Currently viewing the category: "Double Plus"

Double Plus: Pitcher Upgrades and a Trade for Jonathan Lucroy

On November 6, 2015 By

For all practical purposes, the D-backs are set at catcher in the near term (a/k/a The Contention Window), thanks to the tremendous 2015 contributions of not-quite-full-time catcher Welington Castillo. The team may or may not add Jarrod Saltalamacchia — probably in a role where the proportion of his PAs to innings caught is higher than normal — and while …

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Double Plus: Tender Loving Contract

On October 23, 2015 By

This little piece is about Jeremy Hellickson. Sorry, just kind of didn’t work him into the headline. More specifically, though, it’s about the dilemma about whether tendering Hellickson a contract is a dilemma. The chances that they’ll tender him are pretty close to the “yeah, definitely” range. But should they be?

Hellickson started his career as a baseball conundrum …

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Double Plus: What Is Arizona Doing Drafting College Relievers?

On October 23, 2015 By

Okay, maybe the title is a little misleading. Drafting college relievers is defensible, if for one reason only: you get 40 picks and dammit, one of them is bound to be a college reliever by the odds alone. Another defensible reason might be that they’re a cheap bunch. It’s not that any of them have ever left me with the …

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Double Plus: Teaching the Capps Leap

On October 16, 2015 By

This time last year, fringy almost-kinda-sorta major league pitchers were dropping out of the organization like flies, in part because the front office was dead set on remaking the staff (for good reason). This offseason, we may also see a particularly high turnover rate of pitchers in the organization, but not so much because the team is likely to add …

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Double Plus: Hitting Offense Hard

On October 16, 2015 By

There are a lot of theories about what drives offense in baseball. We know that on-base percentage is good, but not every team builds it’s team to maximize OBP. Some teams are low-OBP in nature but hit for boatloads of power. Other teams are low-power but also low-strike out. Both approaches can work – just ask the Astros (big …

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Double Plus: Archie Bradley Making Strides in Instructs

On October 9, 2015 By

Look, the Diamondbacks need a shot in the arm from the pitching staff. While a lot of the offseason talk is sure to focus on which starter the team can sign or trade for, they’ll still need help from within. And a man, now somewhat forgotten in this post-hype world, who may provide that boost is Archie Bradley. You …

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Double Plus: Jhoulys Chacin Might Be Different

On October 9, 2015 By

Chase Field is not exactly hospitable for pitchers, but compared to Chase, the Coors Field accommodations are about as nice as an O.co Coliseum clubhouse. Yet from his first MLB game in 2009 through the end of the 2014 season, Jhoulys Chacin managed to pitch to a 3.78 ERA over 672 innings — despite a FIP of 4.03. A …

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Double Plus: Daniel Hudson and Highest Heat

On October 2, 2015 By

The gun may have been a little hot on September 1 in Colorado (all five of the D-backs’ top pitches by speed were thrown that day), but that’s when Rubby De La Rosa fired the season’s speedingest bullet. It finished an at bat, after Christian Adames had fouled off five other pitches — and we can only guess how Adames …

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Double Plus: The Improving Value of Socrates

On October 2, 2015 By

The Arizona Diamondbacks coaching staff and front deserve a strong compliment from how they’ve handled the outfield situation in 2015. We’ve been outspoken about it here and on The Pool Shot. We knew A.J. Pollock had center field locked up, but with David Peralta, Ender Inciarte, Mark Trumbo and Yasmany Tomas in the fold early on, the situation …

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Double Plus: Can Chase Anderson Find Some Consistency?

On September 25, 2015 By

With the way the Diamondbacks have hit the ball in 2015, everyone knows that the pressure will be on the team to improve the pitching staff. That was a concern heading into the 2015 campaign and acquiring Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster and Jeremy Hellickson served as more of a band-aid than a solution. Robbie Ray’s earned …

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Double Plus: Robbie Ray and “The Slurge”

On September 25, 2015 By

There are a lot of comings and goings in baseball; 39 different players have tallied a plate appearance for the D-backs this season. Quite a few more played for the D-backs in spring training. Many are gone. Some, like Gerald Laird, are forgotten. Others are not. With so many players in camp, it’s easy to forget that many can …

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