Posts by: Ryan P. Morrison
I’m not one to dwell on bad news, but the latest word that Patrick Corbin will require six weeks of rehab or Tommy John surgery for a UCL injury might just be the worst news for D-backs fans all season. After feeling tightness all spring, Nick Piecoro reported, Corbin felt a “small little shock” in his elbow at the …
Continue Reading →As noted here several times in the last few months, the D-backs were extremely average in many ways last season. One exception was defense, in which the team excelled; but another appears to be players’ success in hitting with two strikes – especially in full counts. Nobody ever said this team isn’t gritty.
The overall batting average in the National …
Continue Reading →After a relatively quiet week, news broke on Friday afternoon that the D-backs had agreed to terms with LHP Oliver Perez, presumably as a bullpen piece. My first reaction was that this was a terrible move. After a little more research, it seems that it’s merely a very bad move.
Don’t get me wrong, Oliver Perez is a pretty …
Continue Reading →The Active Roster is affectionately referred to as the 25-man roster, but there are some circumstances in which it need not have exactly 25 men on it. The Disabled List is one exception, but teams are also allowed to run with 24 players in a pinch, have a 26th man for double headers, and a “taxi squad” player in some …
Continue Reading →Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the D-backs have gone .500… in spring training games so far. That’s right, with six games in the rear view, the team has gone 3-3. Despite some rain difficulties over the weekend, Arizona has played more games than any other team as it gears up to head to Australia two weeks from today. …
Continue Reading →The D-backs did some things really well last season. Baserunning was not one of those things. The D-backs were dead last in terms of how they affected games with stolen base attempts, but they also weren’t particularly good at other aspects of baserunning, either.
First, a quick look at how the D-backs fared overall. The “BsR” component of WAR combines …
Continue Reading →As has been reported by Nick Piecoro and others, Gerardo Parra brought more than just a new one-year contract with him to spring training this season — he’s also changed his batting stance. According to the Piecoro report, the new stance is less open, with his front foot a little closer to the plate and his right leg bent before …
Continue Reading →If there is an East Coast Bias (or a Coast Bias), I don’t think it’s so much about favoritism, as it might be about quantity of attention or coverage in general. But regardless of whether most of the U.S. will be rooting for them, the D-backs do take center stage (with the Dodgers) this spring for their two regular season …
Continue Reading →An 81-81 team overall, last season the Diamondbacks actually did quite a bit better as series progressed. In games 1 of individual series, Arizona’s winning percentage was just .442 (23-29). In games 2, it rose to .510 (26-25). And in games 3 or 4 of series, the team was a real winner (.543 W%, 32-27). That advantage may not seem …
Continue Reading →The Diamondbacks have the earliest spring training report dates in baseball this year thanks to the Sydney series (although, the Dodgers are also headed to Australia…), and last Wednesday was the first full workout for position players. The beginning of spring training makes for one of the true “dead periods” of the baseball season — the team appears done with …
Continue Reading →The Diamondbacks were great defensively, but not at all aspects of defense. One component of both of the most-used advanced defensive statistics is range; for The Fielding Bible‘s Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), that component is Runs Plus Minus Saved (rPM). That’s right, there’s a statistic that bears my initials, and the D-backs were the best at it in 2013. …
Continue Reading →There’s a pretty good general rule for baseball: extreme outliers are almost definitely the result of skill, but also of luck. Randy Johnson managed to log a perfect game on May 18, 2004, and it’s essentially impossible for any pitcher to do that without being well above average — but even RJ was not so good that he pitched perfect …
Continue Reading →With most of the roster spots all but decided for the 2014 season, the more gripping spring training story lines for the Diamondbacks may instead be playing time battles. On the position player side, in particular, the starter at each position is pretty much set — with the possible exception of Cody Ross, who has been a wild card for …
Continue Reading →On Tuesday, Freddie Freeman and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a whopping $135M, 8-year contract extension, avoiding a hearing in what would have been Freeman’s first year of arbitration eligibility. Armed with the Freeman contract details, we’re in a better position to evaluate what just might be Towers’s best move at the helm of the D-backs front office, which seems …
Continue Reading →Thanks in large part to the two-game series in Sydney on March 22 and 23, the Diamondbacks have the earliest reporting dates for spring training of all 30 teams: the 6th for pitchers and catchers (this Thursday!) and the 11th for position players. Because the Dodgers are the team with the next-earliest reporting dates, it’s no surprise that the first …
Continue Reading →A.J. Burnett was an ace last season. In 2013, he was eighth among qualified starters in FIP (2.80), 21st in WAR (4.0), and 27th in ERA (3.30). But his 2013 performance is not the only thing that makes him a good bet for the D-backs — Burnett was outstanding in ways that happen to be highly predictive for 2014.
It’s …
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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