Posts by: Jeff Wiser
I still have dreams where I believe it’s not real. It’s usually 3am, I’m in a sweat and I’ve just awoken from a dream where the Diamondbacks were really bad again. Then I see the alarm clock, I feel my toes in the sheets, I catch my breath and remember: yes, that really happened.
The “that” in the sentence above …
Continue Reading →When the Shelby Miller trade was announced, the news was certainly bittersweet. Maybe bitter-bittersweet depending on what you think of Aaron Blair‘s value and what you think Dansby Swanson can be down the road. But it was certainly bittersweet because of the loss of Ender Inciarte, a guy who’s been a much-needed spark at times for the D-backs …
Continue Reading →The last week and a half has been as exciting as any D-backs fan can recall as far as ten day stretches go. Zack Greinke is a Diamondback? Holy moly! The trade of Ender Inciarte and Aaron Blair and Dansby Swanson for Shelby Miller? Wow! Those kinds of moves just haven’t happened in Arizona and now that they’re here, …
Continue Reading →If you’ve come to Inside the ‘Zona seeking to feel better about the Diamondbacks’ blockbuster trade for Shelby Miller, you may be disappointed. Then again, you may be thrilled. I’m not sure I can accurately project your feelings. What I will say, to begin, is this is exactly what we expected when we started talking about TCW (The Contention …
Continue Reading →Why would the Braves think that Shelby Miller and Arodys Vizcaino are worth A.J. Pollock and Aaron Blair? Even by just making a quick calculation, it’s pretty clear that Arizona would come up short in that deal from a value standpoint. Yet the Braves asked anyways and were fine with being turned down for now. They’ll leave their ringers …
Continue Reading →Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk of you again
Because a trade softly creeping
Hit its bombs while I was tweeting
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of “Trumbo”…
Earlier this week, we had some fun looking at the best and worst pitches from Diamondbacks starting pitchers in 2015. There were some really good pitches on disply there, even considering the struggles that the staff had last year. This time around we’ll position the microscope on the relievers, but there’s something notable to include here: relief pitchers have …
Continue Reading →They say you have to have at least two pitches to make the majors. Three if you want to start. Having any number of “average” major league pitches is impressive, really, but they’re certainly not all created equal. Some guys have one “plus” pitch they can lean on to get the job done most of the time – a pitch …
Continue Reading →Maybe you saw it. The Inside the ‘Zona 2015-2016 Offseason Plan came out on Wednesday. It included a few trades – two for relievers. Neither of those relievers was Aroldis Chapman even though he’s expected to be traded sometime in the next two weeks or so. The Reds are pretty determined to move him (and Todd Frazier and maybe some …
Continue Reading →Pretty often here on the internet we talk about non-elite pitchers as being more or less crap shoots. It’s true, pitchers tend to be more volatile than hitters, mostly because they get hurt more often. Luck can swing an ERA pretty wildly and trying to make bets on run-of-the-mill pitchers is just hard to do in confidence. What will Chase …
Continue Reading →A couple of weeks back, Ryan and I spent the better part of a week in Scottsdale talking baseball and taking the marvelous action that is the Arizona Fall League. Salt River’s games have wrapped up for the season as they won’t be playing in the AFL championship, and with the seasons of Arizona’s prospects officially finished (aside from those …
Continue Reading →It has been less than a year since the news broke that the Diamondbacks had secured Yasmany Tomas’ services. I was having a beer by myself in a bar downtown when the text came in. I confirmed the news, swallowed my beer and jumped on the train – rushing home so that I could write it up for Beyond the …
Continue Reading →While the focus of the winter is clearly upgrading the pitching staff, it’s easy to forget about what the team did and can do at the plate. As we’ve said all along, they’re going to score runs, usually enough runs to win. Take a look around the lineup and it’s easy to see why. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t …
Continue Reading →News of the trade that sent Daniel Palka to the Minnesota Twins for catcher (?) Chris Herrmann seemed to cause a bit of stir Tuesday afternoon. After all, it was the first trade of the offseason and everyone’s looking for a headline. The deal certainly caught Diamondbacks fans by surprise. And Palka was a guy they’d heard plenty about given …
Continue Reading →You know, the idea of this website is to write about the things that are knowable and observable that sometimes go overlooked. At least, that’s generally the idea. I don’t think anyone who watched a bulk of Diamondbacks games in 2015 would have overlooked how good the team was defensively. It was readily apparent. Every night. And once Trumbo was …
Continue Reading →@ryanpmorrison
Best part of Peralta’s 108 mph fliner over the fence, IMHO: that he got that much leverage despite scooping it out… https://t.co/ivBrl76adF, 
RT @OutfieldGrass24: If you're bored of watching Patrick Corbin get dudes out, you can check out my latest for @TheAthleticAZ. https://t.co/k1DymgY7zO, - Of course, they may have overtaken the league lead for outs on the bases just now, also...
But in 2017, Arizona ha… https://t.co/38MBrr2D4b,
- Prior to the games today, there had only been 5 steals of 3rd this season (and no CS) in the National League. The… https://t.co/gVVL84vPQ5,
- RT @OutfieldGrass24: Patrick Corbin has a WPA of .318 and it's only the fifth inning.,
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RT @MLBPipeline: Correction:
Oldest players on the #Top100Prospects list:
#Astros' Josh James, 25 (3/08/1993)
#Dbacks' Jon Duplanti… https://t.co/IpgOEtfUrh, - Diamondbacks MiLB affiliate the Missoula Osprey will transition away from the "Osprey" in 2020. Fans can vote for a… https://t.co/czwu2A1T3Q,
- Old Friend Alert https://t.co/vZFngGVaFF,
- Winning defensive MVP of the NFL Pro Bowl is something that should not actually be possible,
- Bill Swancutt (2005 draft, Lions) and Alex Brink (2008 draft, Texans). Swancutt was a DE and TE that I had to cover… https://t.co/7PvKgIVkD3,
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