Posts by: Ryan P. Morrison
It wasn’t too long ago that I was daydreaming about a convoluted plan for playing time in the infield that would have seen Didi Gregorius start at shortstop every day against RHP, with Chris Owings and Aaron Hill each shuttling between two positions. But things have changed.
Obviously, the trade that saw Didi Gregorius sent to the Yankees in return …
Continue Reading →When GM Dave Stewart “listed” Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster with Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson as penciled into the rotation, it was probably, in part, a way to talk up the recently-completed Wade Miley trade. Fair enough. As Nick Piecoro wrote yesterday morning, the gap probably comes after Collmenter and Hellickson, and I agree that those are …
Continue Reading →Last week, I took a crack at finding out why, despite very consistent Fielding-Independent Pitching marks, Jeremy Hellickson had wildly different results in 2013-2014 as opposed to 2010-2012. The answer, it seemed, was that Hellickson’s success in getting weak hits on his curveball and change all but disappeared. In last week’s piece, we took a look at some other possible …
Continue Reading →Once upon a time, the Rangers had depth at catcher at least as envied as what the Red Sox have right now. In 2007, Texas traded Mark Teixeira and received Jarrod Saltalamacchia as one of that package’s headliners; they also had control over the promising Taylor Teagarden, and Max Ramirez was starting to get some attention as a catching …
Continue Reading →For a slow news week in Diamondbacks land (thanks for that, Super Bowl), we sure had a hell of a lot to stuff into our most recent episode of The Pool Shot. We had a fantastic conversation, and I think Episode 13 is a great example of why we’re podcasting in the first place.
The first major topic we tackled …
Continue Reading →Although Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster are both penciled into the April rotation, only Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson are so cemented into the team’s immediate plans that a very poor spring training would not result in their demotion. We know and love The Tomahawk, but who is Hellboy?
Last season, Hellickson pitched to an underwhelming 4.52 ERA …
Continue Reading →The D-backs front office has been furiously remaking the team this offseason, and one curious byproduct has been taking a grounder-leaning pitching staff and replacing it with a fly ball one. And while Tony La Russa has only been at the helm for less than a year, there was an incident last year that might tell us why.
Regardless of …
Continue Reading →You may have seen this back at the Worldwide Leader: Rob Manfred interviewed with Karl Ravech of ESPN in a video that aired yesterday, and promoting offense appears to be one of Manfred’s priorities. Among the options Manfred said the league would consider: rules changes to cut down or eliminate defensive shifting in baseball. I don’t know how likely this …
Continue Reading →It’s that time of year: teams and players exchanged arbitration figures last week, and any hearings that take place will happen between the 1st and 21st of next month. The D-backs have just two arb-eligible players left, and three possible outcomes with each player: end up at the player’s figure, the team’s figure, or settle somewhere in the middle. No …
Continue Reading →Among Nick Piecoro’s great work within the last week was this piece about the tightening budget and the D-backs’ interest in James Shields. This is the “true baseball team” article that generated a large stir last week, as we talked about on The Pool Shot. This is also the article that alerted us that once again in this zig zag …
Continue Reading →After the Wade Miley trade was completed, GM Dave Stewart indicated that Josh Collmenter, Jeremy Hellickson, Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster were penciled into the rotation. Let’s put problems with that aside and accept, for the moment, that that’s true — what can we expect for the fifth slot?
The leading contenders for that spot are …
Continue Reading →As Jeff Wiser broke down yesterday, in Cuban right-hander Yoan Lopez, the D-backs added an asset worth far more than the $8.27 million it took to get him inked. As he also covered in great detail, Lopez also cost much more than that $8.27 million. For starters, that figure is a signing bonus, not a guaranteed salary, meaning that anything …
Continue Reading →Tickets are on sale for Spring Training, which makes it feel like we’re closing in on the 2015 season. Gone are the main rites of the offseason, the victory parade, the non-tender deadline, the Winter Meetings, the voting results for the Hall of Fame. A ton has happened for the D-backs during that span (well, other than the victory parade), …
Continue Reading →David Peralta is starting to pull together a track record from which we can draw solid inferences. He is, essentially, a good-not-great fielder in right field with merely average power — and a knack for knocking the cover off of the ball. But he also has flaws, as we saw toward the end of the season, and as we started …
Continue Reading →Less than two months but several trades ago, the D-backs acquired Jeremy Hellickson from Tampa Bay for minor leaguers Andrew Velazquez and Justin Williams, two players that had not played above the Single-A level. The trade was reasonable by any measure, but it does seem that either the D-backs liked Hellickson much more than most, or they weren’t quite …
Continue Reading →Who else might the D-backs target this offseason? Spoiler alert: the answer may be “none of the above,” although the team could be in position to pick up an extra piece or two in February as they did with Oliver Perez last year. The jewels of what remains of the free agent class are still Max Scherzer and James Shields…
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 @GaryHPhillips: Eric Reid has had a terrific season for the #Panthers, but he's also got an open collusion case pending against the… https://t.co/TGEwkcsMLW, 
RT @OJCarrascoTwo: The Lefty to my Pancho, @OutfieldGrass24 dives deep into pitch selection/repertoire and its impact on results. https://t.co/pjGN3tHMLX, - I’m old enough to remember when Lucroy was a thing people really wanted https://t.co/4LesmV67pC,
- It’s fancy drink night https://t.co/hDMDCMW1FQ,
- The @fangraphs home page is full of absolute gems. 2018 has been a really great year of baseball writing and their… https://t.co/akATOmcBbd,
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