Lefty swinging CF Steve Finley only played six years (1999-2004) for the Diamondbacks but he made his mark. Finley played in 849 games in his six years with the D-Backs and he was 847 of 3,049 (.278 avg, .851 OPS) with 491 runs scored, 153 homers, 479 RBIs and 70 stolen bases. His first two years with the D-Backs were his best offensively as he combined to score 200 runs in those years while he whacked 69 homers and drove in 199 runs. Finley won 3 Gold Gloves for the Diamondbacks and he made 1 All-Star team. Finley is #2 in D-Backs’ history in games played with 849. He is also #2 in hits (847), #2 in runs scored (491), #4 in doubles (150), #3 in triples (34), #2 in walks (337), #2 in homers (153), #2 in RBIs (479) and he’s #4 in stolen bases (70) in Diamondbacks’ history. Finley was only with the Diamondbacks for a short time, but, he was a part of the best years in franchise history.

The D-Backs signed Melvin Mora & Geoff Blum over the winter to handle playing 3B, but 30-year old righty swinging Ryan Roberts had other plans. He has played in 19 games so far this year for the D-Backs and he is 19 of 57 (.333 avg, 1.082 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 5 homers, 13 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has also walked 10 times this season as pitchers’ are starting to respect what he’s doing with the bat. The Diamondbacks have to be ecstatic with Roberts’ play so far this year as he came to spring training barely clinging to his major league career. That’s because he played in 36 games for the Diamondbacks last year and he was 13 of 66 (.197 avg, .577 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 9 RBIs. Roberts is a gamer which endures him to Diamondbacks’ manager Kirk Gibson, so he might get more P.T. than anyone could have imagined when spring training started.

Veteran righty reliever Aaron Heilman almost won the #5 job in the starting rotation this spring for the Diamondbacks. Heilman has pitched in 4 games (0 starts) for the D-Backs so far this year and he is 1-0 with a 12.15 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP. He has given up 13 hits in his first 6 2/3 inings this season (3 of which were homers). On the bright side of things, he has whiffed 7 batters while only walking 2 of them. I’ve always sided with the guys who think that Heilman is overrated, but the Diamondbacks need him to turn things around soon or they’re going to have to ditch him.

Daniel Hudson is the only starting pitcher on the Diamondbacks with an ERA under 6.00 so far this year, but those other four guys are 3-3 while Hudson is 0-2…and that’s just not fair. Hudson has started 2 games for the Diamondbacks so far this year and he is 0-2 with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He has only given up 9 hits while whiffing 13 batters in his first 13 innings this year, as he has been very efficient. I have to think that the wins are going to start to come for Hudson as long as he continues to pitch well, and I expect that he’ll hold up his end of the bargain.

The Arizona Diamondbacks don’t have enough offense to cover for guys who aren’t producing. Johnson has played in 11 games for the Diamondbacks so far this year and he is 8 for 46 (.174 avg, .574 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer, 4 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Johnson has good power for a 2B and he’s probably the best lefty hitter on the team. With those factors in mind, the Diamondbacks really need Johnson to pick up the pace with his bat, and soon.