BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR

D-backs hope to rebound from 2008 meltdown

PHOENIX—Chase Field was quiet on Monday.

Unlike last fall, there was no red, white and blue bunting. No preparations for playoff baseball. Nothing but a groundskeeper raking the warning track in the afternoon sun.

“It’s kind of an empty feeling,” manager Bob Melvin said.

Neither Melvin nor the Diamondbacks, who failed to defend their NL West crown, want to have this feeling again next autumn. So he’s planning to create competition for jobs when the team reports to Tucson for spring training.

“I think we need to create some more questions and some more urgency,” Melvin said. “Maybe there should be more competition. Maybe there should be more urgency. I think going into spring training next year, competition for jobs is going to be important.”

Outfield logjam

The stiffest competition figures to be in the outfield, where the Diamondbacks have four regulars — Conor Jackson, Chris Young, Justin Upton and Eric Byrnes, limited to 52 games with hamstring injuries.

“We’ve got four guys for three spots,” Melvin said. “A lot of it’s going to be on merit: who deserves to be playing at the time? I think they could all have the ability to push each other.”

Byrnes, who signed a three-year, $30 million contract last August, said he welcomes the competition.

“For me, it’s not competing against somebody else, it’s competing against myself,” Byrnes said. “It’s just going out there and playing my game. If I’m healthy and I’m playing well, they’ll find somewhere to put me.”

The Diamondbacks could clear up the logjam by moving Jackson back to first base, where he opened this season.

The club could then move Chad Tracy, one of its few left-handed bats, back to third base, where he began his major league career. Then the Diamondbacks would probably have to move slugger Mark Reynolds to second base. Reynolds had 28 home runs and 97 RBIs but also set a major league record with 204 strikeouts. He also had 35 errors at third base.

It’s also possible that catcher Miguel Montero could take over at third base.

“We have some positional flexibility within our existing group,” general manager Josh Byrnes said.

It seems unlikely the Diamondbacks will re-sign second baseman Orlando Hudson, who has won Gold Gloves in three straight years, the last two with Arizona. Hudson played in 107 games before having season-ending surgery on a dislocated left wrist.

“It could definitely be my last time to be in this clubhouse,” Hudson said on Sunday.

Youthful roster

Most of the rest of a young team is expected to return as the Diamondbacks try to recapture the formula that won the division title last year.

In 2007, the upstart Diamondbacks surged to their fourth division title in 10 seasons, winning a league-high 90 games despite being outscored by 20 runs across the season.

This year, Arizona scored 14 more runs than it gave up but finished with 82 victories, leaving them two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the woeful NL West.

“I think 2007, the wins were better than the underlying performance in many ways,” general manager Josh Byrnes said. “In 2008, the opposite is true. We scored more runs and allowed fewer. But we won eight fewer games.”

Josh Byrnes wouldn’t rule out a venture into the free agent market this winter. But the Diamondbacks more likely will upgrade through trades.

There’s no need to overhaul the roster after the club finished with back-to-back winning records for the first time since 2002-03.

“I do think our core is very good,” Josh Byrnes said. “We have young, talented players who can be here for a while — who, in many cases, their best years are in front of them or they’re in the middle of their prime.”

Among that group is ace Brandon Webb, who won 22 games and is contending for his second NL Cy Young Award. The Diamondbacks have talked to Webb about extending his contract, which runs through next season with a club option for 2010.

The Unit's future

They’ll also talk to lefty Randy Johnson, who won 11 games and is five shy of 300 career victories. The Big Unit turned 45 in September and has a history of back problems. But he rebounded from back surgery to make 30 starts, third on the team, and he allowed three runs or fewer in 11 of 13 starts after the All-Star break.

Johnson, speaking after he threw a two-hitter against Colorado on Sunday, said he hadn’t given much thought to next season. Josh Byrnes said the club expects to talk to him soon.

“He pitched very well this year,” Josh Byrnes said. “It’s complicated because he has 295 wins. He’s a (future) Hall of Famer, and certainly most of his career identity is here.

“But I think we have a lot of issues to pore through in the offseason, a very good free agent class, him included,” Josh Byrnes said. “We need to make the best use of our resources to put a good team on the field.”