Even in a subpar season in which they rank just 26th in the majors in on-base percentage and 29th in walks (worst in the NL), the D-backs have had plenty of base runners. The D-backs have the worst base running marks in the National League, however, and being more aggressive could pay serious dividends in propping up the …
Continue Reading →In going 2-4 this week thanks to a sweep by the Cardinals and a bit of hospitality from the Mets, D-backs pitching was actually quite good; even without including the three scoreless innings Chase Anderson had washed away by rain, starters gave up 15 earned runs in 38 innings (3.55 ERA). That was nothing compared to the relief crew; in …
Continue Reading →Earlier this month, the Diamondbacks called up Evan Marshall from Triple-A. Since being called up, he has been placed in a variety of high-leverage situations and succeeded at a high level: in 8.2 innings, Evan Marshall has yet to give up an earned run. This level of run prevention is not sustainable, but Marshall clearly has the chance to become …
Continue Reading →Even before Adam Eaton was traded for Mark Trumbo, we knew that on base percentage wasn’t the highest priority for the Diamondbacks. Trumbo’s .297 career OBP in the majors would be somewhat below average this season, and Adam Eaton’s career OBP in the minors was a mind-blowing .449. It would be foolish to think Eaton could match that in …
Continue Reading →It’s already late May and the 2014 MLB Rule 4 Draft is right around the corner, being held June 5th – 7th. This is obviously an important time for the Diamondbacks given their new-found sense of direction and the fact that the organization as a whole has been relatively depleted in terms of talent, thanks to a number of trades …
Continue Reading →A.J. Pollock is becoming quite the weapon at the plate. As you’ve probably noticed, his production has been way up over the last few weeks as he’s sporting a .315/.364/.546 line for the Diamondbacks. His 148 wRC+ is tied for first (with Paul Goldschmidt) on the team and tied for 11th in the National League (min. 140 PA’s). Considering …
Continue Reading →Scour the listing of D-backs front office personnel, and you’ll find exactly 90 people listed under “baseball operations.” That’s not counting GM Kevin Towers or new Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa — and that’s a lot of guys (very few of whom work out of the D-backs’ main offices). Many of those guys are employed by the D-backs in …
Continue Reading →What is a Chief Baseball Officer? We’re due to find out, after the D-backs hired Tony La Russa to fill that newly-created role with the team. In a site editorial, we noted that while the hiring comes as a welcome change, there are still many questions about La Russa’s actual role.
La Russa will report to CEO Derrick Hall and …
Continue Reading →On Saturday, the Diamondbacks announced that Tony La Russa will take a newly-created position within the organization: Chief Baseball Officer. The entire baseball operations branch of the club’s front office will now report to La Russa – including General Manager Kevin Towers. We applaud this decision.
Although La Russa has never had a front office position before, we believe his …
Continue Reading →Addison Reed had an excellent season last year — even better than it appeared, maybe. His 3.79 ERA was nothing to be ashamed about, but his 3.17 FIP suggests he was better than that. As an extreme fly ball pitcher, Reed’s story will always be about his home run to fly ball ratio, which, until this season, had been lower …
Continue Reading →Last week, we explored the performance of the Diamondbacks’ position players this season compared to their preseason projections. Never one to leave you hanging, it’s time that we apply the same methodology to the pitching staff. The necessary caveats were in the previous post, but I’ll remind the reader that these projections are updated to reflect the performances …
Continue Reading →Since becoming GM of the Diamondbacks about 43 months ago (September 22, 2010), Kevin Towers has completed 32 trades with 22 different teams. What would the current roster look like if we reversed each and every one of them?
Understand, I’m asking you to suspend disbelief for a purely academic exercise. It’s not so simple, of course, and Towers would …
Continue Reading →Maybe it’s all about little victories now, and while a couple of the games could easily have gone either way, the D-backs managed to go 4-2 in the last week, with series victories over the Brewers and the White Sox. Tack that onto the series win against the Padres, and you’ve got a 6-3 record for the month.
Despite the …
Continue Reading →As Jeff Wiser showed us yesterday, Martin Prado is among the D-backs position players who have not performed as well as expected so far this season. Jeff pointed out that Prado has started slow before, and so there may be no reason to sound the alarm. He’s certainly more valuable a player than he’s seemed so far in 2014 …
Continue Reading →There have been a lot of complaints about player performance thus far into 2014. Most of those complaints have been warranted and the Diamondbacks’ winning percentage reflects this. The season is more than just underway now, and to keep saying “it’s still early” is doing everyone a disservice. It’s not still early, we’re approaching some pretty serious cutoffs where the …
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 @MLBPipeline: Correction:
Oldest players on the #Top100Prospects list:
#Astros' Josh James, 25 (3/08/1993)
#Dbacks' Jon Duplanti… https://t.co/IpgOEtfUrh, - Diamondbacks MiLB affiliate the Missoula Osprey will transition away from the "Osprey" in 2020. Fans can vote for a… https://t.co/czwu2A1T3Q,
- Old Friend Alert https://t.co/vZFngGVaFF,
- Winning defensive MVP of the NFL Pro Bowl is something that should not actually be possible,
- Bill Swancutt (2005 draft, Lions) and Alex Brink (2008 draft, Texans). Swancutt was a DE and TE that I had to cover… https://t.co/7PvKgIVkD3,
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