There are some crazy-good ballplayers who ply their trade at second base. There’s Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, Chase Utley, Howie Kendrick, Brandon Phillips, Robinson Cano, and Ben Zobrist. There are other good — if not crazy-good — second basemen, like Rickie Weeks and Danny Espinosa. None of these good-to-crazy-good second basemen plays for a team in the National League West.

Which raises two interesting questions:

• Who will play second base in the National League West in 2012?

• How do you think they’ll perform?

In other words, it’s time to get in your 2012 Fan Projections for NL West second basemen.

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For more on the Venezuelan Winter League, check out Carson Cistulli’s final SCOUT leaderboards for said league.

With the MLB in the middle of its winter hiatus, we of the baseball-addicted must roll our listful eyes towards the winter leagues. One such league is the wildly popular Venezuelan Winter League. It is hard to say what exact level the Venezuelan league constitutes — but it certainly has a few veterans of both leagues, as well as a few MLB guys (though usually nobody who is already well established in the majors).

This year, Chicago Cubs fans have had the delight of being able to keep tabs on their… exciting… pitcher Carlos Zambrano. Big-Z — perhaps in an effort to ingratiate himself with the new Cubs regime, perhaps in a move to showcase his talents to the league — has now pitched five games for the Caribes de Anzoategui, but according to some recent rumors, Zambrano may be calling it a winter.

And maybe he should.
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Last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks were baseball’s biggest surprise, winning 94 games and the NL West title just a year after finishing 65-97. The team’s turnaround was driven by strong performances across the roster, but among the key factors in their success was the excellent defense delivered by their trio of outfielders. Chris Young (+14.1), Gerardo Parra (+9.6), and Justin Upton (+7.7) all posted UZRs that ranked among the best in the league at their positions, and the Diamondbacks posted the best team outfield UZR (+31.1) in the National League. With the help of their strong gloves, the team was able to post an ERA (3.80) that was 22 points lower than their FIP (4.02), the fifth largest positive differential in the game.

Well, today, the team decided to change course, signing Jason Kubel to a two year, $15 million contract that will see him take over as the team’s left fielder. By acquiring Kubel, the D’Backs have essentially chosen to displace the incumbent Parra, and in looking at the two players, it’s not actually clear that the team is going to get any better.

Kubel’s addition signifies that the Diamondbacks wanted a bit more power from the left side to balance out the right-handedness brought by Upton, Young, Paul Goldschmidt, and Aaron Hill. While Miguel Montero and a potentially healthy Stephen Drew offered some power from the left side, the middle of the team’s batting order still skewed towards RHBs, and Kubel will give the team more thump at the plate than Parra would have. However, if the team thinks they’re getting a monstrous offensive upgrade in making the switch, they’re likely overestimating the difference between them.

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Oakland and Arizona recently completed a five-player trade that saw three prospects change hands. Oakland sent Major League pitchers Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow to Arizona in return for prospects Jarrod Parker, Ryan Cook, and Collin Cowgill. Parker is definitely the best prospect acquired as neither Cook nor Cowgill made the D-Back’s original Top 15 list. Oakland, though, has less depth in their system so all three players can be found on the new list.

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As they made their march to the NL West title in 2011, the Diamondbacks were basically a two-man show at the end of the game. David Hernandez developed into a solid workhorse setup man after being acquired from the Orioles in the Mark Reynolds trade, and J.J. Putz had his best season in four years as the closer. Joe Paterson got some work as the lefty specialist and Bryan Shaw was a nice boost late in the season, but for the most part it was Hernandez and Putz doing the heavy lifting in the eighth and ninth innings this past season.

In an effort to give those two some help, GM Kevin Towers agreed to sign veteran right-hander Takashi Saito to a one-year deal worth $1.75 million earlier this week, stealing him away from the Brewers team that knocked the D’Backs out of the NLDS. Saito has been electric in his six seasons in MLB, pitching to a 2.65 FIP with 10.74 K/9 (29.9 K%) and 2.84 BB/9 (7.9 BB%) in 326 innings spread across 322 games. He has experience both closing and setting up, and he doubles as a second lefty specialist (career 3.01 FIP vs. LHB) thanks to his filthy curveball-slider combo. It’s a very nice pickup for Arizona, but the soon-to-be 42-year-old Saito isn’t exactly risk free.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks bolstered their starting rotation Friday when they acquired Trevor Cahill in a five-player deal that will send the team’s top pitching prospect, Jarrod Parker, to the Oakland Athletics.

