Baseball season is almost upon us, and that means looking forward to spring training. As part of our latest series, LWOS is proud to bring you our NL West Spring Training preview.
Colorado Rockies
Strengths:
The Colorado Rockies were able to add to their offense this offseason by bringing in Gerardo Parra, who could bring the offense to life with Carlos Gonzales and Jose Reyes. That is, of course, if Jose Reyes doesn’t miss substantial time due to a suspension. Unfortunately for the Rockies, this is about it as far as their strengths.
Weaknesses:
With Jose Reyes getting into domestic violence trouble this offseason, the Rockies front office has been left in limbo in terms of what to do over the whole matter; MLB has yet to make a determination on how to handle the situation. While MLB waits for the legal system to decide on Reyes, the situation leaves the Rockies in predicament where they’ll have to plan ahead in case Reyes isn’t there at the beginning of the season, or at any other point due to a possible suspension. The Rockies would much rather focus on their other problem, including their starting pitching.
The Rockies will look to Tyler Chatwood, who has missed a substantial amount of playing time over the last couple years due to injuries that have led to elbow surgery on his throwing arm, and Jordan Lyles, who has missed time due to non-throwing arm injuries. The success of the Rockies rotation will hinge on the ability of Chatwood and Lyles to stay healthy. They will be holding up the back end of the Rockies rotation.
Other than adding some veteran arms to the bullpen in the forms of Chad Qualls and Jason Motte, the Rockies pitching situation, as usual, is just as thin as the air in Colorado.
San Diego Padres
Strengths
After going on a tear last offseason with acquisitions, second-year general manager A.J. Preller did the opposite this year.
While it feels like the polar opposite of last year’s offseason approach, the lack of acquisitions should be taken as a sign of confidence that the young GM still believes in the majority of team he assembled, and feels that rookie manager Andy Green will be able to lead to success.
Weaknesses:
To make up for the loss in Craig Kimbrel, the Padres recently added Fernando Rodney, who, at this point in his career, may not be able to fill the void.
The Padres will leave the rest up to Spring Training. Brandon Maurer will look to crack the starting rotation for the Padres after spending most of 2015 pitching out of the bullpen. Justin Upton’s left field spot will be up for grabs, and the positioning of the Padres infield isn’t exactly set.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Strengths:
In terms in of the Chinese New Year, it may be the Year of the Monkey. This past offseason, however, has been the Season of the Diamondback.
Arizona made a huge splash when they snuck in at the final hour and stole Zack Greinke from the “grips” of the Los Angeles Dodgers and, potentially, the San Francisco Giants.
That wasn’t enough, however. Facing a need to bolster their bullpen , the D-Backs made a deal to sign Tyler Clippard. They also traded Chase Anderson and Aaron Hill to the Milwaukee Brewers for shortstop Jean Seguara. And that’s all without mentioning that they also traded this past draft’s number one overall pick, Dansby Swanson, to the Atlanda Braves for Shelby Miller.
Sure, the roster might not look as attractive as that of the star-studded Los Angeles Dodgers or that of the starting pitcher-loaded San Francisco Giants, but if any team has gone all out to try to compete against the two dogs at the top of the NL West, it has certainly been the D-Backs.
Weaknesses:
With Jake Lamb and Brandon Drury competing for time at third base, spring training will likely force the D-Backs to try Yazmany Tomas in left field. Tomas traditionally spends his time at third, and spent some time in right field last year.
And while this has nothing to do with success, if hardcore D-Backs fans felt their team didn’t make enough moves in the offseason, hopefully they’ll be happy with amount of uniform options they’ll be able to watch the team wear this season. I’ve chalked this up as a weakness, as a couple of the new unis are just way too tacky.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Strengths:
Dodgers fans have been hearing about Corey Seager since the team first drafted him out of high school in 2012. 2015 became the year in which Seager finally reached Double-A before cruising all the way to through Triple-A and into the majors. After his Septermber arrival, Seager performed so well that the Dodgers kept around for the NLDS and started him game one, which made him the youngest position player to start a postseason game in the history of the Dodgers organization.
With a full year ahead of him and Jimmy Rollins no longer blocking him, the shortstop position will be Seager’s to lose. If all goes well, it also may be his position for years to come.
If second-year center fielder Joc Pederson is able to leave his 2015 second half slump behind and return to his old self, the Dodgers have a bright future building around these two young talents.
Weaknesses:
The Kershaw and Zack Greinke days were fun, but those days are now behind the Dodgers.
Instead of electing to give Zack Greinke the long term deal that he was able to get from the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers are now down to one ace and a rotation that will either be really good, or really mediocre.
The good news is this: the Dodgers will hopefully get Hyun-jin Ryu back if not by the season opener, likely soon after. The Dodgers also inked deals with Scott Kazmir, and Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda. Among Kershaw, Ryu, and Kazmir, Maeda is the only right-handed pitcher of the four.
The fifth expected pitcher in the rotation mix for the Dodgers will be lefty Brett Anderson. The Dodgers also hope to get right-handed pitcher Brandon McCarthy back from Tommy John surgery prior the All Star break.
San Francisco Giants
Strengths:
For every big move the Dodgers didn’t make this offseason, the Giants seem to have made one.
Although the San Francisco Giants were rumored to be in on Zack Greinke, they instead added Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto. Along with Madison Bumgarner and Jake Peavy, and the Giants probably have the division’s most reliable rotation coming into the season. Perhaps a healthy and Matt Cain returns to his old form, adding even more depth to this stacked rotation. If Cain doesn’t work out, Chris Heston, who pitched a no-no as a rookie last year against the Mets, should be able to fill that void easily.
Weaknesses:
It may be digging a little deep, but the Giants don’t seem to have the power in the lineup that you would expect. The Giants will likely leave the cleanup hitting to either Hunter Pence or Brandon Crawford, who hit twenty-one homers in 2015. Buster Posey, who has been known to hit a few out himself, will likely see the cleanup spot once in a while, too.
Once again, though, this is digging deep. Overall, the Giants are well rounded, and in reality didn’t have to rely on much power during their 2010, 2012, and 2014 World Series runs.
Plus, as many Giants fans will remind you, it’s an even numbered year.
To catch up on previous installments in this series, follow these links:
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