Perhaps no team in MLB history has been as busy adding quality talent in an offseason and still remained perhaps the third best team in their division. The 2016 Arizona Diamondbacks should be fun to watch this season. After an equally busy offseason, the Giants are potentially a better team than the D-Backs, as are the Dodgers, even with the Dbacks signing away Zach Greinke. However, with the additions of Greinke from the Dodgers, Shelby Miller from the Braves, and Jean Segura from the Brewers, the signing of Tyler Clippard, and a full year of Patrick Corbin (who only made sixteen starts last year after Tommy John surgery), the Dbacks are poised to compete in the ultra-competitive NL.
The 2016 Arizona Diamondbacks: MLB’s Most Intriguing Team
Even without last years NL Cy Young to his name, Greinke was the best pitcher in baseball last season, posting a 19-3 record with an incredible 1.66 ERA and 200 strikeouts. Greinke will lead an impressive one-two punch of himself and fellow ace Miller, who was a bright spot on a bad Braves team in 2015. After finishing last season tenth in the NL in batting average against, tenth in strikeouts, and ninth in ERA as a staff, the additions of Greinke and Miller (3.02 ERA, 171 SO) should lead to a much improved starting rotation, which will be rounded out by Corbin, Rubby De La Rosa, and Robbie Ray. The addition of Clippard from the Mets should also shore up the back end of a questionable bullpen.
The Dback offense (second in runs, third in average, and third in OBP. in the NL) was one of the best in baseball last year and can conceivably be better in 2016. With linchpins Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock coming off monster seasons, Cuban defector Yasmany Tomas having another year to adjust to MLB after a respectable .273/.205/.401 in year one, and improved offense at the shortstop position, the D-Backs offense should again be one of the best in the NL. Segura isn’t the All-Star player he was in 2013, but even his current incarnation is better offensively than any shortstop the D-Backs had last season.
What makes the 2016 Diamondbacks so unique is the fact that with the Giants signing Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, and Denard Span, and the Dodgers returning their entire 2015 team that won ninety-two games (minus Greinke and Jimmy Rollins), the D-Backs are all in for 2016 and yet have a good chance of not moving up at all in the standings, even with a better team. GM Dave Stewart will either look like a genius, if they make the playoffs, or a mad scientist, if trading number one overall pick Dansby Swanson and spending a ridiculous amount of money on a pitcher entering his 30s doesn’t pan out.
Not only is the NL West a tough division, but the NL in general is stacked; the Cubs, Cardinals, Pirates, Mets, and Nationals are all arguably better than the Diamondbacks, along with the aforementioned Dodgers and Giants. Signing big checks and making trades may make a fan base happy and a team better in the short term, but with a league and division so tough, a long term approach could have been a better way to go for the D-Backs. In recent history, the teams that “win” the offseason (2015 Red Sox, 2013 Blue Jays) haven’t done well in the standings. Arizona could potentially win the NL West, get a wild card berth, or miss the playoffs by a mile, making them 2016’s most intriguing team.
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