Oh, my God, I have a D-Backs blog
I have not posted on here since a little before the All-Star Break. Since then, a lot has happened to our beloved team:
- the callups of the Baby Backs: Drew, CQ, Chris Young - and all of them doing pretty good
- the pickup of Livan Hernandez
- the trade of Shawn Green
and as of this writing we are 6.5 games back and 4 games back in the WC race. We finished the last homestand 2-6.
I have been mad posting on the Diamondbacks board so here are some thoughts I placed there:
I'm not impressed with Kendricks as the D-Backs owner.
1. The way Grimsley and Gonzo were handled. Quality FA's may not want to come here even if we can afford them.
2. Reluctance to really go after good mid-priced FA's. I am glad we got Livan and I do realize we are caught in a bind with finances.
If you like Kendricks as an owner tell me why I should like him. Otherwise I will wish for him to sell his piece of the team to Matt Williams or Moorad so we can really get to the business of winning.
And yes, I know the Sidewinders are one of hottest teams in AAA. Yes, I know our farm system is one of the best in the game. And Yes, I am mildly confident will will contend for the NL West in 2007. But where is our pitching gonna come from? Especially the rotation? Where is our slugger gonna come from? When are we gonna stop leaving 21 runners on base in a game without scoring????? We NEED to build this team to beat the Dodgers, the Mets and the Cardinals. There is absolutely NO REASON why a team with position players with the talent and experience we have can get swept by the Giants and drop 2 of 3 to the Dodgers. That is utterly inexcusable.
Leadership has to come from the top. If Kenny can let Josh Byrnes craft the D-Backs and leave him alone and keep his mouth, his morals and hispolitics to himself I will respect him a lot more. Right now he's looking a lot like the second coming of Marge Schott, not as extreme, but still scary.
...Bringing on one of the bright young (relatively) minds in baseball was a very good move. I am just scared that he might keep Byrnes from running the team as he sees fit. The team MUST be Josh Byrnes' team, NOT Ken Kendricks' for the purposes of player acquisition and development. Josh Byrnes needs to develop a legendary reputation like John Schuerholz and Walt Jocketty and some of the other great GM's in this game. And Kendrick and the other partners need to step back and fully allow it to happen. I am not confident that Kendrick is the kind of person to just keep quiet and just let his GM be the GM. And if Byrnes cannot do the job he was hired to do this franchise will only be a shadow of how great it looks like it might become in the next 2-5 years.
I still love the Livan trade and hope Livo can be a rock in the rotation down the stretch - what little of it is left now - and next year.
I hope the MLB draft the next few years brings us some great pitching and some great OF prospects who are power hitters.
And I hope the payroll gets to the point where we can add an arm or two to get us past the first two games of a homestand.
September will be the month where I decide how I feel as a fan we are going and what we must do going into the winter meetings and spring training. Going 2-6 for this homestand against our two biggest division rivals is NOT a great way to start. We could have scored our way into first place. We almost pitched well enough to do so.
- the callups of the Baby Backs: Drew, CQ, Chris Young - and all of them doing pretty good
- the pickup of Livan Hernandez
- the trade of Shawn Green
and as of this writing we are 6.5 games back and 4 games back in the WC race. We finished the last homestand 2-6.
I have been mad posting on the Diamondbacks board so here are some thoughts I placed there:
I'm not impressed with Kendricks as the D-Backs owner.
1. The way Grimsley and Gonzo were handled. Quality FA's may not want to come here even if we can afford them.
2. Reluctance to really go after good mid-priced FA's. I am glad we got Livan and I do realize we are caught in a bind with finances.
If you like Kendricks as an owner tell me why I should like him. Otherwise I will wish for him to sell his piece of the team to Matt Williams or Moorad so we can really get to the business of winning.
And yes, I know the Sidewinders are one of hottest teams in AAA. Yes, I know our farm system is one of the best in the game. And Yes, I am mildly confident will will contend for the NL West in 2007. But where is our pitching gonna come from? Especially the rotation? Where is our slugger gonna come from? When are we gonna stop leaving 21 runners on base in a game without scoring????? We NEED to build this team to beat the Dodgers, the Mets and the Cardinals. There is absolutely NO REASON why a team with position players with the talent and experience we have can get swept by the Giants and drop 2 of 3 to the Dodgers. That is utterly inexcusable.
Leadership has to come from the top. If Kenny can let Josh Byrnes craft the D-Backs and leave him alone and keep his mouth, his morals and hispolitics to himself I will respect him a lot more. Right now he's looking a lot like the second coming of Marge Schott, not as extreme, but still scary.
...Bringing on one of the bright young (relatively) minds in baseball was a very good move. I am just scared that he might keep Byrnes from running the team as he sees fit. The team MUST be Josh Byrnes' team, NOT Ken Kendricks' for the purposes of player acquisition and development. Josh Byrnes needs to develop a legendary reputation like John Schuerholz and Walt Jocketty and some of the other great GM's in this game. And Kendrick and the other partners need to step back and fully allow it to happen. I am not confident that Kendrick is the kind of person to just keep quiet and just let his GM be the GM. And if Byrnes cannot do the job he was hired to do this franchise will only be a shadow of how great it looks like it might become in the next 2-5 years.
I still love the Livan trade and hope Livo can be a rock in the rotation down the stretch - what little of it is left now - and next year.
I hope the MLB draft the next few years brings us some great pitching and some great OF prospects who are power hitters.
And I hope the payroll gets to the point where we can add an arm or two to get us past the first two games of a homestand.
September will be the month where I decide how I feel as a fan we are going and what we must do going into the winter meetings and spring training. Going 2-6 for this homestand against our two biggest division rivals is NOT a great way to start. We could have scored our way into first place. We almost pitched well enough to do so.
posted by Michael Sheldon Reed at 8:37 AM
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