Arizona Diamondbacks - The Covid-19 Years (2020-2029)

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2020

Decade

110

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Titles:

Top Diamondbacks Players of the Twenty Twenties

2023 - Won NLWC(Milw); Won NLDS(LA); Won NLCS(Phila); Lost WS(Texas)

Pitchers:

BallPark:

Zac Gallen (18.08) - 45

Chase Field

Merrill Kelly (15.19) - 32

Brandon Pfaadt (0.7) - 15

Team Name:

Ryne Nelson (1.04) - 11

Diamondbacks

Madison Bumgarner (-0.42) - 10

Kevin Ginkel (0.42) - 6

Owner:

Mark Melancon (2.26) - 5

Ken Kendrick

Eduardo Rodriguez (0.30) - 4

Corbin Burnes (2.06) - 1

General Managers:

Mike Hazen

Catchers:

Gabe Moreno (9) - 16

Managers:

Carson Kelly (2.72) - 11

Torey Lovullo

First Basemen:

No Hitters:

Christian Walker (12) - 32

2021 - Tyler Gilbert (San Diego)

Second Basemen:

Hall of Famers:

Ketel Marte (21) - 44

None

ShortStop:

Rookie of the Year:

Geraldo Perdomo (13) - 26

2023 - Corbin Carroll

Nick Ahmed (2.13) - 9

MVP:

Third Base:

None

Eugenio Suarez (6) - 15

Josh Rojas (3.23) - 13

Cy Young:

Eduardo Escobar (1.72) - 6

None

Outfield:

Notable Events:

Corbin Carroll (15) - 42

Lourdes Gurriel (5) - 19

2020 - The Dbacks had a couple of ninety plus win seasons in the previous decade

Jake McCarthy (4) - 15

and had a decent team in 2019, winning 85. They were riding a three year above

David Peralta (2.69) - 13

.500 steak coming into the decade. Unfortunately for the Dbacks, the big story

Alek Thomas (2.45) - 10

of the '20 season occurred in '19 when the Dbacks jettisoned their ace

Daulton Varsho (6.46) - 9

righthander Zack Greinke and his 35 million a year contract to the Astros

Joc Pederson (3) - 8

at the trade deadline. This deal was a killer psychologically for the 2020

Pavin Smith (0.6) - 7

Arizona club. With basically the same team, plus hot hitting FA OF Kole Calhoun,

Kole Calhoun (1.26) - 5

the Diamondbacks plummeted to a 25-35 mark and last place in the Division.

We've seen it before, when ownership gives up on a club for whatever reason

Notable Events:

(financial in this case), the spirit just isn't there anymore in the players left behind.

2024 - Arizona GM Mike Hazen has done a nice job rising Phoenix from

□ The Arizona owner is Ken Kendrick who has been part of the ownership

the ashes, so to speak, over the past few years. Despite an against the run

group since the team's inception. He is not known for having deep pockets, altho'

of form journey to the World Series last year, the Dbacks are not there yet.

he'll fool you once in a blue moon like the time he signed Zack Greinke.

But, they are clearly moving in the right direction.

Arizona gave up more runs than they scored last year and yet finished six

□ Mike Hazen is the GM since 2017 and has presided over Arizona's three

games above .500 and making the wild card. The Dbacks then got super

winning seasons. Hazen had a good pedigree before coming over to the Dbacks

hot from there. Usually, when your record is better than your run

having worked in the highly successful Red Sox organization for eleven years.

totals would predict (80-82), you've got a good closer who nails down

the close ones. Arizona had a good one in Paul Sewald, acquired from

□ Torey Lovullo is the Diamondbacks manager and has been since 2017 and

Seattle at the trade deadline, who picked up thirteen saves down the

is also riding the three season winning streak coming into the decade.

stretch. The Dbacks were just about at the league average in runs scored

last year and slightly above the league average in runs given up.

2020 - Not good juju for Diamondbacks fans. OF Starling Marte and P Archie

Mike Hazen has made some nice off season moves which, while not

Bradley are jettisoned at the trade deadline.

making Arizona a contender for the Division Title against the vastly superior

Dodgers, will solidify their run at another Wild Card.

2020 - There are a number of keepers on the 2020 roster moving forward:

On offense, the Diamondbacks have added slugging 3B Eugenio Suarez,

□ RHP Zac Gallen, 24, obtained from Miami in '19 for 2B Jazz Chisholm

and hard hitting outfielders Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuck. Add this

□ RHP Merrill Kelly, 31, signed in '19 after playing four years in Korea

to a nice core of hitters in Rookie of the Year and future super star OF

□ Closer Archie Bradley, 29, dealt to Reds at deadline in '20

Corbin Carroll, slugging 1B Christian Walker, solid hitting 2B Ketel Marte,

□ C / OF Daulton Varsho, 24, '17 2nd round pick, dealt to Toronto in '23

solid hitting OF Lourdes Gurriel and up and coming young star C

□ OF Starling Marte, 31, '20 FA from Pirates, dealt to Miami at deadline in '20

Gabriel Moreno. They also have a can't miss young SS prospect in

□ OF David Peralta, 33, '13 FA pickup, dealt to Tampa in '22

twenty one year old Jordan Lawlar. That adds up to a potential circular

□ 3B Eduardo Escobar, 32, fell off a cliff from 35 HRs in '19 to 4 in '20

lineup that should end up scoring well above the league average runs.

□ 1B Christian Walker, 30, '17 waiver pickup from Reds

□ 2B Ketel Marte, 27, '17 trade with Seattle involving five well regarded prospects

On the mound, things are looking up, as well. The Diamondbacks

□ IF Josh Rojas, 26, '19 trade from Houston for Zach Greinke

had a nice one-two punch at the top of the rotation in Zac Gallen and

□ OF Pavin Smith, 24, '17 1st round pick

Merrill Kelly. Gallen, in particular, has emerged as one of the top starters

□ OF Corbin Carroll, 20, 1st round pick in '19 draft

in the game. Add to them a pair of solid free agent lefties in Eduardo

□ OF Alek Thomas, 20, 2nd round pick in '18 draft

Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery and now you've got something.

