Colorado Rockies and a look at the National League West
Arizona Diamondbacks
JD Martinez was a shot-in-the-arm for the Arizona Diamondback as they started to sputter at the tail end of last season. However, Josh Burke over at Venom Strikes pointed out that it could make sense for Martinez to resign with the Diamondbacks after experiencing a pretty lackluster free agency … but it hasn’t happened yet.
More from Colorado Rockies News
- A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
- Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
- Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
- Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
- What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023
Regardless, the D-Backs are not to be trifled with. This was a 93-win team last season for good reasons. Even without Martinez’s explosive second half of the season, it’s hard to believe that NL MVP candidate, Paul Goldschmidt, along with A.J. Pollock and Jake Lamb, won’t score enough runs to support a top five starting pitching squad in terms of WAR, according to FanGraphs.
The ace of that top-five pitching staff, Zack Greinke, returned to his dominating form by posting a 3.20 ERA in 202.1 Innings last season. However, the bigger surprise was the emergence of Robbie Ray. He has proven to be quite the strikeout artist since his league debut. It was ability to keep people off base this last season that made him wildly formidable.
In addition, the Diamondbacks took their time finding a replacement for Chris Iannetta, who locked up a deal early with the Rockies. While it’s not the 29 Home Runs in 62 games supplied by Martinez, the D-Backs attained catcher depth by signing veteran catcher Alex Avila. He’ll be a strong left-handed bat that brings some pop…and surely be a tough out for pitchers in the NL West.