The Arizona Diamondbacks nearly had it this year. Strong performances from the lineup, a new ace emergence, some really scrappy wins. It felt like this would be the year that someone other than the Dodgers would win the NL West.
And then September happened.
And then it was kind of all downhill from there.
Look, I'm not exactly sure what happened, but all I know is that Clay Buchholz got injured, and when that happens, the bottom falls out of the rest of the team, I think. Funny thing is he was doing pretty well this year, which he hasn't really done in a while. He just needs to work on staying healthy and he'll be fine, but...then again, so does Robbie Ray. And Jake Lamb, while we're here.
This D-Backs season comes down to three players, really: Paul Goldschmidt, Zack Greinke and Patrick Corbin. All three were fantastic. Everyone else...for the most part, just sort of carried on behind them. Aside from David Peralta, there weren't that many other people hitting over .250 or playing terrifically. It was just a generally okay team after a while, lifted by one or two standouts. And by September, you saw other teams, like Colorado and the Dodgers, strengthening themselves fully and ascending the standings. At that point, the D-Backs were going the opposite direction.
The once-promising youth core of Lamb-Owings-Ahmed hasn't really amounted to much except a supporting cast. AJ Pollock had a fantastic start and dropped off in the second half. Eduardo Escobar was a fine pickup but only did so much.
Next year, I imagine they'll be able to rebound, but it's going to take getting everyone on the same page, because a lot of usually-reliable people just weren't on this year. And...if they keep Buchholz, they have to avoid what happened with Boston, and keep him healthy and consistent.
Coming Tonight- DH for the single strangest team in the bigs this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment