Jason Schmidt - we all know he had a bad season last year, riddled with injuries, and when he was healthy he sucked. There have been reports that his rehab has been going well, but now we'll get a better idea of how banged up he still is. A couple years ago nobody would ever have thought he'd have to fight guys like Loaiza or Kuo for a starting job.
Andy Laroche - He'll be battling Nomar for that 3rd base gig. Some people threw him under the bus after he struggled with the big club last season. But he wasn't in the bigs for very long, and most baseball experts agree that he has a lot of potential. Provided he didn't slack off this offseason he should have no problem winning the starting job.
Andre Ethier - After being forced to platoon with Kemp and Gonzo last season, it looks like he might be asked to platoon again with Ned signing Andruw Jones and not getting rid of Juan Pierre. It should be interesting to see how he responds to this situation. I definitely would like to see him beat out Pierre for #1 left fielder, but I don't see that happening. While he's no Matt Kemp, he is pretty damn talented. How's he going to feel being the 4th outfielder for the next 2 seasons?
Anyhow, it's really nice to have baseball season right around the corner.
Let's see if the guys make it to the start of the season healthy. It'd be nice to have the
"trying to find playing time for too many good players " problem instead of the "which .220 career hitter do we use to fill out the lineup this year" problem.
feeling really good about this team, i'm excited to see how Andruw Jones will do this year.
I say the Dodgers are better than the Phillies at least but that's just my opinion and i dont think the Dbacks can win again if they're going to be outscored like last year. They won an incredible amounts of close games last year.
I certainly don't think the Cubs are the 2nd best team in the NL. D'backs did defy odds last year with their RS v RA but that is a young team that should get better. Take off some luck, add some experience to the young talent and they are probably as good as last year. NYM, Philly, Colorado... it's going to be a year of a lot of good teams but no great teams in the league.
I say the Dodgers are better than the Phillies at least but that's just my opinion and i dont think the Dbacks can win again if they're going to be outscored like last year. They won an incredible amounts of close games last year.
The Dbacks defnitley played above their heads last year, just one of those years where every ball bounced the right way for them. Like you mentioned, overall run differential they were outscored.
That being said, adding Dan Haren is huge although Byrnes will probably comeback to earth they'll probably get better years out of Drew and Young(average and OBP wise).
Bandit
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