The Arizona Diamondbacks had a magical 2011 season, with a ton of things going right. They got great starting pitching, timely hitting and a lights out bullpen, anchored by closer J.J. Putz. This past offseason, they made one big trade, bringing Trevor Cahill to the starting rotation, signing Takashi Saito to the bullpen and pretty much bringing everyone else back from the 2011 team.
They believe that this core of players can repeat with their success. ESPN's Buster Olney also thinks so.
A tweet on Saturday probably took aback many a baseball fan.
@Buster_ESPN
Buster Olney Thinking right now about picking Tampa Bay-Arizona World Series. Your nominations?
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That is correct. The Diamondbacks and Rays. The league probably cringes at the thought as probably 20 people outside the two local markets would watch that World Series.
While it is a bold prediction to say that Arizona can do that, consider this. Their starting rotation of Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson, Josh Collmenter, Trevor Cahill and Joe Saunders potentially matches up to any other one in the league. Justin Upton showed he can be the star we have been waiting for. Paul Goldshmidt is projected to hit around 30 homeruns. The bullpen is good. This team is potentially as talented as any other.
Plus they have Kirk Gibson managing them.
So while it may seem a little bit out there to think that Arizona Diamondbacks could contend for the World Series, it isn't that far out there.
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