Tim Hudson Has Owned the Diamondbacks

Tim Hudson sports an 8-1 record against the D’backs. Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Diamondbacks are batting.500 in free agency even though they haven’t signed anyone other than Blake Lalli.  Their NL West rivals, the San Francisco Giants, re-signed Tim Lincecum, a fellow the D’backs have had great success against the last couple of years. That’s the good news.  The bad news came earlier this week when the Giants announced the signing of Tim Hudson to a two year deal.

The veteran righty has dominated the D’backs over the years, though the Snakes have not faced him all that much over his 15 seasons in the Bigs. In 11 career starts, Hudson is 7-1 with a 2.18 ERA. In 78 1/3 innings, Hudson has allowed only 60 hits and 23 walks while striking out 60. However, the 2013 D’backs roughed up Hudson in two starts, tagging him for nine runs in 11 2/3 innings. With him heading to San Fran, I don’t expect the Snakes in 2014 to duplicate that success. You can bet Hudson is working out fanatically to recover from his broken ankle and take the hill against one of SF’s division rivals. Historically against the other NL West teams, Hudson has had tremendous success against the Padres, moderate success against the Dodgers and shaky in outings vs. the Rockies.

The Giants have been active in the early going of free agency. They have kept two of their own, Lincecum and Hunter Pence and are close to re-signing reliever Javier Lopez. Signing Hudson represents their latest step in trying to get back to the playoffs.

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