Dbacks Midseason Report Card

OVERALL
Horrendous first half for the Dbacks, at this point they are 34-55 and in last place in the NL West, they have already fired their Manager and General Manager, their bullpen has been atrocious and they are striking out way too much.  This is a poorly put together team with very little help waiting in the wings in the minors.  I do have some hope for Kirk Gibson as Manager though, I think that eventually his approach to the game and intensity will rub off on the team if he's given a legitimate chance. 


HITTING
Not good, they are batting .252 as a team which is 13th in the NL, they are also striking out way too much.  The power numbers are there (their slugging percentage is 4th in the NL) but it's not doing them much good when they can't get runners on base, when they don't make contact and they don't move runners along.

PITCHING
The starting pitching has been adequate, the bullpen absolutely atrocious.  As a team the Dbacks have an ERA of 5.27, that's dead last in MLB.  You don't win many games with an ERA over 5.00.  Top starters Dan Haren & Edwin Jackson have been way too inconsistent. Chad Qualls, the closer, has an ERA of 8.60, set up man Juan Gutierrez is at 6.96, that needs to change.  On the bright side, Ian Kennedy & Rodrigo Lopez have pitched better than expected and Barry Enright & Sam Demel are young guys giving them some hope for the future.   All around they need to pitch better, especially the bullpen. 


SURPRISES
Rodrigo Lopez - he really came out of nowhere to solidify a spot in the backend of the starting rotation.  He hasn't been dominant but you really can't expect that from your number 4-5 starter, what you can expect is that he keep you in the game and Lopez has done that for the most part. 
Chris Young - coming off last season when he was so bad that he was demoted to AAA, Young has been very solid, he's hitting .266 with 15 HR and 61 RBI and he is stellar in the field. 


DISAPPOINTMENTS
Chad Qualls - he's been terrible, he can't get anybody out, he wasn't bad last year, he really needs to regain form or will find himself out of the league. 
Mark Reynolds - not bad on the surface, he's got 20 HR's and 56 RBI but he's hitting only .214 and he leads the NL in strike outs.  He needs to make more consistent contact.  


MVP
Dan Haren - I'm going with Haren for lack of anybody else standing out, he's been a little inconsistent but he is easily the best player on the team.  He could be trade bait come the trading deadline but I hope they don't deal him unless they get an absolutely great package of young prospect in return. 


BEST PITCHER
Dan Haren - see above, nobody else has stood out so he's the choice. 


ON THE FARM
Mixed results down on the farm, Reno (AAA) is struggling at 36-55, but Mobile (AA) is 46-41 & Visalia (A-High) is 48-41, South Bend is struggling too at 38-49.  To make matters worse, top draft pick Barret Loux failed his physical.  Anyways, on to the top performers.  Barry Enright has easily been the best pitcher in the system, so much so that he was recently promoted to the Dbacks straight from AA and he has pitched well for the Dbacks so far.  All the other top performers this year are playing at the Class A level, Mark Krauss, Paul Goldschmidt and Kyle Greene are all excelling at Visalia and Charles Brewer is having a nice season at South Bend.  Don't be surprise if some Dback veterans are traded at the trade deadline to infuse some talent into the upper levels of the farm system.