with acquisitions and keeping other talented players. Look for Stephen Drew to get back into the starting lineup coming back after injury and Parra to have many at bats. With the few losses and key additions to this team it is hard to see them not in contention in the NL West, but the division is always a surprise so we are not surprised by the total of 86. However we will not be making any As for mlb sports picks predictions on this total.
