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 …
Continue Reading →A handful of MLB players got a chance to see possible postee Kenta Maeda in Japan on November 12th, although if you were watching from home in Arizona, you were doing so at 1 am that morning. With that and GM Dave Stewart‘s recent public affection for Maeda (“I love Maeda“), it’s time to take …
Continue Reading →The top 10 is finally here, and make no mistake, there’s plenty to like in the upper echelon of the Diamondbacks’ minor league system. While you’re likely familiar with the top couple of names here, take notice of the young prospects, from Single-A or below, who likely represent something of a new wave of potentially future D-backs. Arizona has done …
Continue Reading →Congratulations to J.J. Putz on a fine MLB career that saw him dominate the best hitters in the universe for many years. Putz has officially hung up his spikes, and as Nick Piecoro wrote on Friday, he has taken a position as a special assistant to CEO Derrick Hall. It looks like Putz will work a bit more on the …
Continue Reading →So far, when we’ve talked about roster decisions like whether to non-tender Cliff Pennington or David Hernandez, it’s been in the context of two things: the likely Active Roster in April (the 25-man), and the juice-versus-squeeze question of likely salary. But the D-backs have a different set of 40-man questions coming up in advance of the Rule 5 Draft …
Continue Reading →Today we’re running down Diamondback prospects 21-30. The back end of the Top 30 is littered with young players who project some upside and a couple of older relief arms who are close to the majors. Unsurprisingly, the volatility is often rather high here there is a large range of outcomes associated with these often unrefined talents. Let’s just jump …
Continue Reading →It’s that time of year again: we’re all about to get inundated with lists. Top Free Agents. Top Prospects. Top Winter Vacation Destinations. You name it, it’ll get listed. And while the whole list/ranking thing can easily get overblown, I’m going to wade in here with the Inside the ‘Zona Top 30 Diamondbacks Prospects, starting tomorrow. I’m excited about it …
Continue Reading →Once upon a time, the D-backs organization considered storing baseballs in a humidor at Chase Field. The year was 2010, and a mountain of data was available showing the drastic effect the Coors Field humidor had had on Rockies home games. Jerry Dipoto had taken over as interim GM after Josh Byrnes was fired on July 2, 2010, and as …
Continue Reading →The biggest news in the baseball universe in the last week was that some team in San Francisco won the World Series. The biggest news in the D-backs universe: the club is listening on Miguel Montero.
That was the news from Fox Sports’s Ken Rosenthal, who credits the information to “major-league sources.” Those sources aren’t necessarily with the D-backs, …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →The D-backs aren’t poor, but they aren’t rich. The 2014 Opening Day payroll of $112M isn’t likely to be repeated any time soon. And as we’ve previously explored, staying in the team’s stated $80M-$110M payroll bracket for next year would not leave a whole lot of room for new salaries; even if Cliff Pennington is non-tendered or traded, current players …
Continue Reading →The Arizona Fall League is a lot of fun. It’s loaded with top talent, especially on the position player side, and the small crowds give off a sort of intimate feeling with the game. I’ll be checking out the Rafters in person next Friday and taking in the AFL All-Star Game on Saturday, but even then, I’m not overly concerned …
Continue Reading →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 …
Continue Reading →In Episode 3 of The Pool Shot, Jeff and I jammed in a lot of D-backs goodness: the way the pitching staff shapes up for the spring currently, some odds and ends like the Chad Billingsley issue I flagged last week, and a whole bunch on the minor league system. I think I speak for Jeff when I say I’m …
Continue Reading →The D-backs are an interesting team, defensively: in 2013 they were the second-best fielding team in baseball, but in 2014, they were one of the league’s worst in defensive efficiency. We speculated on Episode 2 of The Pool Shot that the D-backs may shift more under new manager Chip Hale. I’d like to take it one step further now, …
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 @TheAthleticAZ: Here is our inaugural New Year's Day list of the most intriguing people in Arizona sports (*a subjective exercise).… https://t.co/iqe8b4dyA0, 
RT @sbordow: Gase is highly sought after so Cardinals need to move quickly. So far they’re focused on offensive coaches which is… https://t.co/udBJaZou9t, 
RT @WhereandBack: 20,571 different India Pale Ales were added to @BeerAdvocate in the last 12 months. https://t.co/5fN5CtrbKO, - I wrote a few things for @TheAthleticAZ this year that I liked. I'll limit this list to three items in no particular order (1/4),
RT @ZHBuchanan: There are many ways the Diamondbacks could replace A.J. Pollock. I take a look at the two most likely: trade for a… https://t.co/JLQYgF1xXj,
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