□ OF Kristian Robinson, 20, '17 IFA

The bullpen showed out in the post season last year.

□ SS Geraldo Perdomo, 20, '16 IFA

Sewald returns as the closer and Ryne Nelson, Kevin Ginkel and Miguel

Castro provide some quality depth

2021 - Arizona crashes and burns. 52-110. A disaster.

Injuries play a big part in the decline, but a house cleaning is in order.

All in all, I wouldn't be surprised, barring injuries, if the Diamondbacks

GM Mike Hazen has been doing a good job of building up the farm

top ninety wins and make the Wild Card in a very competitive division.

system so the team won't be terrible for long.

2021 - OF Jake McCarthy, 23, is a rookie. '18 1st round pick

2025 - Arizona signs 30 year old righty Corbin Burnes from Baltimore

for $210 million. DBack management knows they're close so all the chips

2022 - After bottoming out, Arizona gains 22 games in the standings.

are going in. They were in the World Series two years ago and just

Improved pitching is the big reason for the gain as Zac Gallen and Merrill

missed the playoffs last year.

Kelly provide a nice one-two punch at the top of the rotation and the

Nelson boys, Kyle, 25, and Ryne, 24, pitch well out of the pen.

2025 - Arizona trades 25 year old righty Slade Cecconi to Cleveland for

slugging first baseman Josh Naylor, 28, who is on an expiring contract.

2023 - A productive offseason trade with Toronto brings in OF Lourdes Gurriel

He replaces Christian Walker. 33, who left for Houston as a free agent

and catcher Gabriel Moreno in exchange for Daulton Varsho.

Gurriel end up with a .772 OPS and Moreno .747 which solidify the lineup.

2025 - Arizona gained five games in the standings to 89 wins but dropped to

third place and didn't make it into the post season. Tough division with the

2023 - Arizona gains ten games in the standings and finish a bit over

almighty Dodgers, the Padres and the improved Giants to contend with.

.500 at 84-78. They are given no chance in the playoffs, but fool

That being said, Arizona should be in the thick of it in 2025.

everybody and beat the Brewers, Dodgers and Phillies to make it to the

World Series. They come down to earth against Texas in the Classic.

2025 Pitching: (A strength, good rotation with seven deep depth, good pen)

□ Ace Corbin Burnes, 30, 15-9 2.92 , '25 FA from Baltimore,

2023 - Interestingly the Arizona offense doesn't improve from '22 runs-wise.

□ RHP Zac Gallen, 29, 14-6 3.65 was slowed by injuries in '24

It is league average. The pitching improves a bit, not a whole lot, and

□ RHP Brandon Pfaadt, 26, 11-10 4.71 the skinny on Pfaadt is great control

is still below league average. So the Diamondbacks overachieved a bit

□ RHP Ryne Nelson, 26, 10-6 4.24 fighting for a spot in the rotation

in the regular season. Usually when a team overachieves over what

□ RHP Merrill Kelly, 36, 5-1 4.03 hurt his shoulder last season.

it's stats would predict, it's the bullpen. However, the Diamondback

□ RHP Eduardo Rodriguez, 32, 3-4 5.04 missed four months last season

bullpen is pretty mediocre. All that being said, the difference between the

□ LHP Jordan Montgomery, 33, 8-7 6.23 nice depth piece in the rotation

22 Dback pitching and '23 was the improvement of the bullpen from poor

□ Closer Justin Martinez, 24, 5-6 2.48 8 saves averages over 100mph

to mediocre. Five year veteran Kevin Ginkel, 29, is the big difference in

□ Closer AJ Puk, 30, 4-9 3.15 Lefty would be THE closer for a lot of teams

the bullpen going 9-1 with a 2.48 ERA.

□ RHP Kevin Ginkel, 31, 8-3 3.21 would be closing for a lot of teams

Starters Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly remain the mainstays

of the staff - Arizona would be lost without either one of them.

2025 Hitting: (Solid lineup with a couple of prospects looking to break in)

□ C Gabe Moreno, 25, 5 46 .256, injury plagued 2024

2023 - '19 first round pick, Corbin Carroll, 22, comes up and tears it up

□ C Adrian del Castillo, 26, 4 19 .313, they're going to have to find him a position

winning Rookie of the Year. He steals 54 bases and has an .868 OPS.

□ 1B Josh Naylor, 28, 31 108 .243, Obtained from Cleveland to replace Walker

Combined with 1B Christian Walker, .830 OPS, and 2B Kettel Marte,

□ 2B Ketel Marte, 32, 36 95 .292, this guy is a star

.844 OPS, the Diamondbacks have a solid core on offense.

□ SS Geraldo Perdomo, 25, 3 37 .273, solid

Because WAR and other traditional stats severely underestimate

□ SS Jordan Lawlar, 23, the future if he can stay healthy

the effect of game changing speed on results, the Diamondbacks

□ 3B Eugenio Suarez, 34, 30 101 .256 part of a 100 home run plus infield

appear to have an overachieving offense.

□ OF Corbin Carroll, 25, 22 74 .231 35SB overcame slow start in '24

□ OF Lourdes Gurriel, 32, 18 75 .289 has a DH's throwing arm

□ OF Pavin Smith, 29, 9 36 .270

□ CF Jake McCarthy, 29, 8 56 .285 25SB

□ CF Alek Thomas, 25, hit .189 last year, no bueno

□ OF Druw Jones, 21, hoping his genes kick in