It’s projection season and as you may have noticed, we’ve already acknowledged the projections for the Diamondbacks’ position players. Now it’s the pitchers’ turn, but one common thread remains: the outlook is mostly bleak. That’s not news but rather a confirmation of what we already knew. 2015 is going to be a bit of a rebuilding year on the …
Continue Reading →Among Nick Piecoro’s great work within the last week was this piece about the tightening budget and the D-backs’ interest in James Shields. This is the “true baseball team” article that generated a large stir last week, as we talked about on The Pool Shot. This is also the article that alerted us that once again in this zig zag …
Continue Reading →I’m angry with Max Scherzer. On the day that I’ve been anticipating, the day Dan Szymborski and Carson Cistulli unveiled the 2015 ZiPS projections for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the former D-back Scherzer decided to steal the show and sign some little contract with the Nationals (so much for the headlines). I know that fans sometimes have issues with projection …
Continue Reading →The Yoan Lopez signing marks a sea change for the D-backs organization. Is it a commitment to searching out talent from every corner, or is it the exact opposite? On Episode 12 of The Pool Shot, the guys talk through the Lopez signing: his worth and whether he was worth the price, and how they can minimize the opportunity …
Continue Reading →After the Wade Miley trade was completed, GM Dave Stewart indicated that Josh Collmenter, Jeremy Hellickson, Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster were penciled into the rotation. Let’s put problems with that aside and accept, for the moment, that that’s true — what can we expect for the fifth slot?
The leading contenders for that spot are …
Continue Reading →As Jeff Wiser broke down yesterday, in Cuban right-hander Yoan Lopez, the D-backs added an asset worth far more than the $8.27 million it took to get him inked. As he also covered in great detail, Lopez also cost much more than that $8.27 million. For starters, that figure is a signing bonus, not a guaranteed salary, meaning that anything …
Continue Reading →Tuesday started off with a bang for the Diamondbacks. In a rare occurrence, the team actually dominated the headlines and just about everyone’s twitter feed. Dave Stewart made some comments about analytics that were probably taken a bit too far but garnered plenty of attention. He also announced that the team wasn’t going to be trading for a catcher, electing …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →Tickets are on sale for Spring Training, which makes it feel like we’re closing in on the 2015 season. Gone are the main rites of the offseason, the victory parade, the non-tender deadline, the Winter Meetings, the voting results for the Hall of Fame. A ton has happened for the D-backs during that span (well, other than the victory parade), …
Continue Reading →The boys are back with a fresh episode of The Pool Shot, breaking down several notable pieces of Diamondbacks news. Randy Johnson is the first D-back in the Hall of Fame, Dave Stewart has some quotes discussed and yay Nick Punto! Other topics include a review of how Arizona has invested in players over the last three years plus …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →Less than two months but several trades ago, the D-backs acquired Jeremy Hellickson from Tampa Bay for minor leaguers Andrew Velazquez and Justin Williams, two players that had not played above the Single-A level. The trade was reasonable by any measure, but it does seem that either the D-backs liked Hellickson much more than most, or they weren’t quite …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →In 2011, the Diamondbacks won 94 games and won the NL West by eight games over the Giants. They got a bit lucky in doing so, going 28-16 in one-run games (12 games over .500 when the league average is, you guessed it, .500). Three years later, they finished at the bottom of the NL West pile with a stunningly …
Continue Reading →Who else might the D-backs target this offseason? Spoiler alert: the answer may be “none of the above,” although the team could be in position to pick up an extra piece or two in February as they did with Oliver Perez last year. The jewels of what remains of the free agent class are still Max Scherzer and James Shields…
Continue Reading →When Wade Miley was traded, a curious pattern emerged: in just a year’s time, the pitching staff has moved away from being ground ball oriented to being highly fly ball oriented. As things stand, extreme fly ball pitchers Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson are in line to head the staff, with middle of the road guys Allen Webster and Rubby …
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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- Every once in a while you get a beer that's just a little off... Usually happens to me at airports.,
- If Pollock doesn’t sign with a team that wears red uniforms I’m going to be really disappointed. Working theory: Se… https://t.co/zHn9DqzEiD,
- The work here by @Britt_Ghiroli is splendid https://t.co/c8tSq0vw3T,
RT @TheAthleticAZ: Plenty of #Dbacks fans gave it some time - and they still don't like the idea. The "why" from @ZHBuchanan
https://t.co/9oDlvue3fV, 
RT @CardsNation247: Episode 30 of the Cardinals Nation 24/7 Podcast, Hosts @ToR_Ron75 & @JMRedwine welcome @buffa82 of @KSDKSports &… https://t.co/7dbIEzcahN,
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