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Wednesday, July.03, 2013

Patrick Corbin has been the ace of the Diamondbacks rotation this season, and Arizona is 15-2 in his starts this season. Corbin did suffer his first defeat this season, but he received almost no run support in this start and his previous five starts.  Corbin has 2.49 ERA with a WHIP of 1.01 with 89 strikeouts in 115 innings pitched this season. He is holding opposing batters to a .209 average this season, and lefties are only hitting .140 against him this season. Corbin is especially tough when runners are in scoring position, as the opposition is only hitting .194. He is ranked 7th in the NL with a WAR of 3.0 for pitchers.

By Chris Lacey (Lead Baseball Columnist/Minority Website Owner) Follow @aecanada12

The Arizona Diamondbacks are the leaders in the National League West, and normally when a team leads a division they are considered the strongest or the best team in that division.

This is not the case with Arizona; they are one game over.500 at 42-41 and have lost five straight games. They are could be the weakest first place team in baseball.

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Jeff Samardzija is one starting pitcher that Arizona could look to acquire at the Trade Deadline. Samardzija is a strikeout pitcher with a mid 90s fastball. The right-hander has 3.34 ERA this season with 120 strikeouts in 113 innings. He is holding opposing batters to a .232 average, with righties hitting .224.

The Diamondbacks are currently on a streak that no team in baseball would like to be a part of, and that is a starting pitcher has not earned a victory in 24 consecutive games.

The last time this happened was in 2009 when the San Diego Padres had a streak of 25 games, and also they are 1-7 on their road trip with two games left before they head back home.

Arizona with all of this happening is still in first place in their division. They picked the perfect time to play their worst baseball of the season, because the San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants are struggling as well.

The four teams have all lost eight of their past ten games, and the Giants are probably the worst of the bunch. Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey threw a no-hitter against them on Tuesday night, which now puts them in last place in the division.

The only team that is doing well is the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they are still under .500 for the season. This is a division that no team seemingly wants to win. Arizona is not this bad of a team, but they need to do something to wake up out of this bad dream.

Fortunately for Arizona they have a General Manager in Kevin Towers that is not afraid to shake things up with his team and that is one reason he known as the gunslinger. Towers in August 2011, when the team was playing bad during an east coast road trip shook things up.

He sent Kelly Johnson to the Toronto Blue Jays for second baseman Aaron Hill and infielder John McDonald. That trade seemed to light a fire in the team, and they went on to win the division that year.

He has plenty of options with the Trade Deadline less than a month away, and Arizona has a loaded farm system of pitchers and position players that can help the team get out of the funk they are in.

The one area that needs to be fixed with this team is the starting rotation. Patrick Corbin has pitched great, but he can’t do it all by himself. Arizona is 15-2 when he starts, but is 27-39 when other pitchers start for them.

Brandon McCarthy is on the D.L. with a shoulder problem, and he was pitching better before he went down. Trevor Cahill was just put on the D.L. with a hip contusion and he needed a break after a June where he lost all five starts, with an ERA over nine.

The Diamondbacks would like to add a top of the rotation pitcher, but they will not come cheap. One pitcher they could look to acquire is Jeff Samardzija from the Chicago Cubs.

If Arizona does acquire Samardzija, that would mean that Tyler Skaggs would probably be sent to Chicago and either Matt Davidson or Chris Owings as well. He would be the type of pitcher they are looking for.

He has 3.34 ERA in 113 innings pitched with 120 strikeouts on the season for Chicago. He also has a SO/9 of 9.5 and a SO/BB of 3.2. The Cubs have not said that he is available, but the right package could change their minds.

He would be a great complement to Corbin in the rotation, and this way Corbin would not feel a man on an island when he pitches.

Another starter to consider is Yovani Gallardo from the Milwaukee Brewers. Gallardo has not pitched well at all this season with 4.78 ERA. The strikeouts for him are down with just 82 in 101 innings.

This could be due to that he is pitching for a bad team, or that the league has caught up with him. The contract that he has is favorable with him being signed for this season and next with a team option in 2015.

This would normally make his price high, but due to his struggles his price will fall down as the deadline becomes closer.

One other pitcher that would be considered a long shot for Arizona to acquire is Cliff Lee from the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee would require Arizona to mortgage the farm with acquiring him, and also he would have to waive his no-trade clause.

Lee is 9-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 125 innings pitched to go along with 115 strikeouts and a 0.96 WHIP. The other issue with Lee is his contract; he is owed part of $25 Million the rest of this season.

Then for the next two seasons another $25 million, plus a vesting option of $27.5 million. That would be a lot of money for Arizona to take on, and the prospects they would lose as well.

The rotation has struggled, but so has the bullpen with them blowing 16 games this season. They are tied with the Baltimore Orioles and Dodgers for the second-most in baseball.

There are two relief pitchers that would be perfect for Arizona to go after. They are Chicago White Sox reliever Jesse Crain and closer for the Minnesota Twins Glen Perkins.

The White Sox are struggling and Crain is available. Crain has 0.74 ERA in 36.2 innings pitched with 46 strikeouts. He also has a SO/9 of 11.3 and is holding opposing batters to a. 225 average.

The Twins closer Glen Perkins would solve the ninth inning issues for Arizona. Perkins is 20-for-22 in save opportunities this season. He has converted his last ten chances for saves. Perkins has a 2.05 ERA in 30.2 innings with 43 strikeouts and has a 0.81 WHIP.

The opposition is only hitting .168 against him on the season. He holds lefties to a .214 average, while righties fare a little better with a .152 average.

The only issue with Perkins is that his price would be extremely high due to his contract, with him being signed for this season and the next two seasons, along with a team option for 2016.

Towers have plenty of options as to how he wants to improve the team and get them to turn their season around.

Glen Perkins is doing an outstanding job of closing games for the Minnesota Twins this season. He has saved 20 games for them, while only blowing two saves on the year. Perkins has a 2.05 ERA in 31 games with 43 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched. He has a strikeout rate of of 12.6 per nine innings this season, and has only surrendered two HRs. The left-hander is holding righties to a .152 average on the season, with lefties hitting .214. He is especially tough when runners are in scoring position, as indicated by teams just hitting .200 in this situation.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners.***

A big thank-you goes out to our ”Lead Baseball Columnist and Minority Owner” Chris Lacey. Chris has been a fan of watching baseball since the age of 13. Now he does like all sports – but his favorites after baseball are hockey and basketball. 

Chris is very good with computers and is a college graduate.  

Chris is very active on Twitter and especially during the baseball season chatting with other Diamondbacks fans. Be sure to follow him and talk about the great game of baseball. Chris is addicted to writing baseball. 

Check out his work for http://www.rantsports.com here, for http://www.baseballhotcorner.com here, for venom strikes here and if you can believe it – http://www.fanrag.com here

 Follow @aecanada12

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