A Love Letter to Jake Lamb

On February 13, 2015 By

Jake,

This has been a long time coming. In this season in which people say what they really feel, it’s time to admit the sentiment that’s bubbling to the surface.* You put the “hot” in “hot corner,” Jake.

Even one year ago, you were a test case for players who might or might not make it. I wasn’t dreaming on …

Continue Reading →

What Slowed Aaron Hill in 2014?

On February 12, 2015 By

There’s no denying that Aaron Hill is an important piece to the Diamondbacks’ 2015 success. Sure, you could say that to some degree about every player who’ll spend time on the 25-man roster during any season, but Hill is paid to hit and after consecutive season of doing just that, he fell off in a big way in 2014. Like …

Continue Reading →

The D-backs Middle Infield

On February 11, 2015 By

It wasn’t too long ago that I was daydreaming about a convoluted plan for playing time in the infield that would have seen Didi Gregorius start at shortstop every day against RHP, with Chris Owings and Aaron Hill each shuttling between two positions. But things have changed.

Obviously, the trade that saw Didi Gregorius sent to the Yankees in return …

Continue Reading →

An Exceedingly Early D-backs 2015 MLB Draft Preview

On February 10, 2015 By

With no real major league baseball news to speak of, at least none that pertains heavily to the Diamondbacks, I’ve turned to minor league and amateur baseball in the last week or so. We developed a cumulative top prospect list, then dived straight into 2015 MLB Draft strategies for the D-backs. With all due respect, Gerald Laird on …

Continue Reading →

Roundup: Daniel Hudson; Education at D.R. Academy; Pace of Play

On February 9, 2015 By

When GM Dave Stewart “listed” Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster with Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson as penciled into the rotation, it was probably, in part, a way to talk up the recently-completed Wade Miley trade. Fair enough. As Nick Piecoro wrote yesterday morning, the gap probably comes after Collmenter and Hellickson, and I agree that those are …

Continue Reading →

Identifying Jeremy Hellickson Problems with Curve, Change

On February 6, 2015 By

Last week, I took a crack at finding out why, despite very consistent Fielding-Independent Pitching marks, Jeremy Hellickson had wildly different results in 2013-2014 as opposed to 2010-2012. The answer, it seemed, was that Hellickson’s success in getting weak hits on his curveball and change all but disappeared. In last week’s piece, we took a look at some other possible …

Continue Reading →

D-backs’ 2015 Draft Selection Depends on Strategy

On February 5, 2015 By

It’s barely February, but when you hold the number one overall draft pick in the upcoming Rule 4 Draft, it seems like the draft itself is always looming. Truth be told, there is surely additional pressure felt when a team is in that position. The Diamondbacks, of course, are that team in 2015 having lost their way to winning the …

Continue Reading →

A Multi-Layered Look at Gerald Laird

On February 4, 2015 By

Once upon a time, the Rangers had depth at catcher at least as envied as what the Red Sox have right now. In 2007, Texas traded Mark Teixeira and received Jarrod Saltalamacchia as one of that package’s headliners; they also had control over the promising Taylor Teagarden, and Max Ramirez was starting to get some attention as a catching …

Continue Reading →

The Last Word on the Top 10 D-backs Prospects

On February 3, 2015 By

As we recently discussed on the latest edition of The Pool Shot, it’s prospect season right now. Some prospects will be making their first Spring Training appearances in about a month, hoping this is the year that they make the 25-man roster right out of the gate. Those opportunities are rare, and for the Diamondbacks, there’s very little chance …

Continue Reading →

Roundup: Episode 13 of The Pool Shot; Money; Catcher Situation

On February 2, 2015 By

For a slow news week in Diamondbacks land (thanks for that, Super Bowl), we sure had a hell of a lot to stuff into our most recent episode of The Pool Shot. We had a fantastic conversation, and I think Episode 13 is a great example of why we’re podcasting in the first place.

The first major topic we tackled …

Continue Reading →

Unraveling the Mystery of Jeremy Hellickson

On January 30, 2015 By

Although Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster are both penciled into the April rotation, only Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson are so cemented into the team’s immediate plans that a very poor spring training would not result in their demotion. We know and love The Tomahawk, but who is Hellboy?

Last season, Hellickson pitched to an underwhelming 4.52 ERA …

Continue Reading →

A Grand D-backs Experiment, Pt. II

On January 29, 2015 By

As we explored on Tuesday, the Diamondbacks are about to embark upon a season in which there are a ton of questions and very few answers. Quite honestly, I’m not very comfortable doing this kind of brainstorming since we tend to focus on fact-based, analytical outcomes here and not speculation. But in this instance, there are simply so many variables …

Continue Reading →

Pitching Inside

On January 28, 2015 By

The D-backs front office has been furiously remaking the team this offseason, and one curious byproduct has been taking a grounder-leaning pitching staff and replacing it with a fly ball one. And while Tony La Russa has only been at the helm for less than a year, there was an incident last year that might tell us why.

Regardless of …

Continue Reading →

A Grand D-backs Experiment, Pt. I

On January 27, 2015 By

The Diamondbacks, like most other professional baseballers, are about to head back to work in earnest. Just about everyone’s got a countdown going to when pitchers and catchers report since we’re all eager to see what the 2015 story of baseball has in store for us. Foreshadowing: it’ll be great. No, really, I think Arizona Diamondback fans have a lot …

Continue Reading →

Roundup: Rules Against Shifts Could Hurt the D-backs

On January 26, 2015 By

You may have seen this back at the Worldwide Leader: Rob Manfred interviewed with Karl Ravech of ESPN in a video that aired yesterday, and promoting offense appears to be one of Manfred’s priorities. Among the options Manfred said the league would consider: rules changes to cut down or eliminate defensive shifting in baseball. I don’t know how likely this …

Continue Reading →

Arbitration Strategy: D-backs Should Settle with Trumbo, Must Take Reed to Trial

On January 23, 2015 By

It’s that time of year: teams and players exchanged arbitration figures last week, and any hearings that take place will happen between the 1st and 21st of next month. The D-backs have just two arb-eligible players left, and three possible outcomes with each player: end up at the player’s figure, the team’s figure, or settle somewhere in the middle. No …

Continue Reading →