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As it had a few weeks ago, word came out today that the D-backs are interested in Hiroki Kuroda. If they were able to sign him, the move would be a win for both player and team, and would round the D-backs roster out nicely.

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If over a beer and a ball game, a buddy said, “Paul Goldschmidt will outhit Jason Heyward in 2012″, I would have assumed he had had one too many. With the release of Bill James‘ 2012 projections, the SABR legend said just that as the Diamondbacks first baseman is projected to produce a wOBA of .382.

Having scouted Goldschmidt in July, I came away believing he would take advantage of lesser pitching, but struggle with top flight velocity. If Goldschmidt hits to his wOBA projection, then I greatly undersold his overall hitting ability and he’s on the cusp of becoming one of the top-25 hitters in terms of wOBA in all of baseball based on final 2011 leaderboards.

Goldschmidt video after the jump

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It’s official: Kirk Gibson has won the National League Manager of the Year award. He beat out third-place three-time winner Tony LaRussa, who earned a more exciting piece of hardware anyway, and second-place Ron Roenicke, a fellow freshman skipper who piloted the former Pilots to the post season. What narrative should we choose to enter into the annals of history alongside Gibson’s first full season of managing?

The obvious storyline comes from the Diamondbacks worst-to-first move under his stewardship. But upper management had a lot to do with the resurgence as well. Zach Duke, Juan Miranda, Henry Blanco, Melvin Mora, Joe Paterson, Russell Branyan, David Hernandez were brought on board, and really only Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche left town. Well, looking at that list, maybe the manager did have a lot to do with the turnaround?

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Pitching has become the indisputable strength of the Arizona Diamondbacks system. The Top 10 features seven pitchers and the first four have ceilings of No. 1 or 2 starters. Despite having a bevy of high picks in the 2009 amateur draft and using most of them on hitters, Arizona lacks premium offensive prospects after many of those selections faltered or grew significant warts. All in all, though, this is an impressive system that just needs a little more depth to become elite. *Reliever Bryan Shaw was not considered a prospect due to service time.

1. Trevor Bauer, RHP
BORN: Jan. 17, 1991
EXPERIENCE: 1 season (Played at A+/AA in ’11)
ACQUIRED: 2011 1st round, UCLA (3rd overall)
2010-11 TOP 10 RANKING: NA

SCOUTING REPORT: Bauer was selected third overall in the 2011 draft and had the talent to be taken first overall, so Arizona was no doubt thrilled to get him. He has a diverse repertoire that includes a fastball that can touch the mid-90s, a plus curveball, slider, and changeup. He’s already established himself as a workhorse pitcher, pitching 100+ innings in each of his three seasons at UCLA. Bauer has an unorthodox delivery that worries some scouts while others point to Tim Lincecum as an example of someone who made “different” work out pretty darn well.

YEAR IN REVIEW: Arizona’s No. 1 prospect posted an eye-popping 1.25 ERA with 203 Ks in 136.2 innings during his junior season at UCLA. He then signed with the Diamondbacks in time to make seven starts in the minors. All told, he pitched more than 160 innings in 2011, which is why he did not head off to the Arizona Fall League with a lot of the other top college picks. Bauer had some success in pro ball by striking out a lot of batters. His 7.56 ERA (3.44 FIP) in four double-A starts was tainted by a BABIP-allowed of .429 (as well as the small-sample size). The right-hander struggled a bit with his control (4.32 BB/9).

YEAR AHEAD: It’s unclear what plans the organization currently has for Bauer. A safe bet would be to see him begin the year in double-A, pitching along side Tyler Skaggs. There was some talk of Bauer making his MLB debut in 2011 but it ultimately did not happen. Chances are good that fans in Arizona will be treated to his first big league appearance in 2012. He’s not far at all from being MLB-ready.

CAREER OUTLOOK: Bauer has the makings of a No. 1 starter and should be no worse than a No. 2, assuming he stays healthy – and there is no reason to suspect that he won’t. Arizona currently has a very exciting crop of young pitchers filtering up through the system right now and it shouldn’t be long before Bauer sits atop the starting rotation, followed by Jarrod Parker, Skaggs, and Pat Corbin – with Archie Bradley a few steps behind.

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