I wish I was a fan of the D-Backs, and for those who are, know how lucky you are.  Not only is this team tearing it up now, but they have all the pieces to build a Yankee-esque dynasty.  Nearly all of their hitters are under 30, and they have two under-30 aces at the top of that rotation.  I challenge you to find me a better 1-2 punch than Haren and Webb.  Add into that some young pitching studs, one in Max Scherzer who just burst onto the Major League scene, and the other Jarrod Parker, a 2007 draftee that oozes potential.  I’ll admit, I criticized them for trading closer Jose Valverde to Houston, but the guys they have are making up for it.  I’m not even on to the hitters yet…

This offense is dangerous, and the scary part is that nearly all of them have the potential to get better.  You have a young 1st basemen in Conor Jackson who I think won’t be an all-star guy, but an above average player you can expect .280 and 20-25 home runs from.  At 2nd base you have one of the proven guys in Orlando Hudson, who before arriving was mainly a defensive specialist, but has since become an excellent hitting 2-bagger.  They also have Augie Ojeda in the middle infield who could develop into a solid player.  At shortstop you have Stephen Drew, who hasn’t lived up to all expectations yet, but who will, in my opinion, be contesting with Troy Tulowitzki as the best SS in the National League for years to come.  Mark Reynolds at third base has a ton of power potential and has shown it in spurts so far.  We haven’t even made it out of the infield yet.

Eric Byrnes has achieved stud status in Arizona, and I really wish he would have started doing this after he was traded to Baltimore back in 2005 so we wouldn’t have gotten rid of him.  You’re guaranteed to get 110% out of your left fielder as long as he’s in the lineup.  In center you have Chris Young, who really needs to make some strides.  He showed he was a prolific home run hitter, defender, and base stealer last year, but his .232 average was terrible and his on-base percentage was below .300.  To make the step to become an all-star, a step that I think he’ll take, he needs to begin working on his plate discipline right away a la Jeff Francouer.

Last but not least, right field, Justin Upton.  This kid is this generation’s version of Ken Griffey, book it.  Dude is a stud, broke into the majors in 2007 as a 20 year old and is now playing extremely well in his first full year.  He’s got a tremendously sweet swing that should get him 30-40 home runs a year on average.  I’d be shocked if he doesn’t pick up at least one MVP award in his career.

I give all the credit in the world to Arizona GM Josh Byrnes for building this team, it’s truly an amazing job.  I didn’t think it was possible in this age of MLB for one team to develop and keep so much talent, but he has shown that it is.  Anyone near Chase Field, get out there ASAP and witness something special.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have determined that Conor Jackson will probably return in 2008.

One club source characterized the likelihood of a trade of the young first baseman as “remote.” Things can change, of course, but right now you can expect Jackson to be Arizona’s first baseman next season.

Source: Arizona Republic

The Arizona Diamondbacks offered a contract to Japanese pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, joining a handful of teams to express interest in the right-hander.”I can confirm we made an offer to Kuroda, but I’d rather not talk about it specifically,” Arizona general manager Josh Byrnes said Tuesday.

Very interesting.

Here is an excerpt from an article from yesterday:

The Newark Star-Ledger is reporting that the Yankees and Diamondbacks are talking about a Randy Johnson deal.
A baseball official from a third team is the Star-Ledger’s source. The official said the Yankees do not want to pay any of Johnson’s $16 million salary as part of a deal, which would be a big hurdle if true. Even in this market, Johnson is a poor risk at $16 million for 2007 and the Diamondbacks weren’t interested in spending that kind of money on a free agent. We’re skeptical anything will happen.

And reportedly the Diamondbacks are offering some younger pitchers in this deal. I don’t know what to think about this. It seems kind of crazy to trade for a guy that is 43 years old and just had a very bad season. The D-Backs would be lucky to get a 4.50 ERA from him and Randy has given up a lot of home runs in his few seasons with the Yanks. That doesn’t translate well to Chase Field, which is a big home run park. Also, his contract is worth $16 mil. and he’d be looking to get a one year extension. That seems just too much for a team that’s still struggling with money problems after the 2001 championship year. They’d better hope that they could get the Yankees to pay at least a small portion of his contract.

Another reason not to do this trade would be that they’d be giving up some of their future big pitching prospects. With all the moves they have made in recent years, the Diamondbacks are obviously trying to get younger and with the struggles of the pitching staff, pitching prospects are something that wouldn’t be a good thing to give up. I am not overly impressed with Nippert or Enrique Gonzalez so if it’s both of them it would be okay, but to give up one of the others would be dumb. They haven’t had a chance to play in the majors and at least one of them will be a good starter so I’d be worried about giving them up for someone who’s good years are far behind him. Also, what would it be like for the clubhouse to have a grouchy old guy with a bunch of kids?

Of course there some good things that will come from this deal. First of all, it brings back a fan favorite. The best player in this team’s history could get his 300th win here and it’ll bring back a piece of the short, but great Purple Era of this team. The fans will, for at least a little while, come to the ballpark and buy Diamondbacks products. The added revenue will really help this team for future years as they try to sign free agents.

Furthermore, if they can get the Yankees to pay a little bit of the salary and also get rid of some of their own (Eric Byrnes???) then it would be a low-risk, high reward type of deal. Johnson will have less pressure on him with the Arizona media than the New York media and possibly going back to a place he spent the best part of his career in would allow him to put up better numbers. Besides, the warm air is better for his old bones.

I am not liking a deal for RJ right now, but I wouldn’t be too upset about it unless the front office makes a really dumb trade. I just don’t think that Randy has anything left in the tank. He has had a great career but now it’s just time to hang up the cleats.