D-BACKS ARMED AND UNCERTAIN
Pitching staff has undergone major turnover last few years
It’s a sound as sweet as a symphony to any baseball fan: Pitchers and catchers are reporting.
It takes on added significance this year for those who follow the Arizona Diamondbacks because we hardly know who any of these people are.
The last few seasons have been like a going-out-ofbusiness sale.
Zack Greinke, the Cy Young winner — gone. Patrick Corbin, the unhittable lefty — gone.
Robbie Ray, the All-Star strikeout machine — gone. Archie Bradley, the fan favorite — gone.
Fernando Rodney, the rollercoaster of a closer who somehow got it done when it counted — gone.
Brad Boxberger — gone.
Shelby Miller, Andrew Chafin, Zack Godley, Yoshi Hirano, Taijuan Walker, T.J. McFarland, Greg Holland, Brad Ziegler, Rubby De La Rosa, Jorge De La Rosa – all gone. (Who’d I miss?)
Manager Torey Lovullo is going to need everyone on his pitching staff to wear nametags until the All-Star
break.
The Diamondbacks do have Madison Bumgarner, a three-time World Series champ who won two of those Fall Classics by himself. The former Giants ace had a terrible year in 2020, but who didn’t? (I know I did.)
At his best, Bumgarner is a workhorse, an innings eater, the kind of guy you can put on the mound once a week and give everybody else the day off.
It’s been a few years since we’ve seen him at his best, though.
Bumgarner was 1-4 with a 6.48 ERA last year. He hasn’t been an All-Star since 2016. And we found out last year that he competed in rodeo shows in his spare time. But can he cowboy up and lead the Diamondbacks staff in 2021?
Arizona also has Luke Weaver, who came over a couple of years ago in the Paul Goldschmidt trade.
Everybody raved about his stuff when he arrived in the desert. His fastball gets into the mid-90s. His changeup drops to the mid-80s. If his location is on, hitters might as well close their eyes, count to three and swing.
But last year he had command problems and ended up leading the National League in losses.
Weaver’s 6.58 ERA was even worse than Bumgarner’s, and when the top two arms in a rotation combine to go 2-13, it’s easy to guess where a team will land in the standings.
A bright spot last year was Zac Gallen. But if you say his name quickly, it sounds like Zach Allen.
Zac Gallen is a hard-throwing, 6-2 right-hander, who had 3 strikeouts for every walk he issued last season.
Zach Allen is a 6-4 monster who plays defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals.
(Is there anyone out there who wouldn’t pay to see these guys switch jobs just for a day?)
Jon Duplantier might be back this year. Then again, he’s been having arm problems. Just like Shelby Miller … just like Taijuan Walker … just like Luke Weaver … just like, you get the point.
Duplantier is easy to root for. He has a fastball that gets into the high 90s, and he wears glasses on the mound. It’s like we’ve got our own real-life “Wild Thing” Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen’s character from the “Major League” movie franchise)!
But Duplantier hasn’t been on the mound in the big leagues since September 2019. Even if he gets off to a good start, it’ll be awhile before we trust it. It’s a similar story with the catchers. Carson Kelly is the dean of the backstops. He got to town in 2019.
Daulton Varsho and Stephen Vogt have 107 games and 152 plate appearances combined for the Diamondbacks.
For the sake of comparison, St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (one of the best in the business) has played fewer than 100 games twice in his 17-year career: He appeared in 52 games as a rookie back when Bush and Cheney were in office, and he played in 42 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Gone are Alex Avila, John Ryan Murphy, Jeff Mathis, Chris Iannetta …
It looks bad, if you think of it as a going-out-of-business sale.
But if you take it as an opportunity to get to know some new people, perhaps there’s some intrigue?
For right now, let’s just enjoy what we have.
Pitchers and catchers are reporting. It’s a sound as sweet as a symphony to any baseball fan.