Currently viewing the category: "Research"

Projecting the Career of Paul Goldschmidt

On February 25, 2015 By

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 …

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New TV Deal Means Flexibility for D-backs, Eventually

On February 24, 2015 By

News broke late last week that the Diamondbacks had (finally) agreed to terms with FOX Sports Arizona on a new television contract that will drastically change the financial complexion of the organization. This wasn’t unforeseen, obviously. The current contract was set to expire at season’s end and for over a year there had been speculation coming out of Phoenix about …

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Remaking Fireballers: Is Dave Stewart Building the Rotation in His Own Image?

On February 18, 2015 By

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…

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On Defensive Value and Ender Inciarte

On February 17, 2015 By

Over the last decade or so, defense has become an increasingly important aspect of baseball. When the Steroid Era slipped away and the old, plodding sluggers capable of hitting 40+ home runs per season all but evaporated from the game, they were often replaced by younger, faster players who could at least help prevent runs even if they weren’t capable …

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What Slowed Aaron Hill in 2014?

On February 12, 2015 By

There’s no denying that Aaron Hill is an important piece to the Diamondbacks’ 2015 success. Sure, you could say that to some degree about every player who’ll spend time on the 25-man roster during any season, but Hill is paid to hit and after consecutive season of doing just that, he fell off in a big way in 2014. Like …

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Identifying Jeremy Hellickson Problems with Curve, Change

On February 6, 2015 By

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 …

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A Multi-Layered Look at Gerald Laird

On February 4, 2015 By

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 …

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Unraveling the Mystery of Jeremy Hellickson

On January 30, 2015 By

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 …

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Pitching Inside

On January 28, 2015 By

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 …

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Projection Peek: D-backs Pitchers in 2015

On January 22, 2015 By

It’s projection season and as you may have noticed, we’ve already acknowledged the projections for the Diamondbacks’ position players. Now it’s the pitchers’ turn, but one common thread remains: the outlook is mostly bleak. That’s not news but rather a confirmation of what we already knew. 2015 is going to be a bit of a rebuilding year on the …

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Yasmany Tomas and the D-backs Puzzle

On January 13, 2015 By

The 2015 baseball season starts relatively soon. I mean, not soon enough if you ask me, but sooner than, say, it started a month ago, so that’s good. I’m starting to go through withdrawals and football can only stem the tide so much. And no team has as much of a reason to be excited about a fresh start as …

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Randy Johnson was Better Than You Think

On January 7, 2015 By

By now you’ve heard that the greatest pitcher in Diamondbacks history, Randy Johnson, has been elected to the Hall of Fame. The Big Unit received 97.3% approval to join baseball’s Valhalla and, well, that’s about as close as anyone’s going to get to a unanimous selection in today’s world of mixed up HOF voting. It’s no wonder why, he …

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Addison Reed’s Fly Ball Ways Could Make Him a Better Fit for a Different Team

On January 2, 2015 By

When Wade Miley was traded, a curious pattern emerged: in just a year’s time, the pitching staff has moved away from being ground ball oriented to being highly fly ball oriented. As things stand, extreme fly ball pitchers Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson are in line to head the staff, with middle of the road guys Allen Webster and Rubby …

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2014 D-backs Pitchers, Visualized

On December 31, 2014 By

If you stopped by yesterday, you surely noticed a discussion regarding the Diamondbacks’ position players and their struggles to produce positive value. If you missed it, you should catch up, because this post is purely a follow-up on that same premise: visualizing just how mightily the Diamondbacks’ pitchers struggled in 2014. And perhaps this is fitting, with it being …

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2014 D-back Position Players, Visualized

On December 30, 2014 By

The Diamondbacks were bad last year. You know this. We’ve written about this not-so-secret phenomenon a number of times this winter and probably with varying degrees of success. Sometimes the point gets across, sometimes it doesn’t. This is a hard thing to gauge, but occasionally, I can get a feel for the pulse of D-backs fans and their feelings on …

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The Gift of Great D-backs Pitching

On December 24, 2014 By

There’s been a lot of internet ink spilled about Diamondbacks pitching at this website recently. That’s due to a host of issues, the fact that pitching does make up half of a baseball game not withstanding. But while there’s been a lot of stressing over who will take the mound in 2015, this is the season for joy and what …

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