Valley Sports

There’s a certain comfort in running out a pair of aces to start in 40 percent of your big league ballgames.

With Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, it led the Diamondbacks to a World Series title in 2001.

Brandon Webb and Dan Haren kept the team in contention in the NL West last year, despite a lackluster offense.

But at this point, it isn’t enough. Even when Webb gets back, Arizona won’t  challenge the Dodgers for the division crown.

The Los Angeles offense is talented from top to bottom, and even though the rotation isn’t perfect, the bats cover up the shortcomings. It must be reassuring for a pitcher to go out and know he can give up three or four runs, and still come up with a victory.

It’s safe to say no starter in the Arizona rotation feels that way.

This might sound like blasphemy to Diamondbacks fans, but it might be time to trade Webb. The club backed off giving him a contract extension last year, allegedly because of concerns with his arm.

Fast forward to early April of this year, and Webb was put on the shelf with right shoulder stiffness.

After a setback, he could return by June, enough time before the trading deadline to prove he’s healthy.

If Webb shows he’s back to form, contending teams will be lining up to bid for him. But this shouldn’t be a swap for prospects, like the Indians did last year when trading away C.C. Sabathia.

The Diamondbacks have enough young players, and what they really need is a proven cleanup hitter for the middle of the lineup.

Look what it did for the Dodgers. When Manny Ramirez was acquired, it let the young players slide into roles that were more comfortable, and they didn’t feel the pressure of carrying the offense.

As the trade deadline approaches, the Diamondbacks should seriously consider trading Webb for a masher like Josh Hamilton.

Hamilton would slide perfectly into the cleanup spot. Felipe Lopez, Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds could hit in front of him, with Justin Upton and Conor Jackson behind him.

Hamilton would give stability to the lineup, and give the players around him better pitches to hit.

As it stands, the Diamondbacks are purely a home run hitting team. While Hamilton hits his share of long balls, he also batted .304 last season, and would help keep the pressure on the pitcher by getting on base.

Texas may not like the offer because Hamilton’s contract situation is more friendly, but the Rangers are in desperate need of pitching, and Cy Young-caliber arms aren’t available every day.

Meanwhile, the Arizona rotation would still be OK. Haren would be the unquestioned ace, with Max Scherzer ready to slide in behind him. In two years, Jarrod Parker could be added, giving Arizona enough high-end pitching to compete.

It’s always a risk to give up dominant big league pitching.

But the Diamondbacks are stuck in quick sand, and need a bat to help pull them out. If there aren’t dramatic results in the next month and a half, it’s time to consider a move.

ESPN.com’s Joe Schad reports that former Michigan quarterback Steven Threet has decided to transfer to Arizona State.

Threet, a redshirt freshman, must sit out this season, but will have two years of eligibility beginning in 2010.

With the spring departures of Jack Elway and Chasen Stangel, the Sun Devils were down to three scholarship quarterbacks. Elway is staying at ASU as a student, while Stangel will transfer.

Threet threw for 1,105 yards with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions last year, completing 51 percent of his passes. He started eight games for the Wolverines.

At 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, he was not an ideal fit for the spread option at Michigan. Threet originally signed with Georgia Tech out of high school, before transferring to Michigan.

Threet will likely compete with sophomore Samson Szakacsy and freshman Brock Osweiler for starting duties in 2010.

Senior Danny Sullivan is currently No. 1 on the depth chart for the Sun Devils.

Brandon Webb felt tightness in his shoulder while playing catch on Friday, a setback as he attempts to return to the Diamondbacks from the 15-day disabled list, the Associated Press reports.

It seems doctors were right on the money when forecasting arm troubles for Webb, which was the alleged reason why the team pulled a contract extension from the table last June.

It’s unknown at this point when Webb will return to the mound for the Diamondbacks, but the Arizona front office has to be discussing other options.

Pedro Martinez would be a nice addition, but his asking price could be too high. Other veterans such as Paul Byrd and Mark Mulder are available, but they don’t seem to be an upgrade over Yusmeiro Petit.

