Only 284 times has a player hit a single, double, triple, and homer in the same game.  Hitting for the cycle is so rare that three Major League Baseball teams–the San Diego Padres, the Florida Marlins, and the Tampa Bay Rays–have never had a player hit for the cycle.  On Sunday, however, two players hit for the cycle on the same day.

  Stephen Drew went 5-5 and raised his season line from .282/.322/.473 all the way to .289/.329/.491.  That is an increase in OPS from .795 to .820.  Since being moved into the leadoff spot of Arizona’s lineup, Drew has hit .313/.356/.504 in 59 games.

  Three of Adrian Beltre’s five hits came on an 0-2 count.  He went 5-6 to raise his OPS for the year to .783.  Beltre is a valuable player, but not at the price the Mariners paid (5 years, $64 million) for him after his monster 2004 season when he finished 2nd in the NL MVP vote with a season of .334/.388/.629 with 48 homers and 121 runs batted in.

Incredibly, this is not the first time in MLB history that two players have hit for the cycle on the same day.  On September 17, 1920, Bobby Veach of the Detroit Tigers and George Burns of the New York Giants each hit for the cycle.

  No other National League teams with a worse record than the Arizona Diamondbacks wanted to claim Adam Dunn.  It’s understandable that these clubs would not want to add the last two months of the $13 million Dunn will earn in 2008, but what hasn’t been mentioned is that Arizona received a quality addition to counter the surging Dodgers’ acquisition of Manny Ramirez.

Dunn strikes out a lot.  He plays sub-par defense.  But Dunn gets on base and hits for power.  At the time of the trade, he was in the top-30 of all Major League hitters in both on-base percentage (.373) and slugging percentage (.528).  Who cares that his batting average was .234 at the time of the trade?  He is getting out less this season than Ichiro Suzuki, who is hitting .308 but whose on-base percentage is .363.

In fact, Dunn is close to achieving an impressive feat.  For four consecutive seasons, he has hit over 40 homeruns and walked over 100 times.  With a month and a half to play in 2008, he has 32 homers and 83 walks.  In three of the last four years, Dunn has eclipsed 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored.

The Diamondbacks are second in the National League in strikeouts and have added a player who has struck out 124 times in 2008 in only 117 games.  Dunn led the National League in strikeouts from 2004-2006.  But Dunn isn’t like his new teammates.  Dunn immediately becomes the team leader in slugging percentage, second in on-base percentage (to Conor Jackson’s .388 mark), and leads the team in OPS.

  The Reds receive:  Dallas Buck and two players to be named later.

Dallas Buck is a 23-year-old right-handed starting pitcher who only 1-5 in starts between Class Low-A and Class High-A, but has a 3.55 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP.

Oh, those elusive players to be named later.  They’re always the wild card of any player.  In these situations clubs give their counterparts options between a few players and those clubs will wait a few months longer to concluce the evaluation process on the minor league players.  Except this time, at least one of the two (and possibly both) players to be named later is reportedly not a minor leaguer.  Well, they may be in the minor leagues now, but they are part of the 40-man, Major League roster.  They must clear waivers like other Major Leaguers, meaning the trade may be completed after the conclusion of this season. 

So it seems as if the trade will be completed by one of the players on the 40-man roster, but not one of the 25-players currently on the actual Major League team.  This list includes Max Scherzer and Micah Owings.  It’s highly unlikely that the D-Backs part ways with Scherzer, but if the Reds can lure Owings away, it would be very beneficial for their franchise.  Owings struggled so badly in 2008 that Arizona had to send him back to Triple-A, but he’ll only be 26 next season and could still be a very useful piece to a Major League club. 

This trade, like most, is about money.  Adam Dunn is a free agent after the end of 2008 and should command a pretty hefty salary in the open market.  Cincinnati felt they had to get something in return other than a compensation pick in next June’s draft, so they made the deal.  They could end up receiving a Major League-experienced pitcher in Micah Owings, a piece they need badly.  Maybe the Diamondbacks can convince Dunn to stay in Phoenix beyond 2008.  If so, they win this trade easily because Dunn will hit 40 homeruns and draw 100 walks for several more years.  If not, they still have a guy with left-handed power and patience that could push them past the Los Angeles Dodgers and into the 2008 playoffs.

  Max Scherzer burst onto the MLB scene last night with a perfect 4.1 innings in relief, striking out 7 of those 13 batters he faced.  He threw 35 of his 47 pitches for strikes and touched 98 mph on the radar gun.  The Arizona Diamondbacks have added an incredibly talented pitcher, but now the debate on how to most-effectively use Scherzer will begin.

