30 Teams in 30 Days 2018 10 Arizona Diamondbacks

I'm sticking with 2017 Wild Card participants for this next team, except unlike the Twins, the Diamondbacks actually advanced into the divisional round. While they didn't spend an outrageous amount to retain their big midseason acquisition last year, with J.D. Martinez eventually going to the Red Sox, as we all knew he would. But with a strong core in place, this team is not backing down from challenging the NL West powerhouse Dodgers with the following roster:

All-Acquired Factor

This will be the non-bullpen edition, as I'll cover the relief corps in the next section. Their top new addition, Steven Souza Jr., would have done a fair bit of the work in the effort to replace JDM in the lineup, if he weren't on the DL with a strained pec. That caused his preseason ranking to drop down to 230, but the situation actually benefitted another acquired outfielder, Jarrod Dyson, who jumps up to 437. He would likely be featured if the Sports Illustrated baseball preview had bothered to include a bench. As it stands, catcher Alex Avila is the only other newly acquired player listed in the lineup, but he'll likely have to battle for playing time with two other receivers on the roster (Jeff Mathis, 638, and John Ryan Murphy, unranked). Arizona also picked up a out of options infielder Deven Marrero (761) from the Red Sox, who can pick up some slack in the infield, with Souza's time in the outfield partly taken by Chris Owings (whose ranking dropped to 234 with the announcement of just-extended Ketel Marte as the starting second baseman).

Bullpen

More like Archie BEARD-ley, amirite?

Converted starter Archie Bradley was Arizona's most effective bullpen weapon last year, pitching in a multi-inning high-leverage role, and there was talk of letting him take over in the ninth inning this year. At least MLB.com's fantasy ranking contingent thought that would be the case, so much so that when it was announced that he would stay in his old role, his ranking dropped to 293. Instead, veteran Brad Boxberger, acquired from the Rays in the offseason, was named the official closer, causing his ranking to shoot up to 275. The other horse in the closer race, Japanese star Yoshihisa Hirano, dropped to 501, ending up in the "show" position. The last new face in the bullpen will be non-roster invitee Fernando Salas, who made the team over Rule 5 pick Albert Suarez, who the D-Backs were able to stash in the minors based on his previous experience.

Fifth Starter

The fact that Zack Godley got no love in the SI baseball preview is curious, given that he was ranked 86 and 82 spots better than the projected fourth and fifth starters, respectively, at an even 100. He was also a Divisional All-Star starter for the NL's Wild Card team, starting Game 3 in my offseason simulation of the proceedings. Depth behind the starting five is practically nonexistent, especially with the trade that sent Anthony Banda to the Rays as part of the price to acquire Steven Souza.

Fantasy Astrology Relevance

Paul Goldschmidt is one third of a famously epic first base trio for Virgo, and his skill level is so high that he is basically guaranteed a spot, leaving Joey Votto and Freddie Freeman to duke it out for the DH spot. Three prominent Libras call Arizona home: now-injured third baseman Jake Lamb joins two pitchers: ace Zack Greinke, whose ranking actually fell below his rotation mate Robbie Ray due to some injury concerns of his own.

Song

Ragtime Cowboy Joe - Sons of the Pioneers

A quick Google search will reveal the existence of a song called "Arizona" by Mark Lindsay, or Paul Revere and the Riders. But digging a little deeper (i.e. Wikipedia, or listening to the lyrics), one will find that in the context of the song, the term Arizona does not refer to the state, but rather the singer's hippie girlfriend. Thus one could argue that Ragtime Cowboy Joe, a song about a "hifalutin, rootin' tootin' son of a gun from Arizona," actually has more to do with the state than the song that shares its name.

Colossus

The Diamondbacks are named after a snake, and they play in the desert. Colossus #10, nicknamed Dirge, is a giant snake, that burrows in the sand. It doesn't take a crazy leap to make that connection. Not much more to say about it really.