Roundup: Cricket Grounded; New Gerardo Parra Stance Getting Results

On March 24, 2014 By

Yes, I’ll say it: the Diamondbacks have the worst record in the majors now, at 0-2. The D-backs looked overmatched for most of the two-game Dodgers series in Australia (not so hot against Team Australia, either), but cruise back into Arizona to finish up spring training with only a -4 run differential. Losing by just two runs in each, the …

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How the D-backs Should Manage the Dodgers Series

On March 21, 2014 By

Getting through a 162-game season means not “going for it” in each game — you need those guys to play the next day. All bets are off in wild card games or postseason clinchers. But some bets are off in a random two-game series, too. I still have visions of Bradley benders dancing through my head, but the D-backs/Dodgers two-game …

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Baseball in Australia: Here to Stay

On March 20, 2014 By

After two years with the Australian Baseball Federation (now “Baseball Australia”), Ben Foster left his position there in June 2009 to take a position as the Australian Baseball League’s first employee. “It was just me in an office, and no one sitting around me,” said Foster, who is the ABL’s General Manager. Less than five years after he began with …

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Solved: the Mystery at Shortstop

On March 19, 2014 By

There haven’t been a lot of position battles for the Diamondbacks this spring. Even after Patrick Corbin went down, there still didn’t seem to be a vacuum left over. After all, the team has plenty of rotation depth. We can ask how much Cody Ross plays in the outfield but it looks like we already know the answer: sparingly. …

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Starting Pitching Depth and the Arroyo Signing

On March 18, 2014 By

Before Patrick Corbin got hurt, I wanted to write about—ironically enough—the team’s starting pitching depth. The average team uses ten different starting pitchers over the course of a season. Bronson Arroyo was signed to solidify the rotation. Critics of the Arroyo signing have conceded that he is durable, but commented that he was simply providing league average performance. Sometimes league …

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Roundup: Patrick Corbin Suffers Elbow Injury; Corbin’s Replacement; Chris Owings Wins Shortstop Competition?

On March 17, 2014 By

I’m not one to dwell on bad news, but the latest word that Patrick Corbin will require six weeks of rehab or Tommy John surgery for a UCL injury might just be the worst news for D-backs fans all season. After feeling tightness all spring, Nick Piecoro reported, Corbin felt a “small little shock” in his elbow at the …

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D-backs Hitters Excelled in Two-Strike Counts

On March 15, 2014 By

As noted here several times in the last few months, the D-backs were extremely average in many ways last season. One exception was defense, in which the team excelled; but another appears to be players’ success in hitting with two strikes – especially in full counts. Nobody ever said this team isn’t gritty.

The overall batting average in the National …

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The D-backs get an Inside Edge

On March 13, 2014 By

Defense is something that’s been talked about quite a bit this offseason. Whether it’s a discussion of who should be the starting shortstop, the addition of Mark Trumbo to the outfield or even in evaluating just how good Gerardo Parra was in 2013, defense has been a prominent part of the discussion. Lucky for us, FanGraphs just rolled out a …

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Trahan to the Outfield and the State of D-backs Catching

On March 12, 2014 By

In an interesting, although not unforeseen development, the Diamondbacks moved highly touted catching prospect Stryker Trahan to the outfield over the winter. What was surprising, perhaps, is that we just caught wind of this move last week despite it being in the making for over a month. It has been speculated for some time that he might eventually see a …

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Archie Bradley Slated to Pitch Exhibition Game in Australia

On March 11, 2014 By

Archie Bradley has been slated to start the Diamondbacks’ exhibition game in Australia. Considering the Diamondbacks are trying to make an organizational impact in Australia, taking Bradley is a great idea. His pitching is impressive, and he is a physical specimen. This is also a good opportunity for Bradley to get comfortable with the team in case of a call-up …

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Roundup: Oliver Perez Signing Curious; Roster Cuts

On March 10, 2014 By

After a relatively quiet week, news broke on Friday afternoon that the D-backs had agreed to terms with LHP Oliver Perez, presumably as a bullpen piece. My first reaction was that this was a terrible move. After a little more research, it seems that it’s merely a very bad move.

Don’t get me wrong, Oliver Perez is a pretty …

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Optimizing the D-backs Roster for Australia

On March 7, 2014 By

The Active Roster is affectionately referred to as the 25-man roster, but there are some circumstances in which it need not have exactly 25 men on it. The Disabled List is one exception, but teams are also allowed to run with 24 players in a pinch, have a 26th man for double headers, and a “taxi squad” player in some …

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The Inside the ‘Zona 2013-2014 Offseason Report Card

On March 6, 2014 By

On this site, we’ve been pretty outspoken about our discontent with some of the higher profile moves made by the Diamondbacks front office this offseason. But we were not at all surprised to find that overall, we considered the offseason moves to represent a net positive. To give the front office an overall grade for the offseason, the Inside the …

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Goldschmidt mired in slump; who cares?

On March 5, 2014 By

Don’t look now, but as of March 4th, Paul Goldschmidt is hitting .200 (3 for 15) in six Spring Training games. Sure, his first single knocked in a couple of runs, but Goldy hasn’t exactly started off the spring red-hot as we might have hoped. After a season in which he was nearly the NL MVP by …

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Corbin and Cahill to Pitch in Australia

On March 4, 2014 By

Yesterday Kirk Gibson pegged Patrick Corbin and Trevor Cahill as his starters for the opening series in Australia. Corbin was an easy choice; he was the Diamondbacks best pitcher in 2013. The selection of Cahill was a bit more surprising. Wade Miley had a better year than Cahill, but Cahill actually seems like the right choice. The Dodgers have not …

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Roundup: Glaesmann Retires; Spring Training Games; New Data Stream

On March 3, 2014 By

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the D-backs have gone .500… in spring training games so far. That’s right, with six games in the rear view, the team has gone 3-3. Despite some rain difficulties over the weekend, Arizona has played more games than any other team as it gears up to head to Australia two weeks from today. …

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