3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The Diamondbacks
It’s official. The strike is being prolonged and baseball games are being cancelled. With the season being delayed, and inevtiably shortened, what better time than now to go over 3 things that would improve each team’s chances of making the playoffs and hoisting a trophy come the end of October. Over the next few weeks, that’s exactly what we’ll do. Going through the teams, in alphabetical order, we’ll get to the bottom of their most pressing needs. Let’s start with..
The Arizona Diamondbacks
Not only are the Diamondbacks the first team alphabetically, they also happened to finish the 2021 season tied with the Orioles for the worst record in baseball (52–110). Only needing 3 things to fix their team may be a stretch, but, we can definitely narrow down a few things to get them on the right track back to the postseason. Chase Field is a beautiful stadium with amenities few other parks offer to their fan base (anyone care for a dip in the right field swimming pool? Watch out for stray homers!). Having last been to the playoffs in 2017, it’s more than time to bring playoff baseball back to Pheonix.
1. A Full, HEALTHY, Season From Ketel Marte
The most important thing the Arizona Diamondbacks need to get a couple more notches in the W column would be the production Marte was providing while on the field last season. In just 90 games, Ketel was in the midst of his best season to date slashing .318/.377/.532 and had an OPS+ of 143 (OPS+ is a new fangled analytic that takes every batter’s performance, places them all on an even playing field, and compares them apples to apples where 100 is league average, below 100 is below league average, and above 100 is above. An OPS+ of 143 states that Ketel Marte was performing 43% better than league average). Coming into his age 28 season, the 1 time all star could stand to build on that performance, and potentially improve upon it as he enters his prime years. Keeping him on the field, however, is easier said than done. Debuting on July 31st of 2015 for the Mariners, Ketel has had a chance to play in 813 games, however, he has only played in 681. Appearing in 83.76% of possible games (or 83.8%), is more than some of his contemporaries can claim, but it’s still only 135.7 games over a full 162. If he could stay on the field for 150, get 600 plate appearances, and still provide a passable glove in the outfield, the Diamondbacks would be in much better shape.
2. Youth Movement
The DBacks had a total of 64 players appear for them in a game last season. 5 of those 64 were under the age of 24. 1 of those 5 was under the age of 23. Now that’s not to say that an aging team can’t be succesful. The San Francicso Giants had the best record in baseball last year (107–55) with an average age of 30.9! It is to say, however, that the Diamondbacks aren’t trotting out the right old guys every day. Not to worry though! Help is on the way! With the 9th ranked farm system in baseball (per MLB.com), 12 of their top 30 are projected to be big league ready this year. Including guys like 21 year old outfielders Alek Thomas and Kristian Robinson and 23 year old pitcher Luis Frias into the clubhouse would not only lower the average age of the DBacks (29 last year), but also give the team just the spark it would need to get through the dog days of summer. A younger generation would also bring more fun into the clubhouse which could help the team keep their collective heads up during a rough stretch, potentially getting them back on the winning track.
3. Pitching, Pitching, Pitching
Sporting a team ERA of 5.11, the Arizona Diamondbacks allowed a total of 893 runs or, 5.5 runs a game. There’s no other way to slice it, that’s not the recipe to winning baseball. 16 different pitchers started a game for Arizona, none of them qualified for the ERA title (minimum of 1 inning pitched per team game, generally 162 innings pitched). Yes, we are in the decline of the amount of starters that can go deep into games with only 50 complete games thrown in 2021 by 39 different pitchers, but the top half of a team’s rotation at the very least should always qualify for the ERA title. Sporting a 1–2 punch of Merrill Kelly and Madison Bumgarner, the DBacks could use an improvement in the starting pitching department. With guys like Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, and Carlos Rodon available in free agency, there is help to be had. It’s just a matter of if they want to spend the money. Clayton may be out of their price range, but a 1 year reunion with Greinke, or a 4–5 year deal with Rodon could definitely be doable and either would immediately bolster their rotation. As far as the bull pen arms go, there is a plethora of options to help there. Kenley Jansen, Andrew Miller, Trevor Rosenthal, Brad Hand, and Dellin Betances just to name a few of the top tier guys available. Picking up 36 year old Andrew Miller on a 1 year deal or even a long term Archie Bradley reuinion would suit them nicely.
Limiting the list to 3 just makes a dent in the woe’s of the Arizona Diamondbacks. With these 3 things, and a whole lot of luck, they could get the train back on the tracks and remember what it’s like to play winning baseball.
Feel free to leave your thoughts on how to improve the Diamondback’s below and stay tuned for our next chapter in this series, the 2021 World Champion Atlanta Braves!
