MLB Team by Team: 2008 Arizona Diamondbacks

Last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks proved, conclusively, that pitching and defense win championships, because they surely didn't win the National League West with their offense. It was more than enough to get them through the playoffs until they ran into the purple-and-black buzzsaw out of Denver in the National League Championship Series.

The Politically Correct Experiment (no offense!) will apparently continue in the desert, as the D-backs made no moves offensively and added Cy Young contender Dan Haren from the Oakland Athletics to an already stuffed rotation. Will it yield the same results?

OFFENSE: D

As previously stated, the D-backs offense was this side of putrid, barely scoring more runs than they allowed (687 to 662), and, for most of the year, that wasn't the case. Left fielder Eric Byrnes is a player any organization would love to have: he puts up the numbers (.286, with 21 homers and 83 RBI's), he's gritty and scrappy (the title of his XM show is "Hustle," after all) and he's all about the team. And there's a few other good pieces, like Chris Young in centerfield, who slugged 32 homers (but only drove in 68 runs with them) and veteran second baseman Orlando Hudson, but here's the rub, if anyone in the outfield goes down, there's nothing on the bench to replace them (Jeff Salazar played only briefly and mostly unmemorably, newcomer Chris Burke hit .229 in 111 games). Arizona is playing with dangerous cards on offense going into the season.

PROJECTED LINEUP: 1 Upton, RF, 2 Hudson 2B, 3 Byrnes LF, 4 Young CF, 5 Jackson 1B, 6 Reynolds 3B, 7 Drew SS, 8 Snyder C, 9 pitcher's spot

STARTING PITCHING: A

So, you have Brandon Webb, 2006 National League Cy Young Winner, last season you add ageless wonder Randy Johnson, and, before his injury, he looks pretty decent (4-3, 3.81 ERA, 72 strikeouts in 56 innings), and Doug Davis and Micah Owings stepped up admirably to pick up behind Webb (18-10, 3.01 in 236 innings). Pretty good rowing, right? But the D-backs weren't resting on their laurels, they wanted more, and they got Haren, Oakland's great young righthander. So, you can add 15-18 wins, and another possible Cy Young contender, and, if Johnson is healthy, a three-headed monster that very few teams can come close to competing with.

PROJECTED ROTATION Webb, Haren, Johnson, Davis, Owings

BULLPEN: B

Jose Valverde was the one at the gate in the ninth inning last year, and he shut it 47 times on the opposition. But something told the Arizona front office that they could do better, so they shipped Valverde off to the Houston Astros in exchange for Chad Qualls and Burke, and recently named Brandon Lyon the closer. So, at the back end of the bullpen, there's Qualls and Tony Pena setting up Lyon. All three are possible closers, all three had magnificent seasons last year. Maybe the front office is on to something here.

CONCLUSION

The Diamondbacks went 92-70 last year on the strength of pitching, and won the division in a three-way dogfight with Colorado and the San Diego Padres. They are apparently hoping for the same this year, having made no significant upgrades to their anemic offense. With the addition of Haren and a even more formidable bullpen, this team may end up winning most games 2-1, and that's plenty good enough to once again win the West. October, though, may be another story yet again.

PREDICTION 91-71, 1st in National League West