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With offseason acquisitions like Martin Prado, Eric Chavez, Cody Ross and Didi Gregorius, the Arizona Diamondbacks garnered a lot of attention regarding their perceived desire to replace star power with grit and headiness.

During his media session Tuesday, general manager Kevin Towers offered up a different label: not home run-dependent.

"With (Adam) Eaton at the top of the lineup and potentially (Gerardo) Parra when he's in there, I think there's a speed dynamic that we haven't had the last couple of years," Towers said. "Hopefully it's not a ball club that relies on the three-run home run to get back into games or win ballgames.

"I think when you look at our lineup, we're still going to hit a lot of home runs. But, we have more contact-type hitters, hopefully higher on-base (percentage) early in our lineup and an ability to apply pressure."

In 2012, the D-backs finished seventh-best in the league in OBP (.328) and 15th-best in home runs (165).

Speed, however, was a much bigger issue during the team's 81-81 campaign.

Arizona finished last season ranked second-worst in stolen bases percentage (successful only 65 percent of the time) and eighth-worst in stolen bases (93).

"I think it's now a more well-rounded club," said Towers. "I think there's a little more speed with the ball club offensively, a ton of versatility, great character, great makeup."

Dave Dulberg, Web Content Editor - ArizonaSports.com

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    ex-distancerunner wrote...
    Eaton got caught stealing quite a bit
    Oh, but that was the first base coach Young's fault..ha. I think Mr. Towers is as smart as they come and I am glad that he is leaving Kubel in the line up and on the team for balance. The three-run homer is more important than he's saying.. Sure SanFrancisco was last in homers BUT their game changing hits were the Paublo Sandoval 3 homers in one game..that's what changed their momentum.
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