Posts by: Ryan P. Morrison
It seems like every time we’ve delved into lineup topics over the last few years, the question is really about who is batting leadoff. Sure, there was the question about whether to bat Paul Goldschmidt second or fourth instead of third, but we know that the idea of “lineup protection” is probably overblown, and that most lineup questions …
Continue Reading →In baseball, we hate waste. There aren’t too many teams with two catchers, each of whom would be starters on most teams; if you’ve got two and you feel like you can’t fully use both of them, one usually gets worked into a trade, either by the team, trying to fill a need, or by an enterprising trade partner. Now …
Continue Reading →I’m frequently surprised by how aggressive some people are in negotiation — and how frequently it works. I tend to stake out ground and defend it, rather than go all over the place. The benefit of that kind of general reasonableness is that you get to take an unreasonable position from time to time and garb it in that same …
Continue Reading →Just being perfectly honest, you don’t really need to read this post. If you’ve seen the headline, you know all you need to know. It was fun, though, to use batted ball velocity data to pick apart David Peralta‘s better success against lefties in 2015, and I think enough of that to rely on it to figure out some …
Continue Reading →This offseason, the D-backs aren’t inclined to leave as much to chance — they shelled out the dollars for Zack Greinke, shelled out a different kind of capital for Shelby Miller, and by trading Ender Inciarte, they made it look like they know who their starting outfielders are, and that they think a fourth just isn’t that …
Continue Reading →Few bright spots in the D-backs’ last-place 2014 season were brighter than Evan Marshall. Called up to pitch in his first game on May 6, 2015, Marshall left a path of destruction in his wake, pitching to a 2.74 ERA in 49.1 innings. His outstanding results looked completely earned; that ERA was backed by a 2.89 FIP, and while …
Continue Reading →The D-backs look like a good team right now. No, they probably aren’t the 116 win 2001 Seattle Mariners good, but that’s okay — I’m pretty sure some other team won the World Series that year anyway. Right now, I like the team’s chances of making the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be better.
With little left on …
Continue Reading →If they haven’t already settled on a 2016 salary, seven D-backs players will file for arbitration on January 12th, next Tuesday, with exchanging figures with the team a few days later, on Friday, January 15th. So what’s going on with those cases right now? On Monday, I ran through pre-figure exchange strategies for both sides with respect to Rubby De …
Continue Reading →The baseball arbitration dance is set to its own rhythm. Things become a little more clear once players and teams have filed figures, but a lot is happening behind the scenes right now, and more will happen before figures are exchanged on January 15th. At that point, the game has fewer dimensions — and maybe no negotiation dimensions, if the …
Continue Reading →Its not that often that I feel like the scales have fallen from my baseball eyes, but it just happened, and I’m excited to share why. It’s not that this one thing Explains All Baseball, but the effect seems to be enormous: whether or not a pitch has a platoon split has much to do with how vertical the movement …
Continue Reading →Regardless of what happens next, David Peralta is flat-out amazing. You know his story, a pitcher in the Cardinals organization felled by shoulder injuries only to rise again as a position player. After signing out of independent ball and playing his first game in the D-backs organization on July 3, 2013 — just before his 26th birthday — he erupted …
Continue Reading →With Daniel Hudson‘s second TJ continuing to haunt the team in the background, Patrick Corbin was brought back very gingerly in 2015 — he made his debut more than 16 months after his surgery, with a unusually high number of simulated games and a handful of minor league rehab appearances. As a result, Corbin threw just 85 innings in …
Continue Reading →The D-backs threw themselves an enormous party earlier this month, unveiling new uniforms, signing Zack Greinke the next night, and trading for Shelby Miller the next week. The Greinke and Miller moves made more of a difference for the 2016 roster than any other move is likely to make — but cleaning up after the #DbacksEvolution party still takes some …
Continue Reading →Ender Inciarte was not young when he was called up to play in a decimated outfield in 2014; he’s now 25 years old, and it may be the case that he doesn’t get much better than he was in 2015, at least on defense. What he is, though, is a very good player. Inciarte was exactly average on offense in …
Continue Reading →Whenever decisions don’t seem to make sense, it may always be because of missing information. Over the last year, there have been very many decisions by the D-backs front office that have been hard to understand. A staggering number of them suddenly make sense, though, with a single bit of information: this team has prioritized ground balls. With their recent …
Continue Reading →As our intern so terribly announced, it’s “Mission Accomplished” now on upgrading the rotation, with Zack Greinke at the front and Shelby Miller replacing someone else. If a lefty fourth outfielder or utility infielder or backup catcher fell in the team’s lap, they’d probably listen — but the team’s attention is now turned to the bullpen. Thing is, toward …
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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- Every once in a while you get a beer that's just a little off... Usually happens to me at airports.,
- If Pollock doesn’t sign with a team that wears red uniforms I’m going to be really disappointed. Working theory: Se… https://t.co/zHn9DqzEiD,
- The work here by @Britt_Ghiroli is splendid https://t.co/c8tSq0vw3T,
RT @TheAthleticAZ: Plenty of #Dbacks fans gave it some time - and they still don't like the idea. The "why" from @ZHBuchanan
https://t.co/9oDlvue3fV, 
RT @CardsNation247: Episode 30 of the Cardinals Nation 24/7 Podcast, Hosts @ToR_Ron75 & @JMRedwine welcome @buffa82 of @KSDKSports &… https://t.co/7dbIEzcahN,
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