It looks like Scherzer’s talent will overcome the negative beginning of his professional career. 

Scherzer, who attended the University of Missouri, was the best arm in the 2006 draft, but fell to 11th overall to the Arizona Diamonbacks because of signability.  Guess who his agent is?

After the draft, Scherzer pulled a J.D. Drew (and later, a Luke Hochevar)–two other Scott Boras clients–and decided to play independent baseball with the American Association rather than sign with Arizona.  Scherzer dominated in 16 innings, but unlike Drew and Hochevar, he signed with Arizona after all, just before the deadline.

While scouts and executives have said Scherzer profiles as a dominant power closer at the Major League level because of a lack of a third pitch, his AAA numbers this year (4 starts, 23 IP, 1.17 ERA, 38 K, 3 BB) and MLB debut last night suggest he could be a very good starting pitcher.  As for the need to develop a third pitch to be a quality MLB starter?  There is another starter for the Diamondbacks who has made it just fine with only two pitches:  Randy Johnson.

Max Scherzer will be to the Diamondbacks what Joba Chamberlain is to the Yankees:  the talent, the hype, and the controversy on how to use him.

So far in the 2008 season, the Diamondbacks are by far the best team in the National League and they just got a lot better with the addition of Scherzer.  Micah Owings has a sore ankle and Doug Davis is beginning cancer treatment, so a starting role for Scherzer may soon be a necessity.  Whatever his role, Scherzer has seen the last of the minor leagues.

UPDATE:  Max Scherzer will start Monday, May 5th at home versus Jamie Moyer and the Philadelphia Phillies.  That didn’t take long.

  Last season Chris Young became the first player ever to hit at least 30 homeruns and steal at least 25 bases as a rookie.  He accomplished that while playing centerfield for the National League West champion Arizona Diamondbacks.  The D-Backs have rewarded Young with a five-year contract that begins in 2009 worth $25.5 million;  Young was renewed for $400,000 for the 2008 season.  He received a $1 million signing bonus for the contract.  Also, the Diamondbacks hold an option worth $11 million for a sixth year (2014).  There is a $1.5 million buyout should Arizona chose not to pick up that option.

With 32 homers and 27 stolen bases in his rookie season, Chris Young is quickly making the Padres’ right-handed starting pitcher known as “the other” Chris Young.

Young was drafted in the 16th round out of a Texas high school by the Chicago White Sox in 2001.  After being named Chicago’s Minor League Player of the Year in 2005, the White Sox traded him as part of the deal that brought Javier Vazquez to the Southside.  Young was coveted for the speed and power combination that scouts love and has already displayed those talents at the Major League level.

Young strikes out too much.  He struck out 141 times last year.  Strikeouts are tolerable, if a player walks enough to offset them, but Young’s on-base percentage for his remarkable rookie season was only .295–a loathsome figure for a leadoff hitter.

Chris Young could be a lot like Alfonso Soriano.  Soriano has been a middle-of-the-order hitter trapped in a leadoff man’s body, only moving out of the leadoff position later in his career.  In Soriano’s rookie year (2001), he stole 43 bases and hit 18 bombs.  In his his second full season, Soriano was a homer away from going 40-40.  Will Chris Young go 40-40 in his second full season?  It’s a long shot, but a 30-30 season seems almost inevitable. 

But here’s the thing:  maybe Chris Young can develop patience as he continues to grow and learn Major League pitching.  Pitchers will definitely be careful with a player that has Chris Young’s power.  And Young is off to a great start in 2008, clubbing four homeruns already.  But while Young’s strikeout totals are still high, he has 8 walks in 8 games thus far.  He walked only 43 times in 148 games in 2007.

The National League West was probably the most competitive division in MLB in 2007.  The NL Wild Card came from the Western Division last year, and those Colorado Rockies went on to win the pennant.  The Padres won 89 games and missed the playoffs altogether.  The D-Backs won the West with a young team and added another very good starting pitcher.  Also, the past two Cy Youngs play in the West.  Everyone will be watching to see if Joe Torre can succeed in the biggest market on the west coast as well.  And in the city by the bay, the Giants’ terrible offense will be even worse without Barry Bonds, but youngsters Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain will pitch well.

Check out the preview:

http://thebigleaguebeat.com/2008-nl-west-preview/

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