Coming into 2011, things were rough for Diamondbacks fan over the last couple of years. After a surprising appearance in the playoffs in 2007, Arizona had a disappointing second half in 2008 and then back-to-back last place finishes in the NL West in 2009 and 2010. 2011 was a totally different with the D’Backs surprising everyone by making the playoffs and nearly knocked off the Brewers in Game Five of the NLDS.
After Arizona’s shocking 2011, fans of the club have many things to be thankful for heading into next season. Here is a list of Diamondbacks fans have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday.
1. The National League Manager of the Year and a great coaching staff – What the players did on the field this year was special, but it couldn’t have been done without the philosophy of Kirk Gibson and his entire coaching staff. Since Gibson took over as manager last season, he made sure that all 25 guys on the active roster were going to play their tails off in every single game, no matter what the score was. That philosophy didn’t show results in spring training, but it sure did as the season wore on. As Gibson continues to get more games under his belt, he should improve with his in-game managerial skills. That can only make Arizona better going forward.
2. A general manager willing to make moves – It is hard to find too many general manager’s with the track record that Kevin Towers has put together in his number of years in baseball. One of the things that Towers as proven as a GM is that he isn’t bashful to make the necessary moves to improve his clubs. Towers has already made the Diamondbacks the most active team this offseason with bringing back Aaron Hill, John McDonald and Willie Bloomquist. Towers has also said he isn’t finished either by looking into adding another starting pitcher with Hiroki Kuroda and Mark Buehrle being the two names mostly mentioned. As a player, you have to love playing on a club that has a general manager that isn’t afraid to make moves to improve in order for that team to make the next step. You can say the same thing as a fan as well.
3. Tons of young talent – When the Diamondbacks were making deep runs in the postseason back in the early 2000′s, they were easily one of the oldest teams in the game. You can’t say that about the 2011 version of the D’Backs. The average age for position players was 28.2 years old while the group of pitchers was an even 27 years old. Arizona’s top two starters in the rotation are 26 and 24 respectively, the oldest guy in the starting outfield is Chris Young, who will be 28 next season and every infielder that is expected to start next year is under the age of 31. The scary thing is that there is plenty of talent still waiting in the wings down in farm system. Josh Byrnes didn’t do many things right when he was the Diamondbacks general manager, but you have to tip your cap to him for helping to build one of the better minor league systems in the game.
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