During his 17-year Major League Baseball playing career, current Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson was as scrappy as they come. Before embarking on a professional baseball career, Gibson played college football at Michigan State University. As an MLB player Gibson was a part of two World Series Championship teams; first with the Detroit Tigers in 1984 and then with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988. Gibson won the National League MVP Award in 1988, but he will always be remembered for the walk-off home run that he hit in Game 1 of the World Series that year off of Oakland Athletics closer Dennis Eckersley.
Midway through the 2010 MLB season A.J. Hinch was fired as Diamondbacks manager and he was replaced by Gibson. Gibson led the Diamondbacks to a 34-49 record over the final 83 games in 2010, and he was named as the team’s full-time manager in 2011. In 2011 Gibson led the Diamondbacks to their first National League Western Division Championship since 2007. Since then the Diamonbacks have finished the last two MLB seasons with a record of 81-81, but this season they have been the victim of a terrible start.
In the early stages of this MLB season the Diamondbacks are 4-12 and they are already 6.5 games behind the Dodgers for first place in the NL West. The Diamondbacks have not won a single series so far this season and their team earned run average of 5.96 is last in the National League.
It didn’t help the Diamondbacks situation that just prior to the beginning of this season it was revealed that starting pitcher Patrick Corbin would require Tommy John surgery and he would miss the entire 2014 MLB season. Corbin was 14-game winner for the Diamondbacks last season and he was expected to be one of the better pitchers in baseball this season as he was coming into his own. Corbin was going to be the ace of the Diamondbacks starting rotation and his presence has been sorely missed. Diamondback pitchers only have two quality starts this season and opponents are batting .286 against them which are both last in the NL.
Gibson along with Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers have built a team that reflects Gibson’s image which is a team without stars. But is that a good thing?
When the Diamondbacks won the World Series Championship in 2001 they were paced by two of the best starting pitchers of that era in Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. And when the Diamondbacks made their last postseason appearance in 2007 they had one of the brightest, young stars in baseball in the form of outfielder Justin Upton.
Although the Diamondbacks lost to the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2011 National League Division Series, they appeared to be a team that would be reckoned with for quite some time in the NL. But after the Diamondbacks 81-win campaign in 2012, Gibson and Towers traded Upton and infielder Chris Johnson to the Atlanta Braves for utility man Martin Prado, starting pitcher Randall Delgado, and prospects Nick Ahmed, Zeke Spruill, and Brandon Drury. Upton was the first overall pick of the 2007 MLB Draft by The Diamondbacks and he was in the process of coming into his own. In 2011 Upton was selected to his second National League All-Star team and he also led the Diamondbacks that season in home runs (31), batting average (.289), runs batted in (88), hits (171), and on-base percentage (.369). Upton’s 2011 season also saw him finish fourth in the National League MVP voting. Upton regressed during 2012 in his final year with the Diamondbacks as he only hit 17 home runs, and he got traded that off-season due to the fact that he was not a Gibson type guy.
Last year in his first season with the Braves, Upton led the team in home runs with 27 as he helped Atlanta win their first NL East Title since 2005. Once Upton was traded the Diamondbacks were able to find another emerging player in first baseman Paul Goldschmidt who led the National League in home runs (36), and runs batted in (125) as he finished second in the NL MVP voting last season. But what could the Diamondbacks have been with both Goldschmidt and Upton being the anchors of their lineup?
To me Gibson and Towers missed the boat in trading Upton. Yes, Gibson has a team that reflects his square-jaw toughness, but you still needs stars to win championships. In the National League West, the Dodgers are loaded with All-Star caliber players. The Dodgers won the NL West last season and they are the favorite to win the division once more in 2014 as they do not appear to be declining anytime soon. Since 2010, the San Francisco Giants have won two World Series Championships as they are looking to contend again this season. The Dodgers and Giants are the class of the NL West and they are the two teams that the Diamondbacks needs to get through just to win the NL West.
Gibson’s no-nonsense approach was good at first, but that ship appears to have left port as the Diamondbacks appear to be sinking into the baseball abyss.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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