Arizona Diamondbacks 2005 Season Preview

By Paul Wysard

In 60 years of following Major League Baseball, I have almost always been somewhat a Pollyanna. There has never been a desire to rip players or managers, as Big Leaguers have, rightly or wrongly, always been looked upon as special people. If they played on favorite teams, they were even considered friends, yet even at the height of devoted naivete, in the late '40s and early '50s, there was a certain unease, an awareness that some teams were really rather dull.

Which leads us to a look at the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2005 version. Their sin is not that they lost 111 games last year; it is that with the departures of Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, Tony Womack, Erubiel Durazo, and Richie Sexson, the club's "pizzazz quotient" has hit an all-time low. Even B-Y Kim, with all of those gopher balls in the 2001 World Series, possessed a considerable amount of entertainment value. Sorry, Arizona fans, although your team will surely win more games during the coming season, it is BORING.

As I pondered the situation, I also sought to recall what I believed to be the most boring team over the past 60 years. The mental search did not take long, as the hands-down winner was the 1947-49 Chicago White Sox. In that three-year period, those Sox finished 6th, last, and 6th, just slightly better than the two AL doormats of the era, the St. Louis Browns and the Washington Senators. But at least the Browns could hit homeruns, while the Senators had a great hitter in Mickey Vernon and two impressive starters in Early Wynn and Ray Scarborough.

The arrogant 1920s avant garde intellectual Gertrude Stein once said of the city of Oakland that "there is no there there." So it was at Comiskey Park in those days. The club averaged only 53 homeruns per year over those three campaigns and no performer hit as many as 20. Old Rudy York hit 15 in 1947 and the infamous but loveable "Fat Pat" Seerey, the perennial AL leader in strikeouts, hit 18 in 1948. At first Base, four players combined for a grand total of 26 homers over the three years with an annual average RBI output of a whopping 65. Tony Lupien, later the beloved varsity coach at Dartmouth College, nevertheless went .246, 6, 54 in all 154 games in 1948. The most productive outfielder was Dave Philley, who became a respected reserve and pinch-hitter later in his career, but averaged only .280 with a bottom line of 7 homers and 131 RBI - altogether - in 1947-49. The poster child for the club was infielder Floyd Baker, who played at several positions, but rang up just .248 with less than 50 runs scored per year in that period. Southside fans had to be content watching ancient shortstop and future Hall-of-Famer Luke Appling, in his 40s, hit .300 every year. Otherwise, the atmosphere must surely have been permeated by one, big yawn

To add to this malaise, the ownership traded their best pitcher, Ed Lopat, to the Yankees, and all he did was win 109 games over the next seven seasons. They traded their best young power hitter, Gus Zernial, who then led the AL in homers and RBI in 1951. They traded their most versatile player, Don Kolloway, who helped a Detroit Tiger resurgence in 1949-50. Not a pretty, colorful picture.

In Phoenix over the next six months, Javier Vazquez could blossom into the elite starter many baseball folks have foreseen, and Russ Ortiz, whose command slipped toward the end of last season, will show that he is a bulldog who will fight the enemy through the last at-bat, but the electricity always in the air when the Big Unit took his turn will be missing. So will the speed and tenacity of Steve Finley, as well as the power of Sexson, which fans were unable to enjoy over a longer haul. Womack and Schilling were reminders of the gloried Series week of 2001.

Luis Gonzalez remains and Craig Counsell returns. The former is a class act, who might still contribute key hits if his elbow is sound; the latter plays well when the chips are down in post-seasons, but this team will not go anywhere near that far. A lot of attractive fireworks could be provided if Troy Glaus' shoulder has healed, but Chad Tracy across the diamond is right now among the least-feared offensive 1st basemen in the Majors. Shawn Green has had several strong seasons, but supplements the overall blandness of the club.

The franchise needs to continue the makeover begun this past winter, but it is not clear whether or not they actually have the resources. One day, they are paying Ortiz big money, but the next day we read of debts and other financial squeezes.

In any case, those long-ago White Sox morphed from dullards into the game's most exciting team in the early 1950s. Marvelous Minnie Minoso arrived and his all-around talent and sparkling attitude were infectious. Smooth and quick Chico Carrasquel took over for Appling, matching up well with sharp hitting Nellie Fox at second base. "Jungle Jim" Rivera brought speed and more power to the outfield. Southpaw Billy Pierce became a premier pitcher. The bores became the "Go-Go Sox," always in motion, waking up the home crowds, and growing immensely popular with fans everywhere. And they came close to the top several times before taking the AL pennant in 1959. It can be done, and Arizona has done it before. Does ownership have the wherewithal and desire to do it again?