| | ESPN.com
Anybody can have surgery. Todd Stottlemyre will take pain.
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D-BACKS LOWDOWN |
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|  | | Todd Stottlemyre hopes to pitch through the pain. |
1999: 100-62
Runs: 908, 1st in NL
Allowed: 676, 3rd in NL
Key facts
Arizona scored 243 more runs than in 1998 -- the second-highest jump from one season to the next in 67 years.
Old players don't tend to improve (especially upon career years) and the D-Backs were the second-oldest club in the NL.
Went 52-21 after the All-Star break, the best record in baseball.
Tim Kurkjian's scenarios
Best-case: They become the fourth team in history to win at least 90 games in back-to-back seasons following a season of 65 or fewer wins.
Worst-case: The career seasons had by many in 1999 cannot be duplicated, dropping the D-Backs from first to third.
Prediction: 1st in NL West
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Stottlemyre, an excitable boy throughout his 12-year career, is trying to do what Nolan Ryan once did. He is trying to bull his way through a mind-over-matter rehabilitation program rather than submit to surgery and an extended rehabilitation program.
"There's the Tommy John surgery and then there's the Stott rehab," Arizona Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter said. "Ill tell you, he's a pretty amazing man."
Ryan pitched seven more years after tearing a ligament in his elbow. Stottlemyre would be happy just to make it through this season after being diagnosed with two tears in his rotator cuff.
Doctors wanted to operate, but Stottlemyre said he could handle it on his own. The early returns are promising.
"Knock on wood, so far things have been good," Stottlemyre said. "I know there's a chance that they might totally snap on me, but I can't allow myself to go out there saying, 'Boy, today could be the day.' I just have to go out there and let it go, and when it happens, it's going to happen."
While Stottlemyre won only six games in an injury-plagued '99 season, he demonstrates how Arizona won a West title in only its second season. Owner Jerry Colangelo opened his wallet to sign free agents Randy Johnson, Armando Reynoso, Andy Benes and Stottlemyre.
Arizona's pitching staff ranked only behind Atlanta last year. It is not quite as deep this year because of Benes' departure and questions about Stottlemyre. But the presence of left-handers Omar Daal and Brian Anderson, both of whom came in the '97 expansion draft, make this a rotation that is still the envy of almost every other organization.
Stottlemyre won 14 games for St. Louis and Texas in '98, putting him in position to command a four-year, $32-million contract. That is not looking like money well spent, but it would be foolish to dismiss the stubborn Stottlemyre too easily.
"It's what motivates me," he said of the doubts about his health. "Maybe the popular vote out there is that I'm not going to make it, but that's OK."
-- Phil Rogers
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Lineup comments and grades from ESPN The Magazine
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Player
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Comment
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Grade
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T. Womack, SS
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Old-timers see him as Maury Wills-error-prone but an offensive dynamo
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B
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Jay Bell, 2B
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Pivot should improve working with just one SS, not five like last year
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A
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L. Gonzalez, LF
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How did he hit .336? Put it another way: How did he hit .268 previous nine years?
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B
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M. Williams, 3B
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Revised order of best 3B gloves ever: Robinson, Williams, Bell, Nettles, Schmidt
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A
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S. Finley, CF
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Other than Willie Mays (37), he's the oldest CF (34) to win Gold Glove
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B
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E. Durazo, 1B
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Has Bagwell arms, i.e., short and quick to ball. Violent stroke
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B
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Travis Lee, RF
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Now using hands more to cure slow bat. Platoons with Bernard Gilkey if it works
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C
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Stinnett/Miller, C
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Talk about a close tandem -- their wives are due a day apart in late March
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C
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Pitching comments and grades from ESPN The Magazine
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Pitcher
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Comment
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Grade
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R. Johnson, SP
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294 more K's than BB, second-biggest margin since 1900 (Koufax, 311, 1965)
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A
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T. Stottlemyre, SP
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So bulked-up it's scary. Had to get bigger uniform, new clothes. Arm? We'll see
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B
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Omar Daal, SP
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Comes from many arm angles. Breaks a lot of bats, even a few of Tony Gwynn's
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B
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B. Anderson, SP
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Goofy, funny, crazy. But don't question his heart, guts or control
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C
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R. Springer, RP
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Took less money and fewer years to sign here rather than with Cleveland
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C
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M. Mantei, RP
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In 30 games for D-Backs last season, never entered with a runner on base
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A
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