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Yasmany Tomas and the D-backs Puzzle

On January 13, 2015 By

The 2015 baseball season starts relatively soon. I mean, not soon enough if you ask me, but sooner than, say, it started a month ago, so that’s good. I’m starting to go through withdrawals and football can only stem the tide so much. And no team has as much of a reason to be excited about a fresh start as …

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David Peralta Not the Righty-Killing Hero the D-backs Want, But the One They Need

On January 9, 2015 By

David Peralta is starting to pull together a track record from which we can draw solid inferences. He is, essentially, a good-not-great fielder in right field with merely average power — and a knack for knocking the cover off of the ball. But he also has flaws, as we saw toward the end of the season, and as we started …

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Randy Johnson was Better Than You Think

On January 7, 2015 By

By now you’ve heard that the greatest pitcher in Diamondbacks history, Randy Johnson, has been elected to the Hall of Fame. The Big Unit received 97.3% approval to join baseball’s Valhalla and, well, that’s about as close as anyone’s going to get to a unanimous selection in today’s world of mixed up HOF voting. It’s no wonder why, he …

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Can the D-backs Improve Their New, Young Pitching Assets?

On December 23, 2014 By

The 2014-15 offseason hasn’t disappointed one bit from an entertainment standpoint. There have been some massive trades (thank you A.J. Preller) and major free agent signings (remember when Jon Lester held everyone captive for two days?). Some teams were expected to push for contention this offseason (Cubs) while other clubs have surprised people with their aggressiveness (White Sox and Padres). …

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Will the D-backs Address their Imbalance at the Plate?

On December 17, 2014 By

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 …

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Montero is First D-backs Financial Casualty of Winter

On December 9, 2014 By

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 …

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Robbie Ray and Domingo Leyba Are: Interesting?

On December 9, 2014 By

By now you’ve heard all about the Diamondbacks trading Didi Gregorius. There were some silly “Jeter replacement” comments made, and maybe we have our old friend Kevin Towers to thank for that, but the important part here is that the D-backs have cleared a spot in the crowded middle infield and added two worthwhile prospects. Neither Robbie Ray or …

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Trading Trumbo Should, Won’t Happen

On November 25, 2014 By

Last week we introduced the Inside the ‘Zona 2014-2015 Offseason Plan. If you haven’t read the post, I strongly recommend it. There are number of key moves that we laid out for the Diamondbacks to set themselves up for the future, when they’re most likely to get back to contention. Among them were several impactful trades, including moving Aaron …

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Altered Offerings: Notable D-backs Pitch Changes in 2014

On November 19, 2014 By

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 …

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Trumbo In Right? You’d Better Believe it

On November 18, 2014 By

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 …

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D-backs Flip Two Top Prospects for Questionable Hellickson

On November 15, 2014 By

Well, that didn’t take long. After hearing that the Diamondbacks would be active on the pitching market, likely via trade, they wasted little time in pulling the trigger. Friday evening, news broke that they had acquired Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson for two top ten prospects in Justin Williams and Andrew Velazquez. Any time two prospects near the top of a …

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Should Ender Inciarte Hit Second?

On November 14, 2014 By

Things may get a little thin toward the bottom, but next year’s lineup looks to be quite good at the top if everyone stays healthy. A.J. Pollock was a monster last season, Aaron Hill has typically been an above-average hitter, and Paul Goldschmidt can’t be beat. Against left-handed pitching, Mark Trumbo should produce runs at an above-average clip, and when …

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Third-Tier Pitching Target: Tsuyoshi Wada

On October 31, 2014 By

Yesterday, I explained that while the D-backs could use some rotation help to start 2015, the fact that Patrick Corbin and Archie Bradley and others may be available as the season progresses means that paying for consistency or bulk innings really just isn’t necessary. Injury risk guys are cheaper, and third-tier starting pitcher free agents may be all that the …

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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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Tuffy Gosewisch in Context: The Best Backup Catcher Option for 2015

On October 9, 2014 By

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 …

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