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The Diamondbacks have a balance problem and balance is important, at least to a degree. We hear time and again that teams seek to keep a mixture of right and left-handed bats in the lineup because, as we know, platoon splits are very real and very common. Righties usually hit lefties well and lefties, righties. This is not startling news …
Continue Reading →The Diamondbacks made a bevy of moves last week. In fact, it’s been a pretty exciting offseason thus far, and given where things stand right now, I’d suggest that they’re far from done making moves. As a fan, this is mighty exciting as the status quo was surely destined for failure. Just getting healthy was bound to improve the team, …
Continue Reading →As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the Diamondbacks recently signed Cuban slugger Yasmany Tomas. That was big news. Then the Athletics traded All-Star third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays. That was arguably bigger news, and surely more surprising news. Early in the offseason, the A’s had stated that Donaldson wouldn’t be moved; and then he got moved. The …
Continue Reading →Baseball seems so simple if you’re not looking closely, but I’d beg to differ. Every baseball play starts with the pitcher, and pitchers are always seeking to improve their odds of defeating the batter in the box. Their weapons to do so are contained in an arsenal of pitches that they have at their disposal. But here’s the thing: for …
Continue Reading →About ten days ago, Dave Stewart came out and publicly declared Mark Trumbo the team’s every day right fielder in 2015. Aside from the fact that I disagree with the organization making bold public statements about players, especially this early in the offseason, I also disagree with Trumbo lining up in right 150 times next year. The experiment in …
Continue Reading →Once upon a time, the D-backs organization considered storing baseballs in a humidor at Chase Field. The year was 2010, and a mountain of data was available showing the drastic effect the Coors Field humidor had had on Rockies home games. Jerry Dipoto had taken over as interim GM after Josh Byrnes was fired on July 2, 2010, and as …
Continue Reading →The D-backs are an interesting team, defensively: in 2013 they were the second-best fielding team in baseball, but in 2014, they were one of the league’s worst in defensive efficiency. We speculated on Episode 2 of The Pool Shot that the D-backs may shift more under new manager Chip Hale. I’d like to take it one step further now, …
Continue Reading →Only 9 catchers qualified for the batting title this year. Miguel Montero was one of them, but notwithstanding the fact that he actually led the D-backs in games played (136) and plate appearances (560) in 2014, the number of plate appearances tallied by the average backup catcher is not trivial. For a contending club, a backup catcher can make a …
Continue Reading →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 →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 →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 →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 →Ender Inciarte hit leadoff for the Diamondbacks last night. That’s probably not surprising because on the season, he’s hit in the leadoff spot 58 times. If you told me before the season that Ender Inciarte was going to be the team’s leadoff man for over a third of Arizona’s games, I’d have said you were crazy. Either that or 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 →The Diamondbacks’ bullpen has been pretty good this year. After two years of constantly being burned by the ‘pen, things have shaped up. Some of those past struggles were seemingly part bad luck and part poor pitching. When those things come together, well, you’ve seen the results; it’s not pretty. On the flip-side, a lucky ‘pen can be a nice …
Continue Reading →@ryanpmorrison
Congrats to @OutfieldGrass24 on a beautiful life, wedding and wife. He deserves all of it (they both do). And I cou… https://t.co/JzJtQ7TgdJ, - 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,
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- Starting 2022 with a frigid dog walk sounds just lovely https://t.co/xoLZSZBpGp,
- I’ll never forget seeing Kyle Seager at the Scottsdale Fashion Square one March with his family and thinking “damn,… https://t.co/uapNYdsU2a,
- Big dogs. Bigger trees. @ Avenue of the Giants, Nor Cal https://t.co/YAdxcE1t1p,
- Old friend alert https://t.co/7HQjiyBWTB,
- Death wish https://t.co/XJzcMkNPTy,
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