Arizona's kids aren't all right

By BILL SHAIKIN

May 31, 2009 12 AM PT

PHOENIX — We’ve heard enough about young players, young guns, the young corps of position players. It’s time to drop the adjective, and the training wheels.

This isn’t all about the Dodgers. This is about the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that ought to be challenging the Dodgers for first place in the National League West rather than sinking toward last place.

The Diamondbacks won the division title in 2007. They lost in the league championship series, but in the final game they fielded a lineup that included six position players no older than 26.

They let the kids play. Now they’re trying a kid manager. If that doesn’t work, all the Baseball America clippings in the world might not keep the window from slamming shut on the new generation of Diamondbacks.

Arizona is not bringing a novice lineup to Dodger Stadium this week. Infielder Chad Tracy has more than 2,000 at-bats in the major leagues, outfielder Conor Jackson more than 1,600. Shortstop Stephen Drew and outfielder Chris Young are nearing 1,500. Infielder Mark Reynolds has more than 1,000.

The Dodgers also are no longer neophytes. Catcher Russell Martin has more than 1,600 at-bats, outfielder Andre Ethier more than 1,500, outfielder Matt Kemp and first baseman James Loney more than 1,200.

With the exception of Martin, the Dodgers eased their next generation of hitters into the lineup. They signed Nomar Garciaparra, and Loney waited. They signed Luis Gonzalez, Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre, and Ethier and Kemp waited.

The Diamondbacks played sink or swim.

“We probably err on the side of being aggressive,” Arizona General Manager Josh Byrnes said. “We give them a real opportunity rather than give them a ready-made excuse not to play well.”

Not that the Diamondbacks can afford veteran co-stars. Arizona allocates a greater percentage of its payroll to the starting rotation than any team in the NL West, by choice, leaving no choice but to economize elsewhere.

The Diamondbacks spent $31 million on their rotation this season, same as the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. For hitters and relievers, the Phillies spent $82 million, the Diamondbacks $43 million.

“We’re not going to be able to build a roster with ready-made alternatives,” Byrnes said. “For us to be successful and do well in October, it’s got to be because young players got here and did well.”

That worked well two years ago, not so well last year. Arizona sprinted to a 20-8 April and kept the NL West lead into the first week of September, until the Dodgers beat aces Brandon Webb and Dan Haren on consecutive weekends.

“We were in a deep rut by then,” Byrnes said. “As early as last May, I was concerned. To me, the alarms were sounding then.”

It was not until this May, after the Diamondbacks had gone 74-89 over a calendar year, that Byrnes fired manager Bob Melvin. The replacement: A.J. Hinch, 35, the Diamondbacks’ farm director.

Games coached or managed by Hinch at any level: zero.

“There are people that fight and claw for these opportunities,” said Hinch, a former major league catcher. “I understand and respect that. I haven’t gone down the traditional path.”

The criticism came hard and fast, and not just anonymously. Byrnes wanted to retain pitching coach Bryan Price, but Price resigned and told the Marin Independent Journal that Byrnes made a “poor decision” to hire Hinch.

Price said Hinch lacked “any credibility between the lines as a manager” and called the decision “a slap in the face . . . to anybody who has actually managed or coached.”

Hinch leaned forward in his office chair, ever so slightly, not raising his voice at the topic but nonetheless stunned at the intensity of the criticism.

“Some of it has been vicious,” he said. “I have a lot of resolve. I have very thick skin. People are entitled to their opinion. Over the course of time, success or failure will be evident.”

Onward, then.

Webb might need another month, or more, to recover from a shoulder injury. The Arizona bullpen began the weekend with a 5.19 earned-run average.

Drew is batting .211, Tracy .184, Jackson .182, Young .169. On the plus side, Reynolds has 13 home runs.

Jackson has been idled by a case of Valley fever. Drew, who hit .291 with 44 doubles and 21 home runs last year, sat out two weeks because of a hamstring injury.

Outfielder Justin Upton, 21, installed in the No. 3 spot by Hinch, is batting .402 this month, with seven home runs.

“We’ve got just as much talent as anybody else,” Upton said.

The Dodgers’ new wave of talent blossomed in the shadow of Manny Ramirez. But take away Ramirez, as baseball did by suspending him for violating its drug policy, and the Dodgers’ offensive stars have turned out to be veterans Casey Blake, Orlando Hudson and Juan Pierre.

“The acquisition of Manny made a huge difference,” Arizona veteran Tony Clark said.

The Diamondbacks acquired Adam Dunn for the same purpose last summer.

“Manny is one of the greatest right-handed hitters the game has seen,” Clark said. “It’s unfair to ask anybody to replicate what he’s doing. That said, you see what Adam is doing now.”

Dunn has 16 home runs for the Washington Nationals. Drew, the cleanup batter for Arizona, has two.

The Diamondbacks couldn’t afford to keep Dunn, couldn’t even afford to offer him salary arbitration for fear he might accept. They could have secured two premium draft picks had Dunn declined arbitration and signed elsewhere, but they still have seven of the first 65 selections in next week’s draft.

And then another new generation of Diamondbacks will be on the way.

Byrnes thought back to 2007, to a playoff field that included the Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Indians. The Rockies had their moment, and they have since traded Matt Holliday and fired manager Clint Hurdle. The Indians had their moment, and they have since traded CC Sabathia.

The Diamondbacks kept their core intact, confident the team had been built to last. This team might be built for last place, and soon rebuilt.

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