Kuzul

The Los Angeles Angels aren’t ready to concede the American League West to the Texas Rangers just yet. 

And Sunday, the organization made an aggressive move to help bolster its chances. 

Los Angeles will send LHP Joe Saunders, LHP Patrick Corbin, RHP Rafael Rodriguez and player to be named later to Arizona in exchange for All-Star RHP Dan Haren. 

According to The Arizona Republic Diamondbacks’ beat writer Nick Piecoro, the player to be named later will be LHP Tyler Skaggs (the No. 40 overall pick in the 2009 Amateur Draft).

Arizona, in addition to getting Haren’s salary off the books, get a proven major leaguer in Saunders (6-10, 4.62 ERA). 

The lefty will cost the Diamondbacks $3.7 million this season and between $6-7 million next year.

Currently six games behind the division-leading Rangers, the Angels came out of nowhere to steal Haren away from a slew of other suitors that included the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees.

In 2010, Haren has a 4.60 ERA to go along with a 1.35 WHIP. 

His 141 strikeouts lead the National League while his 141 innings pitched ranks fifth. 

Haren is under contract through 2012 with a $15.5 million club option for 2013.  

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Last night, Arizona Diamondbacks’ second baseman Kelly Johnson became the third player this year to hit for the cycle. Johnson went 4-for-4 with three RBI along with a hit by pitch in the Diamondbacks 7-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

While this is a great feat for Johnson, I am a tad annoyed this happened. I am annoyed this happened because I had Johnson on my bench last night for my fantasy team. My logic? I went off sample size.

Johnson went into last night’s game 5-for-10 with two doubles and a triple off of Giants’ starter Jonathan Sanchez. This is pretty impressive, but I thought that was too small of a sample size to go off of.

I decided to look at the larger sample size, which was Sanchez versus left-handed batters. Lefties were hitting just .169 with a .582 OPS and two home runs (ironically they were hit by Ike Davis in the same game, who is also on my fantasy team and who I also benched the day he hit those two homers) in 71 ABs against Sanchez in 2010.

I figured the odds were in my favor that Johnson’s line would even out against Sanchez and Sanchez’s success against lefties would hold true. I inserted Gordon Beckham into my starting lineup and he proceeded to go 1-for-4 against Trevor Cahill and the Oakland A’s.

Johnson on the other hand, ripped a home run in the first (411 feet) and then ripped another double off of Sanchez in the fifth. Johnson got his triple in the sixth off of Santiago Casilla and completed the cycle with a single in the eighth off of Sergio Romo.

I play in a total points league and Johnson’s benching cost me 27 points last night. That is a week worth’s of points in one day sitting on my bench. Just terrible.

This is the second time I have put my fantasy team in the hands of Sanchez and for the second time he has made me look like a fool. No more. If I have a lefty going against Sanchez, I am starting him.

I have learned my lesson.

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Silver linings are hard to find in the Arizona desert this summer.

First-year Diamondback Kelly Johnson provided an obvious one Friday night, when he hit for the fourth cycle in Arizona history.

Unfortunately, like most nights at Chase Field this season, his headlining efforts weren’t enough for a Diamondbacks win.

So, in an attempt to help alleviate the pain this team has caused in 2010, why not relive the other three Snakes’ cycles?

Begin Slideshow

My four kids, like most all kids, hate doing chores at home. Over the past couple of seasons, the Diamondbacks have been much like my kids and doing chores, they just don’t get the job done. In the case of Arizona, the chore they have struggled at is getting the sweeping done.

As a parent, it upsets me when my kids don’t get their jobs done, much like fans do when their teams are able to do the job, but don’t. Even more upsetting is when their teams let another team do their sweeping job for them.  In the past two seasons the Diamondbacks have let their opponent do the sweeping 19 times.

Wednesday night, thanks to Chris Snyder and Arizona’s bullpen, the sweeping got done. As you probably heard dozens of times, it was the first time they got the sweeping done in a three-game set since they finished the job in Houston last August.

If you include the two-game sweep of San Francisco earlier this season, Arizona has completed their chore only four times in two seasons. Mostly, they have not had the chance, but even in the opportunities they’ve had they just didn’t do it.

In May 2009 against Oakland, the D’backs took the first two games, but could not beat a guy who had only started a handful of games in the majors.

In August 2009 against the Mets, they took the first two games of the series, only to have Jon Rauch give up two runs and the lead.

