NL West: Can the Diamondbacks Do It?

Last year, the NL West was arguably the most competitive division in baseball. No team ever lead the division by very much and September was an all-out sprint to the finish. Unfortunately for the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers went and got Manny Ramirez, who turned out to be somewhat of a mercenary. Ramirez seemed to hoist the Dodgers up and over everybody, including Arizona. Arizona hopefuls may be happy to see that Manny is a free agent now, but they probably shouldn't hold their breaths as to whether he'll sign with another team.

As for the Diamondbacks themselves, they look fairly similar to the way they looked last year, with the exception that they might not have Randy Johnson in the rotation. They still have Cy Young winner Brandon Webb, a very solid number two in Dan Haren, the veteran experience of Doug Davis and a few younger guys that may not have performed that well last year but showed a lot of upside. Micah Owings, for example, didn't finish the way most thought but he got off to a great start by showing his potential with his arm as well as his bat. They do still have a question mark as to who is going to be their closer. Jon Rauch would seem to be a likely candidate, but for a playoff contending team, he's probably not what they're looking for.

Offensively, the Diamondbacks in decent shape, but they could use some help. Most if not all of their infielders are pretty mediocre at the plate despite being solid in the field. On the other hand, their outfielders, Byrnes, Upton and Young, show great spark hitting for average and battling the pitcher in each at-bat they get. Next year they could be a lot of fun to watch.

The Diamondbacks certainly have a chance this upcoming year. With the combination of their young players and other teams in the division not playing so well, they could certainly turn some heads in the '09 season.