NL West: 5th
Oh dear. After trading Curt Schilling to Boston, many people thought the Diamondbacks would not be as good. I don't think anyone imagined they would be this bad!
What went well?:
Er, not an easy secttion of the review to write! Randy Johnson (16-14, 2.60 ERA) put in another excellent year, but he must have been annoyed at the lack of run support, th defensive mistakes and general mess that this club was in. His name was linked with the Dodgers, Yankees and Cardinals at the last trade deadline, and I would be very surprised if "The Big Unit" was still in an Arizona uniform by the end of 2005.
Steve Finley (.275, 23 HR, 48 RBIs) was the only real offensive threat Arizona had, but he was packed off to the Dodgers at the trade deadline. Shea Hillenbrand (.310, 15 HR, 80 RBIs) had a decent year, as did rookie Chad Tracy (.285, 8 HR, 53 RBIs) although he did make 26 errors in 143 games.
In the bullpen, Mike Koplove (4-4, 4.05 ERA) had a decent year. Rookies Greg Aquino (0-2, 2.06 ERA, 16 saves) and Brian Bruney (3-4, 4.31 ERA) look ones for the future.
What didn't go well?:
Practically everything else! Luis Gonzalez (.259, 17 HR, 48 RBIs) was bothered by shoulder trouble and went on the DL after 105 games. Richie Sexson (.233, 9 HRs, 23 RBIs), the big bat brought into help Gonzalez and Finley, played in just 23 games after twice injuring his shoulder on check swings.
The pitching staff, aside from Johnson, was a mess. Brandon Webb (7-16, 3.59) didn't get much run support, but didn't help himself with 119 walks and 17 wild pitches. Casey Fossum (4-15, 6.65 ERA), brought over in the Schilling deal, was disastrous. Casey Daigle (2-3, 7.16 ERA) allowed SIX homers in his debut. Edgar Gonzalez (0-9, 9.32 ERA) was clobbered in 10 late season starts.
The bullpen was a revolving door of kids and veterans, with very few proving to be very effective. Matt Mantei was injured again, with Jose Valverde (1-2, 4.25 ERA, 8 saves) and Oscar Villarreal (0-2, 7.00 ERA) also missing most of the year - a result of Bob Brenly's bullpen overuse?
Overall, Arizona used 52 players in 2004, with 16 of them rookies. It was always going to be hard to compete when your better hitters are either injured or traded, and none of your non-Randy Johnson pitchers are getting it done.
What about next year?:
Whether Johnson stays or not, it's going to be another long year for Arizona. They hired Wally Backman as their new manager, only to fire him a few days later once they learnt of past offences and money problems. Bob Melvin, the bench coach on the 2001 World Series winning Diamondbacks, will take over in what was a very embarrassing few days for the team.
Arizona are already financially crippled with deferred payments to a host of players, so don't expect them to be big spenders on the free agent market. They will try and re-sign Sexson, but he might be more inclined to take a better offer from somewhere like Seattle or Baltimore. If/when Johnson is traded, Arizona has to do a better job of getting something decent in return for him, as the results of the Schilling deal with the Red Sox were horrible.