The D-backs have used 20 different pitchers out of the bullpen this season — with three plus weeks to go. That’s the most since 2007, a year in which Tony Pena led the way in innings, Brandon Lyon led the way in value, and Jose Valverde led the way in saves. That year, the D-backs had 21 relievers toe the …
Continue Reading →Brad Ziegler is a unique pitcher. You don’t have to see him throw more than two pitches to understand that. His mechanics, his motion, his repertoire, how his pitches move – all of these fall well outside the norm. As a reliever, he’s particularly unique in that he doesn’t generate a lot of strikeouts in an era where strikeouts have …
Continue Reading →The promotional offer was good. To move Bronson Arroyo‘s contract, the D-backs sold Touki Toussaint — and yet with Arroyo on the 60-day DL, by rule the Commissioner had to sign off on the trade. Getting another player on a similar timeline in Phil Gosselin made a lot of sense, and kept some eyebrows from raising. While the promotion …
Continue Reading →Good news comes in many forms. Sometimes you get a raise or a promotion, sometimes you find an old Snickers from last Halloween in the bottom of your sock drawer (how’d it get there?) and sometimes you’re long-lost uncle from the Ivory Coast writes to tell you that you’ve inherited millions of dollars that can all be yours if you’ll …
Continue Reading →The Diamondbacks’ roster has been on full-fledged WTF Mode for about two weeks now. Up and down, down and up, maybe a little sideways mixed in for good measure; players have been moving all over the place. Initially I wanted to create a “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego”-inspired map to show how it’s all gone down, but …
Continue Reading →According to Western Civilization’s finest accomplishment—Wikipedia—Abraham Maslow considered a “self-actualizer” to be “a person who is living creatively and fully using his or her potentials.” The idea of potentials is easy to conceptualize in our beautiful game of baseball, maybe especially for pitchers: getting as many outs as possible, pitching as deep into games as possible, winning the …
Continue Reading →Ups and downs are part of the game of baseball. Whether you want to admit it or not, it’s this series of changes that helps make baseball so compelling. Without the ebbs and flows, the waxing and the waning, the ever-changing currents, the game would be far too static. This a lot easier to admit when you’re working with that …
Continue Reading →Daniel Hudson dominated in his first few outings by dominating the zone. He had that catch up with him at the end of April, but he saw his velocity rise for excellent stretches in May and June. His July results were also great, but maybe partly through some luck — and his August appeared pretty bad. Hudson has tallied …
Continue Reading →When J.J. Putz came to Arizona from Chicago, New York and Seattle, he’d already been through a lot as a major league reliever. Five campaigns as a Mariner, then one as a Met and one with the White Sox had left Putz with a lot of mileage on his right arm. But he still threw kinda hard and had a …
Continue Reading →The second Jarrod Saltalamacchia was designated for assignment by the Marlins, a connection to the D-backs seemed obvious. Atrocious work behind the plate in 2014 seemed to disqualify him for a lot of clubs, but the D-backs, who had Jordan Pacheco banging around and had brought on Gerald Laird in spring training, seemed less concerned with those numbers. And when …
Continue Reading →Things haven’t gone so well for Robbie Ray lately. In his last five starts, Ray sports a 7.03 ERA, backed by an ugly 5.22 FIP. Walks have been Ray’s main issue; he’s averaged three per start over that same stretch, good for a 5.55 BB/9 that would make Allen Webster blush. That 5.55 BB/9 is the exact rate that we …
Continue Reading →Hey, here’s something fun! Well, it’s fun to me, maybe it’s not fun for you. How should I know what you think is fun? That first sentence is all kinds of presumptive but, really, I just don’t care. I’m betting that you think this is fun. Luckily, I’m not betting very much. But anyways, here’s the challenge:
Tell me what …
Continue Reading →Last week in setting a benchmark for wins needed from the rotation, I used a placeholder for wins we could expect from the bullpen: about 2.5 above replacement. It was intended to be conservative, but if this season is any guide, the bullpen could be quite a lot better than catch-all statistics like Wins Above Replacement would indicate. As …
Continue Reading →The more things change, the more they stay the same. With the unexpected news that Randall Delgado would get a short-term tryout in the rotation, possibly for the balance of the season, it made me think about our best-laid plans for the rotation from just before the season began. Going back to review it, I expected quite a few differences. …
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 →@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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RT @Jody_Jackson: Letter from Goldy in the A section of today’s @azcentral newspaper. #humility #class https://t.co/8OrqCeBfkZ, 
RT @TheAthleticAZ: You think @Dbacks star Zack Greinke is on track for the Hall of Fame? He may be getting closer as voters turn over.… https://t.co/yoJyJ8Wnz5, 
RT @HillsboroHops: Hops fans...
We have a young ballplayer in need of some help. Let's see what we can do to lend a helping hand and d… https://t.co/DXmDA2Rzji, - I would not mind the Dodgers taking the short side of this impending trade, then spending approximately $3.5 billion on Bryce Harper,
- Excellent and compelling work here from @CliffCorcoran — From Bellán to Puig: Through MLB history, Cuban players ha… https://t.co/47sUYbNtc4,
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