Posts by: Ryan P. Morrison
If you know me even a little, you can probably appreciate just how much I enjoyed thinking about the idea of a six-man rotation, a question put to us by two people (Joseph Gonzol and Jon Klingman) for the last episode of The Pool Shot. It’s not that a six man rotation would necessarily be a good idea for most …
Continue Reading →Most national fans of baseball heard Robbie Ray‘s name for the first time fifteen months ago, when he was the featured prospect in what many considered to be an underwhelming return for Detroit in trading Doug Fister to the Nationals. Now making a bid for the D-backs rotation to start the season, Ray has seen his repertoire change.
Although …
Continue Reading →In 2014, working the count was not a strength of the D-backs. At 3.76 pitches per plate appearance, the team’s batters trailed all but two other teams in the National League, although they were nearly as close to the league leader (Cubs, 3.88 Pit/PA) as they were to the team with the quickest plate appearances (Brewers, 3.65 Pit/PA). Despite a …
Continue Reading →It’s been a great week — Jeff and I just concluded our Spring Training trip that coincided with the SABR Analytics Conference. We really enjoyed meeting a ton of new people. And on behalf of both of us, I want to express our thanks to the entire D-backs Communications Department for helping us get a closer look at the team …
Continue Reading →As Jeff wrote yesterday, the chances that Yasmany Tomas ends up at third base seem to have taken a dive of late as more scouts have seen him – and his perhaps “limited mobility” – in action. But as Jeff Passan noted when the report issued, the D-backs are the same team that doggedly refuse to see Peter O’Brien as …
Continue Reading →Let’s lead right off with the important stuff: Jeff and I will be at Zipps Sports Grill next Sunday at noon, the idea being that we will be thirsty before heading over to Scottsdale Stadium for the 3:05 game against the Giants. Jeff picked the meetup locale, so I can neither confirm nor deny that it was chosen because of …
Continue Reading →In 2013, the Diamondbacks were among baseball’s worst base running teams. Ranking 26th in the league, the team frittered away more than a win on the bases per FanGraphs’ Base Running statistic (-10.5 BsR); the Baseball Prospectus stat Base Running Runs was even less friendly with its measurement of the D-backs, ranking them 28th at -9.7 BRR. But things turned …
Continue Reading →Chase Anderson defied expectations last season. After a promising early career in the minors, he put up a scintillating 2012 line at Double-A: a 2.86 ERA in 21 starts, backed by a very good 8.39 K/9 and a borderline excellent 2.16 BB/9. Things looked good. But they did not look good the following year in 88 Triple-A innings (13 starts, …
Continue Reading →The D-backs may have quite a few players that they’d like to renegotiate salaries with, but after purging Miguel Montero‘s contract and shuffling some deck chairs in the offseason, there are probably only three contracts that the team wishes it could outright delete right now. I’ll give you a hint; their three 2015 salaries/offseason commitments total about $33M. The …
Continue Reading →By virtually any metric, it’s hard to look at Trevor Cahill‘s recent performance and conclude that he’s likely to be a good value at his $12M salary for 2015. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not worth more than the $520k the team would be likely to recoup by releasing him. As recently as 2013, Cahill was arguably an …
Continue Reading →After a season and a half of merely-well-above-average hitting statistics, Paul Goldschmidt posted an elite 2013 season, and matched that same elite pace in an injury-shortened season last year. How long can keep that up? If the D-backs are gearing up to contend for a few years starting in 2017, can Goldschmidt be part of that window? In 2017, Goldy …
Continue Reading →On Episode 16 of The Pool Shot, we spent much of the first half hour talking through the impact of the news that in the “final offer”-style arbitration in which he filed for $6.9M and the D-backs filed for $5.3M, the three-person panel picked Trumbo’s number. The impact is not colossal, but it’s not good, either. $1.6M is nothing …
Continue Reading →You might look at Evan Marshall‘s 9.85 K/9 last season and middle-of-the-road walk rate last season and conclude he was very good, but not elite. But if you did that, you’d be wrong. In a season when the team’s ERA ranked 26th in the majors, any Diamondbacks pitcher who did well deserves a second look — but Marshall should …
Continue Reading →It’s been just six months, but the new front office regime of Tony La Russa, Dave Stewart and De Jon Watson has dramatically altered the D-backs depth chart at starting pitcher. With Archie Bradley already on the verge of the majors, the team has added four more pitchers with high ceilings and spotty results: Robbie Ray, Allen Webster…
Continue Reading →When the deadline for clubs and players to exchange arbitration figures finally arrived, the D-backs had just two arb players unsigned: Addison Reed and Mark Trumbo. A couple of weeks ago, I dug in on those arbitration cases and thought that while settling with Trumbo would be reasonable, there were extraordinarily compelling reasons for the club to go to …
Continue Reading →Jake,
This has been a long time coming. In this season in which people say what they really feel, it’s time to admit the sentiment that’s bubbling to the surface.* You put the “hot” in “hot corner,” Jake.
Even one year ago, you were a test case for players who might or might not make it. I wasn’t dreaming on …
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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- #style https://t.co/dBEy3fpmBQ,
RT @Jody_Jackson: Letter from Goldy in the A section of today’s @azcentral newspaper. #humility #class https://t.co/8OrqCeBfkZ, 
RT @TheAthleticAZ: You think @Dbacks star Zack Greinke is on track for the Hall of Fame? He may be getting closer as voters turn over.… https://t.co/yoJyJ8Wnz5, 
RT @HillsboroHops: Hops fans...
We have a young ballplayer in need of some help. Let's see what we can do to lend a helping hand and d… https://t.co/DXmDA2Rzji, - I would not mind the Dodgers taking the short side of this impending trade, then spending approximately $3.5 billion on Bryce Harper,
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