Q and A with Nick Piecoro (Part Two)

Here's the second part of my interview with Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. This section focuses on the Diamondbacks minor league system and how much buzz it creates in the desert.

5) The Diamondbacks have traded away a lot of prospects over the last few years, greatly weakening the farm system. Is that a trend that is likely to continue, or will we see Arizona make a renewed effort to develop their own talent?

Nick Piecoro: The biggest knock on the organization in the Josh Byrnes era, for me, has been their poor drafts. In 2006, they got Max Scherzer and Brett Anderson but little else, although those two alone make it a pretty decent draft. The 2007 draft outside of Jarrod Parker was pretty bad and their 2008 returns aren’t impressive, although it’s too soon to really render a strong opinion on that one.

They put a ton of resources into the 2009 draft, in which they had a slew of extra picks, and the early returns are very strong. Key word there is early. We won’t know for a while how that draft pans out, but they have a lot riding on those players and are going to need several of them to turn into prospects if they have any hope of revitalizing the system.

6) Do prospects in South Bend (and other minor league stops) get a lot of hype in Arizona? How much excitement does a name like Jarrod Parker or A.J. Pollock generate in the desert?

NP: Not a lot. There are some diehards who follow the minor leagues pretty closely, but I don’t get the sense that it’s huge news. My theory is, if something is important to Josh Byrnes and the rest of the front office, it should be important in my coverage. As such, I cover the minor leagues fairly heavily during the season. Certainly more fans know who Parker is because he has been talked about quite a bit, but I’d guess that most fans in Arizona have no idea who A.J. Pollock is.

7) As a follow up: What, if anything, have you heard about some '09 Silver Hawks stars? (A few to consider: Pollock, Krauss, Navarro, Marte, Wheeler, Hose, Miley, Cook)

Like I said, I follow it pretty closely and I know there is a lot more hope for that crop of players – and for the guys who are going to be in South Bend in 2010 – than there probably has been for the last couple of years. Wheeler had a tremendous debut and looks like a great pick, and Cook looks like a pretty good late-round pick from 2008. Krauss had a pretty nice debut cut short by an ankle injury, but he’s supposed to be ready to go for spring training. Pollock didn’t hit much, but I haven’t heard any concerns about his future.

8) Any names that I missed that are generating a lot of buzz? Are there players from Missoula or Yakima that we should be watching out for here in South Bend next season?

Because the Diamondbacks had eight of the top 95 picks in the country last year, there are a lot of names to watch for next season and it will be interesting to see how the club deploys them. For example, both Bobby Borchering (No. 16 overall) and Matt Davidson (No. 35) were third basemen as amateurs and played the position in their pro debuts in Missoula and Yakima, respectively. Will the Diamondbacks move Davidson to first permanently or have them split time at those positions in South Bend? And what will become of Matt Helm, a seventh-round pick who signed for $500,000 and also has been called a third baseman?

Aside from those three, outfielder Keon Broxton, second baseman David Nick, shortstop Chris Owings and right-hander Scottie Allen all look like candidates for South Bend and all should be fun to follow.

Again, I'd like to thank Nick Piecoro for taking the time to answer these questions. People who follow the major league clubs daily from an outside perspective often have the most honest and unbiased opinions. I encourage you to check out Nick's blog at http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/NickPiecoro/Page0.

Q and A with Nick Piecoro (Part One)

Nick Piecoro is the Diamondbacks beat writer for the Arizona Republic. I frequently link you to his blog. A little bit ago, I sent him some questions about the Diamondbacks, and also about the Minor League system. Since these are somewhat lengthy, I decided to break it into two parts.

Today's focus is on the Diamondbacks, and tomorrow, we'll focus on the minors.

And away we go....

1) Can the Diamondbacks turn it around in one season and compete for a playoff spot next season? Or are they looking at a multi-year rebuilding process?

Nick Piecoro: Can they? Sure. Will they? We’ll see. You can say what you want about the moves they made this off-season, but nothing approaches the importance of having a healthy Brandon Webb. Before 2009, he had been among the top two or three best pitchers in baseball for three years running. There’s no understating the importance of having a pitcher of that caliber make 33-34 starts for a team. If he’s close to the Webb of old, they probably contend.
Edwin Jackson is probably an upgrade over Max Scherzer in the rotation. A healthy Conor Jackson (and his .370ish on-base percentage) will be a huge lift. And if guys like Stephen Drew and Chris Young and the recently acquired Kelly Johnson can have some form of bounceback seasons, they’re going to be much improved offensively.

That’s a lot of ifs, but if some of them come in – most importantly Webb, of course – then, yeah, they can contend.

2) Did you see a lot of growth in A.J. Hinch as a manager throughout the season? Is he the right guy for the job?

NP: I think Hinch’s comfort level increased with every game. It seemed like he was able to develop a better relationship with his players as the year went on and after an off-season in which he put a lot of energy into building relationships, things should be even stronger there. Is he the right guy for the job? Again, we’ll see. He’s certainly more on the same page with General Manager Josh Byrnes than the previous manager, Bob Melvin. It’s pretty hard to judge Hinch based on the club he was running out there last season, but if everyone’s healthy we should get a better understanding of his capabilities.

3) I was greatly impressed with Gerardo Parra when he played for South Bend in 2007. What were your overall impressions of Parra this season? Are we looking at a future MVP? A future All-Star? Or just a solid player that fills out a roster?

NP: My guess is he’s closer to just a solid player who fills out a roster, but there are people in the organization who feel otherwise. I’m going to need to see Parra hit left-handed pitching better, something he was never able to do even in the minor leagues, before I’m willing to call him anything more than a nice fourth outfielder/platoon partner type. I will say this: He plays a very good left field and has an excellent arm and I like the skills he brings -- like hitting for average and putting the ball in play – particularly in how it compares to his teammates. He’s a nice fit for the roster.

4) How important was it for the young pitchers (Zavada, Gutierrez, Vasquez, Augenstein) to get big league experience this year?

NP: Pretty important. We’ll see what kind of roles those guys end up with this season, but it’s good for the organization – and for the pitchers themselves – to know they can get big league hitters out. It’s not out of the question for any of those guys above not named Gutierrez to start the season in the minor leagues. The additions of Bob Howry and Aaron Heilman give the Diamondbacks better depth than they enjoyed last season. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Gutierrez ends up being the most important pitcher in the bullpen in 2010.

Again, we'll have part two for you tomorrow with the focus more on the minor leagues. My thanks to Nick for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer these questions and provide some great content for this blog.