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"Economics of Baseball"
The D-backs have a great young team of position players, and the makings of a pitching staff that could be at least solid. With the team on the upswing and organizational memory of .500 seasons in both 2013 and 2014, it’s easy to focus on how high the team can go. That’s important, and maybe the most important thing. Still …
Continue Reading →Okay, the title is a little ominous, but hear me out. Jeremy Hellickson is entering his third year of arbitration this winter. He’s making $4.28 million this year, a figure that was decided upon after he missed a good chunk of 2014 with injury and had uninspiring results. Hellickson has stayed healthy in 2015 and has improved his stock on …
Continue Reading →On Friday, Ryan and I shared some thoughts on the trade deadline and the Diamondbacks’ and potential deals that ultimately didn’t go down. That’s mostly fine, but it does leave Arizona in a very familiar position: they’re still a team without an “ace.” Now, Patrick Corbin has been nothing but stellar since coming back from Tommy John surgery as we …
Continue Reading →When this season began, the Arizona Diamondbacks were an afterthought for most of baseball. Several major publications picked them to be the worst team in their division despite a very obvious purple sinkhole in Denver. On The Pool Shot, we made some predictions and I went with something like 72 wins while Ryan went with 78. He looks smarter …
Continue Reading →By now you’re well-aware that A.J. Pollock is really good. He was, after all, as second round draft pick, so it’s not like there was no way to see this coming. 17th overall picks are occasionally good baseball players, especially when compared to later picks. He’s always had tools, even since his college days. He was destined to stick in …
Continue Reading →Baseball is so unpredictable. Take, for instance, the struggles that Rubby De La Rosa had on Wednesday. Through two innings, he’d surrendered six earned runs to the Braves. Through three innings, the total was up to seven. Freddie Freeman had taken him yard twice, but still reeling from The Milwaukee Marathon, Chip Hale stuck with RDLR in order to try …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →As Jeff Wiser broke down yesterday, in Cuban right-hander Yoan Lopez, the D-backs added an asset worth far more than the $8.27 million it took to get him inked. As he also covered in great detail, Lopez also cost much more than that $8.27 million. For starters, that figure is a signing bonus, not a guaranteed salary, meaning that anything …
Continue Reading →Tuesday started off with a bang for the Diamondbacks. In a rare occurrence, the team actually dominated the headlines and just about everyone’s twitter feed. Dave Stewart made some comments about analytics that were probably taken a bit too far but garnered plenty of attention. He also announced that the team wasn’t going to be trading for a catcher, electing …
Continue Reading →In 2011, the Diamondbacks won 94 games and won the NL West by eight games over the Giants. They got a bit lucky in doing so, going 28-16 in one-run games (12 games over .500 when the league average is, you guessed it, .500). Three years later, they finished at the bottom of the NL West pile with a stunningly …
Continue Reading →Earlier this month, Jonah Keri of Grantland rolled out his MLB Trade Value rankings (part 1, part 2), which is a tremendous read, and even better than last year’s list. Only one D-backs contract made the list, although if you’re going to have just one player among the top 50, it’s nice to have number 3. One …
Continue Reading →In the 2015 Inside the ‘Zona Offseason Plan, Ryan and I took considerable care trying to figure out how the Diamondbacks could become more flexible. The key, in our mind, was shedding salary, and on Tuesday, the D-backs did just that by dumping Miguel Montero’s financial burden on the Chicago Cubs in exchange for a couple of non-noteworthy prospects. It’s …
Continue Reading →The Diamondbacks tendered contracts to all of their arbitration eligible players on Tuesday. It was hardly a surprise to see David Hernandez, Cliff Pennington, Mark Trumbo, Daniel Hudson, Jeremy Hellickson, Wade Miley and Addison Reed offered contracts. But while the D-backs offered deals to all of their arbitration eligible players, not every team followed suit. …
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 →You don’t have to look hard at the D-backs roster to find examples of how contract extensions for young players can pay enormous dividends. Paul Goldschmidt‘s pact is one of the most valuable in the majors, and Josh Collmenter also blossomed after signing a very team-friendly deal. The good thing about not offering a young player an extension is …
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,
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