Second, here's a couple sentences from MSNBC sports reporter Ted Robinson:
"With Gonzalez, Glaus and Green there is plenty of punch in the middle of Arizona's lineup. The Diamondbacks have pretty good players at all the positions, and there are no massive holes evident when looking at this team."
Okay. The D-Backs are off to a decent start, but let's look at their line-up from last night's game (and those players' BA after the game was over):
C Counsell 2B .272
R Clayton SS .242
L Gonzalez LF .342
T Glaus 3B .269
L Terrero RF .200
C Tracy 1B .275
K Hill C .194
b-A Cintron PH .279
Q McCracken CF .203
S Estes P
K Ligtenberg P
a-M Kata PH .227
Craig Counsell is your lead-off hitter? A nice little player, but he's 34 and has a career OPS of .692. (Though he is getting on base a lot this year, with a .419 OBP). Royce Clayton is your #2 hitter? 35 year-old Royce Clayton? With a .619 OPS this year? That's a massive hole. Gonzo is off to a hot start, and certainly can't be called a hole, but he is 37 and missed the last part of the year last year with injuries. Glaus I have always liked, and think he'll have a good year. Luis Terrero in the 5-hole? (He's not really a starter, but still.) Normally it's 9-million dollar man Shawn Green in right, and this year he's .264/.325/.409/.734 in 110 AB. Anyone who'd watched him in L.A. the last few years knows how cooked he really is. Chad Tracy is okay, and apparently has a "high ceiling," but he's in his second year and he's starting at first. They've got a rookie catcher in Koyle Hill, they've got Quinton McCracken in center, they've got Brandon Lyon closing, they're relying on Russ Ortiz and Javy Vasquez to win all their games...
This is a team with huge holes. They need about five rookies to have phenomenal years if they're going to win 85 games. The NL West is terrible, but saying the D-Backs haven't been a little lucky is truly Morganesque.
Labels: diamondbacks, ted robinson
