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The Same Old Beef

On January 19, 2016 By

Before Welington “Beef” Castillo came along, the Diamondbacks’ catching situation was laughably bad. It inspired a number of articles that all came to the same general conclusion: they aren’t actually going to run that out there all season are they? They were, and then the Mariners did a dumb thing (as they are seemingly prone to doing) and took Mark …

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Double Plus: Non-Roster Invitees Will Add to Spring Training Intrigue

On January 15, 2016 By

On Monday, the Diamondbacks made a big announcement. Okay, maybe not so big, but at least it was an announcement. The team will bring 23 non-roster invitees to Spring Training. These are all players who are not part of the team’s 40-man roster. There are some exciting names and some who you might be wondering about. Let’s go rapid fire …

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Double Plus: Goldschmidt vs. HOF First Basemen

On January 8, 2016 By

Yesterday I wrote a lot about Paul Goldschmidt as a possible Hall of Fame candidate. If you didn’t read the full installment, I’d suggest going back and taking a gander. Today things won’t be so long and exhaustive. Let’s keep it short because that’s what Double Plus Fridays are all about anyways (at least in theory).

I decided to …

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Will Paul Goldschmidt Make the Hall of Fame?

On January 7, 2016 By

Yesterday was big for me. I’m not usually one for the Hall of Fame discussion because I think it has gotten away from what was intended in some ways and the arguments are often either pedantic or ill-informed. Those aren’t great options, so I usually steer clear. This year, however, Ken Griffey, Jr. was up for enshrinement and, having grown …

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An Early Look at D-backs Bench Options

On December 30, 2015 By

The Diamondbacks had one major need this winter and they’ve filled it about as adequately as possible. Yes, they could still use an impact reliever, but by and large, the work is done. Finding an impact reliever might be difficult-to-futile at this point considering the team probably knows full and well who is and who is not available at this …

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Can the D-backs Exploit Batted Ball Matchups in 2016?

On December 29, 2015 By

Last seasons, Chip Hale earned a gold star for his work mixing and matching players in the outfield. With five players initially, then four players for the three spots, he allocated the time about as perfectly as possible. Down the stretch, A.J. Pollock played roughly 95% of the time, David Peralta played about 85% of the time, Ender Inciarte played …

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The Looming Question: Patrick Corbin’s 2016 Innings Total

On December 23, 2015 By

With Daniel Hudson‘s second TJ continuing to haunt the team in the background, Patrick Corbin was brought back very gingerly in 2015 — he made his debut more than 16 months after his surgery, with a unusually high number of simulated games and a handful of minor league rehab appearances. As a result, Corbin threw just 85 innings in …

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Can Yasmany Tomas Take a Big Leap Forward?

On December 17, 2015 By

When the Shelby Miller trade was announced, the news was certainly bittersweet. Maybe bitter-bittersweet depending on what you think of Aaron Blair‘s value and what you think Dansby Swanson can be down the road. But it was certainly bittersweet because of the loss of Ender Inciarte, a guy who’s been a much-needed spark at times for the D-backs …

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Welcome to Winning

On December 8, 2015 By

If you’ve come to Inside the ‘Zona seeking to feel better about the Diamondbacks’ blockbuster trade for Shelby Miller, you may be disappointed. Then again, you may be thrilled. I’m not sure I can accurately project your feelings. What I will say, to begin, is this is exactly what we expected when we started talking about TCW (The Contention …

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2015’s Best & Worst Pitches by D-backs Relievers

On December 3, 2015 By

Earlier this week, we had some fun looking at the best and worst pitches from Diamondbacks starting pitchers in 2015. There were some really good pitches on disply there, even considering the struggles that the staff had last year. This time around we’ll position the microscope on the relievers, but there’s something notable to include here: relief pitchers have …

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2015’s Best & Worst Pitches by D-backs Starters

On December 1, 2015 By

They say you have to have at least two pitches to make the majors. Three if you want to start. Having any number of “average” major league pitches is impressive, really, but they’re certainly not all created equal. Some guys have one “plus” pitch they can lean on to get the job done most of the time – a pitch …

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Predicting Diamondbacks Starting Pitcher Success

On November 24, 2015 By

Pretty often here on the internet we talk about non-elite pitchers as being more or less crap shoots. It’s true, pitchers tend to be more volatile than hitters, mostly because they get hurt more often. Luck can swing an ERA pretty wildly and trying to make bets on run-of-the-mill pitchers is just hard to do in confidence. What will Chase …

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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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Can Daniel Hudson Be The 2016 Closer?

On October 6, 2015 By

Closers are overrated. Think about it: saves are a made up stat and all closers really are are the best reliever on their respective teams. Can you name a team who used their best reliever consistently in the 8th inning? Yeah, neither can I. And I think we’d all agree that Brad Ziegler was Arizona’s best reliever in 2015. So …

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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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Handicapping the Race for the 2016 Rotation

On September 30, 2015 By

Let’s just skip the introductory paragraph. I’m not a fan of beating a dead horse and that’s what all of these starting pitching posts seem like after a while. The starters were 27th in WAR, 21st in ERA, 24th in FIP, 26th in HR/9, 22nd in BB/9 and 18th in K/9. That’s bad and …

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