The very next series, they won the first two against the evil Dodgers, but Yusmeiro Petit got rocked in the final game, losing 9-3.

In September of last season, it was against the Padres. After winning the first two games and going into the ninth with the lead, Esmerling Vasquez blows the lead and San Diego wins in extra innings.

This past May, they had a chance against Toronto, but Billy Buckner pitched the final game of the series. You can guess that it didn’t go well.

In June, they had a chance against the Rockies, but ran into Colorado’s buzzsaw (aka Ubaldo Jimenez), losing 3-2, but at least making it close at the end.

Now we won’t even go over the many times that they lost the first game, basically telling Mom and Dad, I mean the fans, that they flat out had no interest in getting their chores done. Nonetheless, even with all the disappointment that these kids, I mean this team, has given us, it is relieving to see the job get done at least once when the opportunity was there.

Of course, just like kids who are sometimes bad, it took everyone past their bedtime to get it done. But, hey, you take what you can get with some kids, right?

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With baseball’s trade deadline just 10 days away, rumors are running rampant around the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mired in last place for much of the season, the Diamondbacks are seen as sellers hoping to add prospects and players that will return them back to contention in 2011.

Amid the center of the rumors is staff ace Dan Haren who took the mound for the D-Backs last night in their final game against the New York Mets.

The way the pitching rotation is playing out, Haren will have two more starts before the trade deadline.

The first would be Tuesday against the National League defending champion Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia.

The second start would be in New York against the Mets.

Since both are road games, this could possibly be Haren’s final start at Chase Field as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The question is, what are the odds of the Diamondbacks actually dealing their ace at the deadline?

Sports Illustrated reported Arizona is asking a steep price for Haren. Two starting pitchers and a reliever would be needed to give a team a front-line starter capable of taking them to the playoffs.

The two starters would most likely be high level Double-A or Triple-A prospects projected to be front of the rotation starters.

The reliever could either be major-league ready or very close. It would not necessarily have to be a closer; although, that would give the team an edge in trade talks.

Is the price too high?

Looking at the recent deals for Roy Halladay, Jake Peavy, Cliff Lee, and others that seems to be the standard deal.

It should be noted that Haren is not just a half-year rental like some pitchers. He is under contract through 2012 with a club option for 2013 giving a team cost certainty for two additional seasons.

At last night’s game, there were several scouts in attendance including representatives from the Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and Detroit Tigers.

So obviously there are some teams entertaining the thoughts of making a trade.

The Diamondbacks have been saying consistently that they are not planning on making a trade unless they are overwhelmed by a deal that would set them up for long-term success for several years to come.

So, while last night may have been Haren’s final start at Chase Field, it is my belief that once the calendar turns from July to August Haren will still be a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Of course I am also the one who thought the Diamondbacks should not have traded for Haren in the first place.

I would much rather have had Carlos Gonzalez playing left field for Arizona and possibly having Greg Smith or Dana Eveland pitching.

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When we moved to Arizona in 1994, Phoenix was clearly a basketball town. The Phoenix Suns were continuously sold out and you heard stories of people spending hours on the phone the day single game tickets went on sale hoping to score tickets to a single game during the season.

When the Suns were on television it felt like the whole city stopped whatever it was doing and focused all of their attention on the basketball game. I had never lived in a city so obsessed with a sports team and soon I found myself drawn into their enthusiasm. But alas, I am not a basketball kind of guy, my love is baseball.

On March 9, 1995 when Major League Baseball introduced the Arizona Diamondbacks as their newest franchise I was exstatic. If people in this town were excited about basketball, just wait until they had an MLB team. Then they would have a real reason to celebrate.

I was in attendance on March 31, 1998 when the Arizona Diamondbacks faced the Colorado Rockies in their first Opening Day. Bank One Ballpark was sold out. Even the standing room only tickets were long gone as people wanted to be a part of this historic event.

Along with me I brought my wife, Trina, and my son, Dakota, who was just an infant. I had several people question why I would bring my son to the game when he was clearly too young to understand. It never occurred to me not to bring him.

Having Diamondbacks season tickets have been an annual event. We have always had two seats. I would attend every game while the second seat would be shared by the rest of the family.

Each game I would take one of my five children or my wife. It was just what we did. For 81 nights each year we would go to “the ballpark.” It was in my mind the perfect situation. It gave me an opportunity to spend quality one-on-one time with one of my children or my wife while watching the game I loved.

