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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: 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.

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