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Colorado Rockies: NL West Preview Series – Arizona Diamondbacks

By Ryan Ladika |
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 30: Madison Bumgarner #40 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the top of the first inning of a Major League Baseball game at Oracle Park on June 30, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 30: Madison Bumgarner #40 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the top of the first inning of a Major League Baseball game at Oracle Park on June 30, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
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GLENDALE, ARIZONA – FEBRUARY 21: Pitcher Madison Bumgarner #40 of the Arizona Diamondbacks poses for a portrait during MLB media day at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 21, 2020 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA – FEBRUARY 21: Pitcher Madison Bumgarner #40 of the Arizona Diamondbacks poses for a portrait during MLB media day at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 21, 2020 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Welcome to my National League West preview series, where I’ll be breaking down the series history and key offseason moves for each division rival of the Colorado Rockies.

Before I begin, I want to clarify that I’ll be looking at each team since the beginning of 2017, when the Colorado Rockies’ current contention window, as well as current core, began. I’ll kick things off with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Of the four other teams in the NL West, Colorado has the most even head-to-head record with the Diamondbacks over the last three seasons. A quick search on Baseball-Reference.com shows that the Rockies sit one game over .500, with a 29-28 record, in that time against the snakes.

Arizona was one of the most active teams on the trade and free-agent market during the offseason. The club signed free agent starter Madison Bumgarner to bolster a rotation that was worth 11 fWAR and posted an ERA of 4.23 in 2019, per FanGraphs. The team also whiffed 8.74 hitters per nine innings, the 12th-highest mark in MLB.

Bumgarner, entering his 12th year in the Major Leagues, is still only 30 years old and remains one of the more effective hurlers in the game. His 3.2 fWAR season last year was his most valuable since 2016 when he posted a mark of 4.3.

He also provides proven playoff experience and success (his incredible one run in 21 innings showing in the 2014 World Series) for a clubhouse desperate for a deep postseason run. In all likelihood, the North Carolina native will slide into the top spot in the Diamondbacks rotation.

GLENDALE, ARIZONA – FEBRUARY 21: Starling Marte #2 of the Arizona Diamondbacks poses for a portrait during MLB media day at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 21, 2020 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA – FEBRUARY 21: Starling Marte #2 of the Arizona Diamondbacks poses for a portrait during MLB media day at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 21, 2020 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

As a comparison, Colorado’s starters performed considerably worse than Arizona’s even before the addition of Bumgarner, finishing with just 6.5 fWAR and a 5.87 ERA that was the worst in baseball by more than 0.2 runs.

The Diamondbacks also made a couple moves to shore up an offense that finished in the bottom half of the league in 2019 if you look at park-adjusted wRC+. Their mark of 94 signified a below-average offensive unit by six percent, and their team on-base percentage, .323, ranked 16th in baseball.

General Manager Mike Hazen addressed the obvious need in this area by trading for Pirates center fielder outfielder Starling Marte, and signing catcher Stephen Vogt and outfielder Kole Calhoun to Major League free-agent deals.

https://twitter.com/Dbacks/status/1221903299755929601?s=20

I expect Vogt and Marte to have the largest impact on their new club. Vogt, who appeared in 99 games with San Francisco last year, provides a sizable offensive improvement over Alex Avila behind the plate.

The former Giant bested Avila’s .774 OPS with his .804, and according to Baseball-Reference, was 11 percent better than league average by OPS+, while Avila finished with a league-average mark of 100. Vogt didn’t play in the majors in 2018 but from 2014 through 2017, his OPS+ was 103. Avila’s OPS+ from 2014 through 2018 was 94.

Vogt also brings valuable experience working with Bumgarner in his lone season with the Giants. He was behind the plate for four of Bumgarner’s 34 starts and was excited to hear that his new club had landed the southpaw when the news broke, according to Jake Anderson’s story on ArizonaSports.com.

“We’re comfortable with each other. We know each other very well since we spent a year together in the clubhouse and talked about pitching in between starts, just different things like that.”

Marte and Calhoun join a solid outfield group, including Tim Locastro, Ketel Marte (no relation to Starling), and David Peralta. Overall, the D-Backs outfielders produced an fWAR of 11.0 in 2019, tied with the Mets for 8th-best in baseball.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 12: Ketel Marte #4 of the Arizona Diamondbacks in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 12, 2019 in New York City. The Mets defeated the Diamondbacks 11-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 12: Ketel Marte #4 of the Arizona Diamondbacks in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 12, 2019 in New York City. The Mets defeated the Diamondbacks 11-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

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A lot of that production stemmed from Ketel’s breakout season that saw the former Mariner explode for a .981 OPS in 144 games, demolishing his previous career-high of .768. He clubbed 32 home runs, also a career-high, and finished 4th in National League MVP voting.

Starling brings a hot bat to the desert following a productive final season with the Bucs. He slashed .295/.342/.503 with a .845 OPS in 132 games last year, and gave the Pirates a boost of 3.0 wins, according to FanGraphs‘ fWAR. His 119 wRC+ was his highest mark since 2016, and he swiped 25 bases as well.

Calhoun rebounded nicely from a dreadful 2018, slashing .232/.325/.467 with a 108 wRC+ and 2.5 fWAR. Those last two are drastic improvements from two years ago when he posted 79 and 0.0 in those categories, respectively.

If this were shaping up to be a normal season, I would expect Arizona to improve upon their 85-win total from a year ago. With the season currently on hold due to COVID-19 concerns and no estimated start date on the horizon, it’s difficult to know how many games we will see played in 2020, and what the postseason structure will look like.

Next. Is Nolan Arenado a fit for the Chicago White Sox?. dark

Before Spring Training started, though, Arizona was viewed as a trendy Wild Card pick, and I believe their offseason moves make another postseason berth in Phoenix very likely in the next few years.

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