D-backs Interesting Puzzle To Piece Together

There may be no bigger Rubik’s Cube in Major League Baseball than the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lofty spring training expectations have turned into below average baseball for a team who can’t seem to win at Chase Field but are 14-8 on the road entering Tuesday’s series opener in Pittsburgh against the Pirates.

There is still plenty of baseball to play but the D-backs’ issues seem to be littered among many fronts.

The good news is it appears ace Zack Greinke is starting to pitch like the $200 million ace who dazzled with the Dodgers.

“You started to see it,” SIRIUS MLB and D-backs’ Pre/Post-Game Host Mike Ferrin told Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat Monday morning. “Back-to-back really good starts for Greinke. He was dynamite against the Cardinals [Sunday].”

The onus now falls on Arizona’s other key off-season rotation acquisition Shelby Miller to string together quality starts. Ferrin believes he could be the missing link to a pitching staff with a “better than anticipated” bullpen.”

Offensively it appears Paul Goldschmidt may be shaking off the All-Star rust which, like Greinke, has plagued his production early this summer. The club has been trying to cope without their other All-Star, center fielder A.J. Pollock but Ferrin believes the club’s latest casualty is a bigger loss than many realize.

“The [David] Peralta injury and his struggles ahead of that are as damning as anything so far,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest issue for me. You’re without two-thirds of your starting outfield right now.”

The question remains, will the D-backs have enough key, healthy pieces in place to make a run in a division that, as of now, remains fairly wide open.