The D-backs threw themselves an enormous party earlier this month, unveiling new uniforms, signing Zack Greinke the next night, and trading for Shelby Miller the next week. The Greinke and Miller moves made more of a difference for the 2016 roster than any other move is likely to make — but cleaning up after the #DbacksEvolution party still takes some …
Continue Reading →Ender Inciarte was not young when he was called up to play in a decimated outfield in 2014; he’s now 25 years old, and it may be the case that he doesn’t get much better than he was in 2015, at least on defense. What he is, though, is a very good player. Inciarte was exactly average on offense in …
Continue Reading →I still have dreams where I believe it’s not real. It’s usually 3am, I’m in a sweat and I’ve just awoken from a dream where the Diamondbacks were really bad again. Then I see the alarm clock, I feel my toes in the sheets, I catch my breath and remember: yes, that really happened.
The “that” in the sentence above …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →Whenever decisions don’t seem to make sense, it may always be because of missing information. Over the last year, there have been very many decisions by the D-backs front office that have been hard to understand. A staggering number of them suddenly make sense, though, with a single bit of information: this team has prioritized ground balls. With their recent …
Continue Reading →The last week and a half has been as exciting as any D-backs fan can recall as far as ten day stretches go. Zack Greinke is a Diamondback? Holy moly! The trade of Ender Inciarte and Aaron Blair and Dansby Swanson for Shelby Miller? Wow! Those kinds of moves just haven’t happened in Arizona and now that they’re here, …
Continue Reading →As our intern so terribly announced, it’s “Mission Accomplished” now on upgrading the rotation, with Zack Greinke at the front and Shelby Miller replacing someone else. If a lefty fourth outfielder or utility infielder or backup catcher fell in the team’s lap, they’d probably listen — but the team’s attention is now turned to the bullpen. Thing is, toward …
Continue Reading →Whether a trade is “good” or “bad” may not usually have to do with how “big” it is. When we’ve done offseason report cards in the past, we’ve taken care to try to evaluate impact separately from quality, and for good reason: the smallest decisions can still be approached with care. The questions in the wake of the Shelby Miller…
Continue Reading →The D-backs have set about rotation upgrades with the relentless abandon of Liam Neeson in Taken, signing Zack Greinke and trading for Shelby Miller in the last week without blinking at the cost. But those two pitchers have something in common other than some sweet new uniforms — they both surprised with especially low ERAs in 2015. So low, …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →Why would the Braves think that Shelby Miller and Arodys Vizcaino are worth A.J. Pollock and Aaron Blair? Even by just making a quick calculation, it’s pretty clear that Arizona would come up short in that deal from a value standpoint. Yet the Braves asked anyways and were fine with being turned down for now. They’ll leave their ringers …
Continue Reading →Let’s not let the gravity of this moment escape us. The Diamondbacks have agreed to terms on a contract that calls for over $200 million in spending, a contract that calls for an average annual salary of just under $35 million per season. This is not normal, and this may not happen again to this team for decades. For most …
Continue Reading →The six year, $206 million terms agreed on between the D-backs and Zack Greinke is a shock. The fact that Zack Greinke signed with the D-backs at all is a shock. But the signing is not hard to understand. Due to the talent levels of players up and down the roster, it was going to be very hard to upgrade …
Continue Reading →Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk of you again
Because a trade softly creeping
Hit its bombs while I was tweeting
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of “Trumbo”…
Okay, weird. The D-backs have a kind of front-office-by-committee, and I’m on record saying I think a starter-by-committee pitching staff would be a good idea. Now, the new uniforms unveiled by the team last night need enough mannequins to fill a conference room — and they look like they were designed by a committee. Or a committee of committees? Say …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →@ryanpmorrison
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, 
RT @OutfieldGrass24: If you're bored of watching Patrick Corbin get dudes out, you can check out my latest for @TheAthleticAZ. https://t.co/k1DymgY7zO, - Of course, they may have overtaken the league lead for outs on the bases just now, also...
But in 2017, Arizona ha… https://t.co/38MBrr2D4b,
- Prior to the games today, there had only been 5 steals of 3rd this season (and no CS) in the National League. The… https://t.co/gVVL84vPQ5,
- RT @OutfieldGrass24: Patrick Corbin has a WPA of .318 and it's only the fifth inning.,
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- This Suns matchup comes at a good time for my hometown Blazers #RipCity https://t.co/fQ45wdfQUk,
RT @ZHBuchanan: Our @Ken_Rosenthal spoke to Ken Kendrick about trading Paul Goldschmidt.
https://t.co/O5fHRlyBxD, 
RT @CardsNation247: We have a good show lined up for tonight. Leading off is our friend of the show @buffa82 followed by Jeff Wiser… https://t.co/eltZC0uvyg, 
RT @juanctoribio: To piggyback off the @ZHBuchanan and @OutfieldGrass24 that the #Rays were involved in the Paul Goldschmidt sweepsta… https://t.co/spg9x7X1L5, 
RT @OJCarrascoTwo: Read this from the world famous, @OutfieldGrass24 https://t.co/cHUie1I5Le,
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