At this point, the Diamondbacks seem stuck between a rock and a hard place. If management gives the go-ahead, general manager Josh Byrnes could make a splash by signing Martinez. But I doubt it happens. The economic downturn has hit everyone, including the D-Backs, and they probably don’t have $5 million laying around.

More than likely,  it will come down to plenty of finger crossing for Arizona as they wait and see if Webb gets healthy, which isn’t the best way to compete for a division title.

Let me preface this post before I start. It’s early in the baseball season. Very early. Two games isn’t anywhere near enough data to analyze a player.

That being said, could last season’s trade of Emilio Bonifacio for Jon Rauch really hurt the Diamondbacks in the long run?

For a couple years, the Diamondbacks had pegged Bonifacio as their second baseman of the future. He didn’t do well in a couple of stints at the big league level, but those small sample sizes probably didn’t change that thinking.

However, when the bullpen struggled last year, Josh Byrnes deemed it necessary to add another arm for the stretch run. It was hard faulting his logic at the time. When Rauch was acquired, he was 4-2 with a 2.98 ERA and 17 saves for the Nationals.

Bonifacio went to Washington and didn’t exactly tear it up, but it was the performance of Rauch that was the most disappointing. He went 0-6 with a 6.56 ERA in 26 games for the Diamondbacks, contributing to the late season collapse.

Fast forward to this season, and the struggles have not straightened themselves out for Rauch. He struggled mightiliy  in spring training, then gave up two runs in two-thirds of an inning last night, turning a 1-0 deficit to 3-0 and effectively ending any Arizona hopes at a comeback.

Bonifacio, on the other hand, has been nothing short of brilliant. He made waves by hitting an inside the park home run on Opening Day, but it’s more than that. After going 4-for-5 on that day, he followed it up with a pair of hits yesterday. After the first two games, Bonifacio was hitting .600 with a home run and four RBIs as the leadoff man for the Marlins. He has a hit in all three games this season, and has been the kind of sparkplug that every team desperately covets. Additionally, he’s already stolen four bases this season.

Felipe Lopez has played well for Arizona this season, and very well could have a better season than Bonifacio.

But the Diamondbacks were high on Bonifacio for a reason, and if he does put it all together, the Arizona front office will be kicking itself.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jack Elway has left the Arizona State football team, but will remain in school, an ASU official confirmed Tuesday.

Elway, out of Cherry Creek High in Colorado, was one of five signal callers in the running to replace Rudy Carpenter as starter of the Sun Devils. However, he was fourth or fifth on the depth chart, and unlikely to see playing time this season.

Elway is the son of former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway.

There are four scholarship quarterbacks left on the roster - Danny Sullivan, Samson Szakacsy, Chasen Stangel and Brock Osweiler.

Cole Rarrick, a senior from Scottsdale Saguaro High, will walk on as a freshman in the fall. Rarrick directed an offense that was run-first, and didn’t get many chances to show off his arm last season, but does have the potential to earn a scholarship.

The rebuilding process for the Arizona State men’s basketball team could be accelerated if a pair of prospects on the radar become Sun Devils.

With the departures of Jeff Pendergraph and, most likely, James Harden, ASU seems to be short on impact players for next season. But the addition of Kyryl Natyazhko, Darius Smith, or both, could make the transition smooth.

Natyazhko, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound post player from the IMG Academy in Florida, is on an official visit to Arizona State’s campus this weekend, according to Chris Karpman at ASUdevils.com. Natyazhko is being recruited by Pittsburgh, Xavier and Kentucky, among others.

Smith, a defensive-minded point guard from Chicago, also is interested in ASU and could take a visit before the start of the spring signing period.

Natyazhko is a four-star prospect and Smith has a three-star ranking. Both are ranked among the top 115 players in the nation by Rivals.com. Arizona State already has two players - wings Demetrius Walker of Phoenix St. Mary’s and Trent Lockett from Minnesota - ranked in the top 115. Lockett has a four-star rating and Walker a three-star.

