The Diamondbacks have signed 30-year old lefty swinging 1B Adam LaRoche to a 1-year deal. He played in 144 games for the Red Sox, Braves and Pirates in which he was 149 for 536 (.278 avg, .844 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 24 homers and 80 RBIs. He has now played in 838 games in his major league career and he is 787 for 2,877 (.274 avg, .834 OPS) with 402 runs scored, 136 homers and 469 RBIs. This was a outstanding move for the D-Backs as LaRoche came to them under market value somewhere between $4 and $5 million bucks.

Luis Gonzalez remains the best position player in team history as of right now. He played in 1,194 games in his 8 years with the Diamondbacks and he was 1,337 for 4,488 (.298 avg, .919 OPS) with 780 runs scored, 224 homers, 774 RBIs and 32 stolen bases. He is the all-time leader for the D-Backs in games played, hits, at bats, runs, homers, and RBIs. But 2001 was his crowning achievement as he played in 162 games in which he was 198 for 609 (.325 avg, 1.117 OPS) with 128 runs scored, 57 homers and 142 RBIs. But, despite his awesome numbers in 2001 his biggest hit was a hump back liner over the head of Derek Jeter to knock in the winning run to clinch the World Series Championship off Mariano Rivera.

The Diamondbacks have rebuilt the pitching staff but it will be up to the offense to get them into the race in the N.L. West in 2010. If the season started next week the D-Backs would trot these guys out in the starting line-up:

C-Miguel Montero
1B-Conor Jackson
2B-Kelly Johnson
SS-Stephen Drew
3B-Mark Reynolds
LF-Gerardo Parra
CF-Chris Young
RF-Justin Upton

If Kelly Johnson, Conor Jackson and Chris Young all rebound from down years in 2009 the D-Backs will be a very dangerous baseball team because of the improvements made in the pitching staff.