It gave me an opportunity to teach my children about this great sport and what it meant not just to me, but also from an historical perspective. When the Diamondbacks started, my oldest daughter was 15, while my son was just a baby.

No matter their ages, they were given an opportunity to go to the game. To me it sounded like the perfect way to spend your childhood. I mean who wouldn’t want to spend time with their dad at a Major League Baseball game?

At first the kids thought the same way. It was new and it was cool to be down at the ballpark. You might catch a foul ball or get an autograph. If you were lucky one of the players would wave at you.

But when a kid is subjected to this for 81 days a year for 13 years, their excitement wanes just a little. No one wants to spend that much time with dad especially if he is some crazed baseball fan that rarely, if ever, misses a game.

While I can’t prove this, I have a suspicion that my wife bribed the kids to go to the game offering them prizes for going just one more time. But you know, something changed somewhere along the way.

My two oldest daughters are now grown and married. They are no longer part of the regular game rotation that occurs every season. They have their own lives to live. Instead of celebrating the fact that they no longer have to spend all summer at the ballpark, they now lament the fact that they don’t have that opportunity.

Their change in attitude has proven a theory I have had for a long time. In order to build a strong loyal fan base, you need multi-generational fans that grew up rooting for the team. You will get some longtime fans such as me that gravitate to the home team, but the most loyal fans grow up with the game.

I recently became a grandfather for the first time. While I am lamenting the sudden loss of my youth. I am excited at the thoughts of a brand new generation of Diamondbacks fans. As soon as my granddaughter Lily was born, she received a Diamondbacks outfit in the mail from me.

This week they came to Arizona to visit which coincided with the beginning of a seven game home stand. Like I did with my own children, I planned to introduce baseball to the newest member of our family.

Although Lily is only four months old, there she was in Section 132 Row 9 seated on my lap. I held her and my scorebook while pointing out all of the sights and sounds of Chase Field. She sat there looking all around trying to absorb this new place.

She helped me fill out the scorebook and even drooled all over the Mets lineup. We sat there for nine innings enjoying the game. It was the perfect game ending with a Diamondbacks win.

The wins and losses don’t matter nearly as much. It was the fact that I could share my love of baseball with another generation. One that I hope will one day grow up and tell her own children about the time grandpa took her to the ballpark and showed her the game he loved so much.

It is through experiences such as this that this will become a baseball town. One day the stadium will be filled to capacity with loyal fans rooting for the home team. That’s my dream, to let the children experience baseball one game at a time.

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Before Mike Pelfrey had even gotten an out, this game was doomed.

Pelfrey’s line from the first inning should tell you enough about how the game tonight went:

1.1 IP 7 H 6 ER 2BB 1SO through 67 pitches (51 of them being in the first inning).

The Mets full lineup was back together but that wasn’t nearly enough to account by poor pitching by the Mets, even after Pelfrey’s disaster, Fernando Nieve gave up five runs and Pedro Feliciano gave up another two.

Mark Reynolds had four RBI’s a home run and six Dimonadback hitters had multi-hit games.

The Mets lineup didn’t produce much, but had some run scoring chances, also Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo both had multi-hit games. Reyes had a RBI and so did Angel Pagan .

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Seriously, Arizona?

I knew the team was bad, but this is a new low. 

Attempting to draw a crowd by constructing 10-foot tall monstrosities that would make Frankenstein look cuddly. 

I get the trying-to-relate-to-kids theme, but how is giving children nightmares going to bring them back to the ballpark?

The mascots look like Sloth from The Goonies , and personally, I don’t want to have to bring a Baby Ruth candy bar every time I go see a D-Backs game. 

A message to the rest of Major League Baseball: Don’t try to emulate Milwaukee’s magic, it’s one of a kind. 

Anyway, I digress. Here are my odds for the race if each player was actually running. 

Randy Johnson: 7-1

After seeing The Big Unit hit a gapper on a few occasions to only end up with a single, it’s hard to give Johnson much of a shot. 

Anybody else remember when he fell down in between first and second base?

Being eight feet tall ain’t easy. 

Luis Gonzalez: 30-1

Hailed as the greatest sports figure in D-Backs history (thanks for the World Series win Gonzo!), I still wonder why his name never came up in the steroids talk.

Guy hit 57 home runs in 2001, and then never broke 30 ever again.

That’s a little too shady for my liking, I got Gonzalez breaking down halfway through the race.

Mark Grace: 25-1

Not exactly sure why a Cubs legend is in the Diamondbacks’ Legends Race, but who am I to judge?

