Currently viewing the category: "Economics of Baseball"

This is the Offseason to Extend A.J. Pollock, if Ever

On October 28, 2014 By

The Diamondbacks have three young stars. No one misses the first one as Paul Goldschmidt is a top-ten talent in all of baseball. His 2013 co-All Star, Patrick Corbin, is the second one, although he missed all of 2014 after having Tommy John in the spring and the D-backs paid the price. The third star is less obvious to …

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Should the D-backs Non-Tender David Hernandez?

On October 15, 2014 By

Kevin Towers came to the Diamondbacks with a sterling reputation as a bullpen builder. One of his first moves: trading Mark Reynolds and (later) John Hester to the Orioles for Kam Mickolio and David Hernandez. Looking at the deal in hindsight, it worked out well for the D-backs; Mickolio threw just 6.2 crappy innings for the team, but Hester …

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Handicapping the Race for Yasmany Tomas

On October 3, 2014 By

It’s official: Cuban outfielder Yasmany Tomas has been granted free agent status by Major League Baseball. After reviewing each MLB team’s needs and financial situations, I’m taking a stab at handicapping the race to sign him. Note: while I’m aware of several published reports connecting clubs to Tomas to date, I’m leaning almost exclusively on my own analysis of where …

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Projecting the 2015 D-backs Payroll: $92.9M with No Acquisitions

On October 2, 2014 By

As Nick Piecoro reported on Monday, the 2015 D-backs payroll could be a “moving target…anywhere in the $80 million to $110 million range, depending on whether there is value to be found.” A look at the team’s current financial obligations, however, makes the lower end of that range seem highly unlikely. Two weeks ago, Jeff looked at how the limited …

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D-backs Could Take a Run at Yasmany Tomas

On September 11, 2014 By

Venezuela was a key source of talent for the Diamondbacks not too long ago, with Miguel Montero, Gerardo Parra, and now Ender Inciarte coming up through the system after signing as amateurs (David Peralta has a different kind of story). More recently, the D-backs have wholly failed to make a strong push for international free agents. Consider …

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How Can the D-backs Use Free Agency to Retool?

On July 25, 2014 By

In an article posted earlier this week, Jon Heyman wrote that the D-backs have seemed to other teams’ executives that the D-backs “seem just a little bit more cautious than usual now.” That could be more a consequence of the organization’s command structure than a change in philosophy, but with notes coming out that the D-backs are not hot to …

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Wade Miley is the Canary in the Coal Mine

On July 9, 2014 By

When looking at the Diamondbacks’ trade assets, Brandon McCarthy, Joe Thatcher, Oliver Perez, Cody Ross, Aaron Hill and a healthy Bronson Arroyo were no-brainers. Brad Ziegler and Gerardo Parra were in the depends-on-what-we-get-back category. Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock were clearly in the get-your-damn-hands-off-my-young-stars category. In Ryan’s previous discussion of trade assets, one guy that …

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Where Do The Diamondbacks Go From Here?

On June 19, 2014 By

Can we all just accept that 2014 is a lost cause, already? I’m not trying to ruin your day, but it seems like with each series win there were calls to maintain hope. Unfortunately, Arizona has gone 2-5 over their last two series, dropping three of four to the Astros and two of three to the scuffling Dodgers. As of …

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Attention D-backs: An Analytics Department Would Be a Wise Investment

On May 20, 2014 By

Scour the listing of D-backs front office personnel, and you’ll find exactly 90 people listed under “baseball operations.” That’s not counting GM Kevin Towers or new Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa — and that’s a lot of guys (very few of whom work out of the D-backs’ main offices). Many of those guys are employed by the D-backs in …

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What If: All of Towers’s Trades Were Reversed?

On May 13, 2014 By

Since becoming GM of the Diamondbacks about 43 months ago (September 22, 2010), Kevin Towers has completed 32 trades with 22 different teams. What would the current roster look like if we reversed each and every one of them?

Understand, I’m asking you to suspend disbelief for a purely academic exercise. It’s not so simple, of course, and Towers would …

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Why a Starter-by-Committee Approach May Work for the D-backs

On April 22, 2014 By

If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start? Before taking over as General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Paul DePodesta explained in a presentation (which, sadly, was taken down once he became GM) that like with many other endeavors, continually asking that question could help a team win. DePo credited “management efficiency” …

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Gerardo Parra Breaking the Mold in Right Field

On April 3, 2014 By

Gerardo Parra is doing something we haven’t quite seen before: play elite right field while trailing league-average offense for that position. That’s a big reason why it took Parra until his fifth full season to finally cross the 500 PA threshold. But when he did, with 663 PA in 2013, the results were devastating: 4.5 Wins Above Replacement, good for …

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Baseball in Australia: Here to Stay

On March 20, 2014 By

After two years with the Australian Baseball Federation (now “Baseball Australia”), Ben Foster left his position there in June 2009 to take a position as the Australian Baseball League’s first employee. “It was just me in an office, and no one sitting around me,” said Foster, who is the ABL’s General Manager. Less than five years after he began with …

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Arizona’s looming television contract could change the game

On February 5, 2014 By

The secret’s out: the Diamondbacks are going to cash in on a new television contract in the next 12-18 months. This should net the team a nice increase in revenue to be used at their discretion. Ken Kendrick recently espoused some thoughts on that revenue increase and how it enabled the organization to make a strong, perhaps uncharacteristic, play for …

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Masahiro Tanaka Posted, But Don’t Bet on Arizona

On December 26, 2013 By

When the new posting process for Japanese players became official, I explained why I think Tanaka is “cheaper” for some teams nearer to the luxury tax threshold than the D-backs, and why I thought Arizona’s chances for landing him are low.  Now that Tanaka has been posted, I thought I might discuss a few other dynamics in place that …

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Why RHP Will Harris Should Be the Second Lefty Reliever, and Why J.J. Putz Should Close

On December 18, 2013 By

A couple of significant things have happened since I broke down the 2014 bullpen in early October: we’ve had a few roster changes, and we’re now armed with some 2014 projections (Steamer and Oliver).  Reviewing how the bullpen lines up breeds two new questions: whether the D-backs can (or should) enter the season with just Joe Thatcher from the left …

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