N.L.(team-by-team analyses of National League baseball clubs)(Statistical Data Included)

www.sportingnews.com/baseball/teams/diamondbacks

59-45

2nd West

Lopez, DiFelice are acquired for a bargain price

The team's goal was to add a No. 4 starting pitcher without surrendering any key pieces from its major league roster, and it did just that when it acquired RHP Albie Lopez from the Devil Rays. The club filled another need, backup catcher, by getting Mike DiFelice in the deal. The team sent the Devil Rays promising LHP Nick Bierbrodt, minor league OF Jason Conti and $625,000. The move was necessitated by injuries to RHPs Todd Stottlemyre, Armando Reynoso and Bobby Witt, RHP Robert Ellis's recent ineffectiveness and Bierbrodt's inconsistency. The deal fits a pattern. The Diamondbacks have traded youngsters for stretch-run pitching help the last two years. Lopez was 5-12 with a 5.34 ERA for Tampa Bay, but he was 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA in his last three starts. Top scout BRan Lambe saw Lopez early in the season and reported he was a solid No. 3 starter on any club. Lopez then struggled for six weeks, partly because he suffered a groin strain May 9 and a bruised thumb May 19. DiFelice will back up Damian Miller and caught last Saturday in Lopez's first Arizona start. Conti and Bierbrodt will be out of options next spring, meaning the team would have had to find a place for them on its 25-man roster, trade them or get them through waivers. That might have been tough, but the Devil Rays should have no problem carrying them.

SCOUTING REPORT: 1B Mark Grace is 37 but has displayed the same skills that made him a mainstay with the Cubs: soft hands on defense and contact hitting. Having left Wrigley Field, which can be tough on lefthanded hitters, Grace has a chance to hit 20 home runs for the first time in his career. He rarely strikes out, and when he does it's usually on a called third strike. He has tremendous bat control even though he rarely wears batting gloves. Grace doesn't have the power normally associated with the middle of the order, but he provides protection for those hitting ahead of him. On defense, he saves infielders errors by picking balls out of the dirt, starts the double play well and simply makes all the plays.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME: When the team activated RHP Mike Morgan from the D.L. and designated LHP Mike Mohler for assignment, it created an unbalanced bullpen but made it more useful. With Mohler, the team had three righthanders and three lefthanders. But with RHP Byung-Hyun Kim closing and RHP Bret Prinz as the main setup man, Erik Sabel was the only righthander for all other situations. Now Morgan can pitch as a situational righthander with Sabel as a long man, a role he is better suited for. --Ed Price