Despite only playing three years in the desert, Grace has become a household name in the valley for his work on the broadcast side of the business. 

The first baseman won’t even finish the race, he’ll be too busy trying to do the play-by-play and yelling “CAR!.”

Matt Williams: 2-1

An original Arizona Diamondback, Williams is often lost in the shuffle when talking about the club’s early origins. 

The third baseman ranks among D-Backs’ players in home runs (99, fourth), RBI (381, third), and total bases (1,067, third).

Retired after the 2003 season, Williams returned to the organization in 2009 as a base coach. 

The old man wins going away by eight lengths. 

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As we all know, the first half of the baseball season has been nothing short of a disaster for those of us who claim the Diamondbacks as our team.

As painful and embarrassing it is to admit it now, I am one of those poor fans.

Even with the shame and disappointment of the season, this second half still holds value for me as a fan.

Now, since the team is completely out of contention, the priorities change.

There is no way that they can win the division or even get close, but there are some things I wish to see in the final 73 games of the season.

Trades:

The team’s current roster does not work.

The mix of players, however individually talented, is not working as a team. There are issues with strikeouts, starting pitching consistency, and relief pitching in general.

Additionally, a once heralded farm system is now seemingly bare.

Who should go? First should be Chris Snyder (this saddens me because he is No. 2 on my favorites behind Mark Reynolds—I mean, be honest, how can you not love a guy who literally busted his balls for the team AND THEN FINISHED CATCHING THE INNING. I WAS THERE AT THAT GAME!).

Miguel Montero is turning out to be the best hitter on the team. Snyder is starting worthy and deserves to go somewhere to have that shot.

Plus, if you want a low average, defensively-minded catcher, John Hester is a lot cheaper. Moving Snyder would mean adding some young talent.

Honestly, I think a change of scenery will be beneficial. I seem to recall another very similar catcher that played for Arizona that left. He was a defensive catcher, hit poorly, but had power.

His name was Rod Barajas, and he has been a starter now for a few years. He still only hits about .240, but has hit over 20 home runs in a season three times since leaving Arizona and been considered a solid player.

I foresee this type of play from Snyder if he leaves.

Who else should go? I think that Kelly Johnson should go so that Tony Abreu can play everyday, even though some doubt that he is an everyday player.

I would let Stephen Drew go for a pitcher like Ricky Porcello, as it is rumored that is being discussed.

I waver on Adam LaRoche because of his glove. He drives in runs, but he is like so many other players and strikes out a lot.

Both have reasonable contracts for next season and have value. Dan Haren should go only if there is a great deal on the table.

Player improvement:

Without the pressure of a pennant race, the players should focus on development. I want to see my man Mark Reynolds (currently on pace for 222 strikeouts) NOT pass his previous two records.

I want to see his average end up at about .250 (meaning he hits between .270 and .280 for the second half). I want him to end up with at least 35 home runs and 110 RBI.

I want to see both Chris Young and Justin Upton end up with 30/30 seasons. I want Upton to avoid 200 strikeouts (currently he is on pace for 202).

I want to see Upton hit .300 for the second half and stay healthy. He needs to be that type of player to fulfill the expectations we all have.

I want Miguel Montero to finish the year with a .300 average or better. I want to see Upton, Reynolds, and LaRoche (if he is on the team the rest of the season) all have at least 100 RBI.

I want to see either Cole Gillespie or Gerardo Parra to establish who should be the starting left fielder of the future.

Personally, I want to see Parra develop into the high average, slap and gap hitter that the team lacks in the lineup. Those attributes would be nice combined with his solid defense.

I want to see at least ONE guy in the bullpen claim the closer job and be at least okay. I don’t EVER want to see Chad Qualls closing a game.

I want to see Brandon Webb actually pitch in a game.

General play:

What I hope to see out of the team is emotion.

I want the players to be fired up, win or lose. If a bad loss, I want to see pain and disappointment, like it matters.

I want to see grit and determination. I want to see Kirk Gibson having a tangible influence on the squad.

Wins and losses:

I know the season is shot, but I want to see the talent start coming together, especially offensively (since the bullpen seems to be a lost cause).

I’m not expecting much, but I would like .500 play the rest of the way. The team is on pace for a 61-101 record.

If they can go 37-36 for the second half, the record will still be a putrid 71-91, but it would be solid progress considering what has happened thus far.

