Posts by: Ryan P. Morrison
Patrick Corbin had an odd 2013; he was brilliant, and then very good, and then very bad. There’s a wide range of outcomes for what he may bring to the D-backs in 2015, and armed with pre-season projections and a ton of baseball history, there are reasons for optimism.
Corbin ended May of 2013 with ten starts in the bag, …
Continue Reading →We can officially close the books on Kevin Towers as a D-backs employee; Nick Piecoro has reported that Towers will leave to seek a position with another team. According to the article, Tony La Russa said “Towers told him he felt remaining with the team presented a sort of ‘awkwardness'” under the new regime.
I think there’s a good chance …
Continue Reading →It’s official: Cuban outfielder Yasmany Tomas has been granted free agent status by Major League Baseball. After reviewing each MLB team’s needs and financial situations, I’m taking a stab at handicapping the race to sign him. Note: while I’m aware of several published reports connecting clubs to Tomas to date, I’m leaning almost exclusively on my own analysis of where …
Continue Reading →As Nick Piecoro reported on Monday, the 2015 D-backs payroll could be a “moving target…anywhere in the $80 million to $110 million range, depending on whether there is value to be found.” A look at the team’s current financial obligations, however, makes the lower end of that range seem highly unlikely. Two weeks ago, Jeff looked at how the limited …
Continue Reading →It’s been a very eventful last few days, with news of the hirings of Dave Stewart and De Jon Watson leaking Thursday, their first press conference Friday, Kirk Gibson getting fired shortly before that press conference, the Diamondbacks locking up next year’s #1 overall pick… and despite the playoffs, plenty of people were paying attention to Arizona.
But first, a …
Continue Reading →Call me crazy, but at the time that Arizona brought Cody Ross to the desert on a three-year, $26M deal, I thought it was a smart move for the club. I still do, as it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that the deal looks bad now. It doesn’t help that the deal was somewhat backloaded, but I believe it’s …
Continue Reading →D-backs hitters had themselves a day last night, and Jake Lamb was in the thick of it with a two hit performance. In fact, in the last thirty days, Lamb is second on the team in terms of creating runs with a wRC+ of 108. Only A.J. Pollock has bested Lamb by that metric, although with a .250 batting average, …
Continue Reading →The D-backs have lost six straight games, and that’s not even their longest losing streak this month. But the ugly four-game set in Colorado had a silver lining: the team leapfrogged the Rockies in the race to the bottom, and now lead in the sweepstakes for the first overall draft pick. Going into Thursday’s opener at Coors Field, the D-backs …
Continue Reading →Just over one year ago, a struggling Tony Sipp left the D-backs with no real left-handed option in the bullpen, prompting a trade for Joe Thatcher. Now, even with Thatcher gone, the D-backs appear to have several. It’s far from a sure thing that the D-backs will carry two lefties in their 2015 Opening Day bullpen, and unless the …
Continue Reading →On Monday, the Diamondbacks beat the Giants 6-2 at Chase Field. The game was rare not just in that the D-backs won, but that it featured the top two pitch framing pitcher-catcher batteries in MLB this season. Using at least 1,000 “pitch framing chances” as defined by Baseball Prospectus, the tandem of Ryan Vogelsong and Buster Posey is tops in …
Continue Reading →Last Wednesday, Nick Piecoro posted an excellent, excellent piece on where the D-backs are headed in terms of incorporating analytics into their baseball operations department. And as much as we’d like to reserve judgment on where the club is headed in building its new front office, it may be that the writing is already on the wall.
From Piecoro’s piece:…
Continue Reading →When (former!) GM Kevin Towers moved struggling starter Ian Kennedy before the trade deadline in 2013, he obtained a player that filled a need in a contending team’s bullpen: Joe Thatcher. But Matt Stites also came over in the trade to Arizona to even out the value in the trade, and so far, his 6.11 ERA in 28 innings …
Continue Reading →Venezuela was a key source of talent for the Diamondbacks not too long ago, with Miguel Montero, Gerardo Parra, and now Ender Inciarte coming up through the system after signing as amateurs (David Peralta has a different kind of story). More recently, the D-backs have wholly failed to make a strong push for international free agents. Consider …
Continue Reading →This is an urgent time for the Diamondbacks organization, which could be set on any kind of path within the next month or so. Yet, the club and Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa have been moving deliberately through the process—as well they should. When Jeff Wiser and I talked D-backs on Saturday, he used the word “pragmatic,” and that’s …
Continue Reading →It’s finally happened: Nick Piecoro has reported that Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers is General Manager no more. While the move could usher in a better future for the organization, its next moves will be even more critical than the firing itself.
It wasn’t all bad with Towers; his front office made a number of excellent minor moves, like the …
Continue Reading →As ridiculous as it might be to put a single 13-pitch relief outing under the microscope, I can’t contain my excitement about seeing Daniel Hudson on the mound again. Let’s look at his old repertoire for background, and gush over some GIFs from last night.
You wouldn’t think it of a pitcher who can hit 95 mph on the radar …
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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