ASU’s other commitment is Ruslan Pateev, a three-star, 7-foot center from Florida who chose the Sun Devils over offers from Florida State and coach Herb Sendek’s former college, North Carolina State.

Arizona State women’s basketball guard Briann January did not practice Tuesday while recovering from an ankle sprain suffered in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday against Florida State.

However, the senior is adamant that come Sunday, she will be in uniform. The Sun Devils play No. 2 seed Texas A&M in the Sweet 16 at 11:30 a.m. in Trenton, N.J.

“This is my last go-round,” January said. “I’ll be ready.”

January has been in a walking boot to help expedite the healing process. She missed a portion of the contest against Florida State while being looked at by the training staff, but returned to finish the game.

The Arizona State women’s basketball team was happy with the 6 seed it garnered for the NCAA tournament, but wasn’t thrilled that it would essentially be playing a road game against a lower-seeded Georgia squad on Saturday.

The opening-round matchup will be played in Duluth, Ga., approximately an hour or so away from Georgia’s campus in Athens.

The reason is this: When NCAA women’s games are pitted in truly neutral locations, some of the matchups have a tough time drawing fans. Therefore, the committee prefers to keep at least one of the teams close to home.

“We need fans,” Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “We need people. We need games where people are close to them. Now this is always the big argument against it. How does a top seed, a higher seed, have to go and play in the home gym, the home area of a lower seed? It’s just where we’re at in the evolution of college women’s basketball right now, and I understand it.”

I’m apt to think this location was chosen more on the basis of the second game Saturday  - No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 14 North Carolina A&T - than as a benefit to Georgia. The spot is also reasonably close to Florida State, so it benefits the highest seeded team in the group. Once the Seminoles were locked in, the committee likely tried to find a second team from a close proximity, and that was Georgia.

So Arizona State got the short end of the stick, but I don’t see any malicious intent. The Sun Devils have had their share of luck before, too. In 2005, No. 5 seed Arizona State played a Sweet Sixteen game against top-seeded North Carolina in front of a raucous crowd at Wells Fargo Arena.

Either way, it shouldn’t be the difference-maker in this contest. If Arizona State is the better team on Saturday, it will win.

Arizona State women’s basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne figured nothing else could possibly go wrong after a series of unfortunate events on Saturday.

First, with a chance for ASU to finish as regular season Pac-10 co-champions with Stanford, leading scorer Dymond Simon tore her ACL in the first half against the Cardinal. It was the second time she’s suffered the serious knee injury, and it immediately ended her season.

The Sun Devils fought back in the second half, but couldn’t beat the Cardinal, dropping to third in the conference.

Then they found out that USC, which finished in a three-way tie for fourth place, was given the sixth seed in the Pac-10 tournament because of tiebreakers, meaning the Sun Devils would play an away game while  other Pac-10 teams played at a neutral site (the tournament is held at the Galen Center, USC’s home court).

Finally, while practicing earlier this week, Turner Thorne heard a pop, and saw Kirsten Thompson limping around on her right foot. The initial thought was a serious injury, but it turns out it was a sprain of a seldom-used ligament in her foot, and Thompson could be back for Friday’s game against the Trojans.

But it was just another scare in a tough week.

“We’re like, OK, we’re not practicing (any more) this week,” Turner Thorne said. “We’ll just condition and shoot.”

I just picked up the new Arizona State baseball media guide. These things are always loaded with interesting tidbits, but this one might take the cake: One of Arizona State’s incoming freshmen is Johnny Ruettiger.

Why does that name sound familiar? Daniel Ruettiger is the Notre Dame walk-on whose story was turned into the 1993 movie “Rudy”. Johnny is his nephew, and a pretty good baseball player. Johnny graduated from Joliet (Ill.) Catholic Academy, the same high school as his famous uncle, and batted .450 as a senior and went 11-2 on the mound.

Oh, and he played some football, too. Joliet won an Illinois state title with Ruettiger at quarterback in 2007. No mention of how many ‘Rudy’ chants he’s gotten in his career.