What will likely happen:

As much as I want to believe that all these things will happen, more than likely we will see more of the same.

Justin Upton and Mark Reynolds will both have 200-plus strikeouts, but Reynolds will hit 40 home runs. However, he will probably hit only about .230. Upton will stay about .260.

I would be surprised if Webb pitches in the majors. It will have officially been the biggest con in history, as he would have weaseled the team out of over $8 million for doing nothing.

No one will take over the closer’s role effectively. The bullpen will continue to be disastrous and will set the record for futility in ERA.

The team will make no meaningful moves and not change much, which means little will change this year or next.

So, while I am not oblivious to the likelihood of continued meagerness on the field (in fact, I already am hoping for new and exciting ways to lose just for entertainment, like a sort of loser bingo ), I want to find hope and excitement about the future of the club.

We shall soon see how it goes.

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When the 2010 season began, the Arizona Diamondbacks thought they had all of the pieces in place to compete in the National League Western Division. Team officials were confident that 2009 was an anomaly and they had taken steps both with the pitching staff and the offense to overcome the difficulties they faced last season.  The thinking was that they should compete for the divisional crown, or at the least, the wild card.

Through the first week of the season confidence was growing for this team. They began taking two of three from the San Diego Padres and won the series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The mounting losses of 2009 seemed like a distant memory.

With the first road trip of the season, the Diamondbacks fortunes changed when the team went 1-5 against the Dodgers and the Padres. Little did we know that trip would be a more accurate barometer of how this team would play through the first three months of the season.

While the Diamondbacks stumbled at home, going 21-25, that was nothing compared to their struggles on the road where they are a woeful 13-30 thus far.

Several theories have been proposed as to why the team has done so poorly.

The players did not seem to respond to manager AJ Hinch and he was subsequently let go by the team; the roster construction relied heavily on power hitters who strike out at alarming rates; and, of course, no one can forget the bullpen which has the worst ERA in the major leagues and is on pace to shatter the single season record for failure.

The roster shortcomings resulted in General Manager Josh Byrnes getting fired.

During the press conference when Hinch and Byrnes were let go, General Partner Ken Kendrick and CEO/President Derrick Hall alluded to more changes that could be on the horizon.

At the All-Star break, questions remain: what changes are in store for the Arizona Diamondbacks and what are the expectations of the team over the second half of the season?

Hall and Kendrick have already publicly stated they will be evaluating all aspects of the organization to identify areas of improvement. There are no areas that will be off-limits to these assessments.

Already there have been changes in the baseball operations staff and further changes may be coming. From a scouting and player development perspective, too many of these young players are reaching the majors with swing flaws and questionable plate discipline.

Interim manager Kirk Gibson has already expressed concern over the strikeouts and has challenged his coaches and players to begin changing their approach.  Otherwise, they may not remain on this team long.

Likewise, the pitching staff, under the direction of pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr., has been challenged to become more involved in the advanced scouting and preparation. Rather than having scouting reports provided to the pitchers, Gibson and Stottlemyre expect the pitchers to collect the information and share it amongst themselves to become more hands-on in preparing for a series or game.

That might sound obvious, but to many of these young players it is a foreign concept. They are now being asked to be more accountable, something that should have been taught at each level of their minor league development.

The players are not immune to the assessments being made by Kendrick and Hall. They understand full well that the Diamondbacks will be sellers at the trade deadline and that no one is exempt from being dealt if the right deal comes along.

Although, it may be naïve to believe the Diamondbacks will make wholesale changes by the July 31 trade deadline. Most of the players on this team have underachieved and, therefore, have little trade value. The Diamondbacks will not make trades just for the sake of change. A deal will only be considered if it makes this year’s team better while also improving future teams.

It is more plausible to think Arizona will make the bulk of their roster adjustments in the offseason when they can assess the free agent market as well as the trade market. Given the comments by members of the Diamondbacks management team, I anticipate the roster to be constructed differently next year than what we have seen in 2009 and 2010.

The roster needs an infusion of players capable of getting on base and providing more situational hitting expertise than the current group has. They also need to re-evaluate the relief pitching and organize a staff that won’t lose leads.

All of these changes could mean potential free agents such as Chad Qualls, Adam LaRoche, and perhaps Kelly Johnson may not remain with the team.

The second half of the season should be entertaining if for no other reason than to see how club management views the pieces they have in place and which will be deemed expendable. Buckle your seat belts, this could be a heck of a ride.

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