EVENTS
 Sportsman of the Year
 Heisman Trophy
 Swimsuit 2001

1. Arizona Diamondbacks

Can last season's bevy of career years be duplicated? The D-backs say no problem

By Lars Anderson

Offense Defense Starting Pitching Bullpen Manager 1999 Record 100-62 (first in NL West) Batting Order SS Tony Womack 2B Jay Bell RF Luis Gonzalez 3B Matt Williams 1B Erubiel Durazo CF Steve Finley RF Travis Lee C Kelly Stinnett Bench C Damian Miller OF Bernard Gilkey IF Greg Colbrunn IF Lenny Harris IF Andy Fox Starters LH Randy Johnson RH Todd Stottlemyre LH Omar Daal RH Armando Reynoso LH Brian Anderson Bullpen RH Matt Mantei LH Greg Swindell RH Russ Springer RH Darren Holmes LH Dan Plesac RH Byung-Hyun Kim Next Up... After pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim got the first save of his major league career against the Mets last May, Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter actually bowed to his pitcher. This season Showalter expects to have many more opportunities to pay his respects to Kim, who in 1999 became just the third Korean to make the majors. "He can throw it 91 miles per hour from the side, which is very rare," says Showalter of Kim, 21, who held batters to a .211 average in 25 appearances in '99. "He just needs to gain more confidence and not give hitters too much credit and he'll be a great asset in our bullpen." The Book An opposing team's scout sizes up the Diamondbacks "This club is strong offensively and should win close to 100 games again as long as its strong starting pitching stays healthy. The Diamondbacks don't have the pitching depth in the minors that would allow them to overcome injuries to their starters. In fact, don't look for help from the minors at any position.... Is Tony Womack an every-day shortstop? I don't know. That's the key question for this team. If he can't do it, Arizona has to trade for someone to play the position. Utilityman Andy Fox isn't the answer. With an older Jay Bell at second base, Arizona is not strong up the middle.... Travis Lee is adequate in rightfield, but you're taking a Gold Glove-type first baseman and putting him in the outfield. It's worth it for Erubiel Durazo's bat, but Durazo is only average defensively at best.... Brian Anderson is a .500 pitcher, but he might win 12 games because he'll get good run support with this lineup. I don't like guys like Anderson who rely on their changeup so much. I like Armando Reynoso better.... Middle relief is a major weakness."

Throw in some booze and Buffalo wings, and the Diamondbacks' clubhouse could have passed for the most happening bar in Tucson. During spring training, before the team's third full-squad practice, leftfielder Luis Gonzalez had a karaoke machine hauled into the team's dressing room. After the workout, Gonzalez cued up the machine and belted out the lyrics to Monster Mash while utility infielder Lenny Harris danced next to him with only a towel wrapped around his waist. It was a telling moment and not just because it proved that Harris is no Fred Astaire. It showed that the Diamondbacks had successfully fine-tuned the art of celebrating.

In 1999 Gonzalez proved he can carry a team with his bat; this spring in the cocky clubhouse, he showed he can carry a tune.Stephen Green

That will come in handy, because Arizona will have plenty of reason to party come mid-September, when the franchise will likely be wrapping up its second straight National League West championship. The veteran Diamondbacks are loaded. They have the pitching (their 3.77 ERA in 1999 was the league's second best behind the Braves), the hitting (an NL-best 908 runs) and the managing (Buck Showalter, the shrewd strategist who helped transform Arizona from a 65-win expansion team in '98 to a 100-victory playoff squad last season). "Arizona is in a unique situation because they have a bunch of talented veterans who know each other well and really like each other," says Colorado manager Buddy Bell. "That's a lethal combination."

"We all know that the Diamondbacks are the team to beat in the West," says San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean. "We can only hope they don't perform as well as they did last year."

There are hints, however small, of vulnerability. The average age of the Diamondbacks' projected Opening Day starting lineup is 31, and few expect Matt Williams, Jay Bell (38 home runs, 17 more than his previous best), Gonzalez, Steve Finley and Tony Womack to collectively duplicate their performance of 1999, when all five had the best statistical seasons of their careers by a healthy margin. Showalter, though, is not concerned. "I believe you'll see all this talk about career years and the age of our team is overrated," he says. "I think the guys just had normal years offensively last year. As for age, well, last season the Yankees were one of the oldest clubs in baseball. They didn't seem to do too bad."

Two players from whom Showalter expects bigger things this season are Womack and Travis Lee. Womack is making the difficult transition from rightfield to shortstop, where the Diamondbacks used six players last year. Though originally a shortstop in the Pirates' farm system, Womack was moved to second in 1997 because of his questionable glove and arm. With Bell entrenched at second, Womack ended up in rightfield following his trade to Arizona prior to the start of last year. Being asked to move yet again does not faze him. "I've played shortstop since I was 14," says Womack, who did play 18 games at the position in '99. "So I've got no worries, man. None."

Replacing Womack in rightfield will be the 24-year-old Lee, who was the franchise's golden child just two years ago when he hit 22 home runs and drove in 72 runs as a rookie. However, after going through an 0-for-30 slump last season, he lost his job at first base to Erubiel Durazo, a Mexican League refugee who came out of nowhere and hit .329 in 52 games. Lee is inexperienced in the outfield -- which he played only sparingly in college -- and if he cannot rediscover his stroke or make the adjustment to his new position, veteran Bernard Gilkey will take his spot.

If the Diamondbacks' every-day players do slip a notch, the rotation, anchored by Randy Johnson, is so deep it can carry this team. Last year the 36-year-old Johnson became only the third player to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues, but he threw an ungodly 4,206 pitches, nearly 400 more than anybody else in the majors. That number will have to be reduced substantially if Showalter wants Johnson fresh for the postseason. (Johnson's career postseason record is 2-6, and he was cuffed around by the Mets in his one playoff start last fall.) The rest of the starting staff -- Todd Stottlemyre, Omar Daal, Armando Reynoso and Brian Anderson -- are all effective and give Showalter a balance of lefties and righties that's the envy of his peers. And the Diamondbacks know it. "I really like our team," says third baseman Matt Williams. "We have no weaknesses."

Williams said this as he stood in front of his locker one afternoon in early March. Next to him was a special therapeutic chair he uses for his back. Eventually the day will come for Williams, 34, and the rest of the aging Diamondbacks to take a permanent comfortable seat and watch some other team win this division. Not now, though. Not anytime soon. They've still got some serious partying to do.

Issue date: March 27, 2000

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