Currently viewing the tag: "Ender Inciarte"

Snakebitten: Though Relatively Healthy, Injuries Confounding D-backs Outfield

On June 24, 2016 By

Yeah, it’s no secret, injuries are a part of the game. They suck, we all hate them, and life would be better without them, but they are still very much there. Considering how prevalent injuries are within the game, our understanding of injuries and what causes them, especially with pitchers, still leaves a lot to be desired. About the only …

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The D-backs Have the Worst Defensive Outfield in Baseball

On May 8, 2016 By

When Ender Inciarte was traded for Shelby Miller, it was a swap of production — from the outfield to the pitcher’s mound — with an extremely high transaction cost. Inciarte was a 2-3 win outfielder while Miller looked like a 2-3 win pitcher and the Diamondbacks were short on productive arms with established track records. It was a terrible …

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Will the Ends Justify the Means?

On January 12, 2016 By

It’s expensive to own a major league baseball team. If I win Powerball, I’ll probably buy a team and move them to Portland, Oregon and call ’em The Jeffs (but after taxes, shoot, I probably still can’t do it – I’ll start a GoFundMe page for the rest). To own a team, you really need to understand business because the …

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Double Plus: Remembering Ender Inciarte

On December 18, 2015 By

Ender Inciarte was not young when he was called up to play in a decimated outfield in 2014; he’s now 25 years old, and it may be the case that he doesn’t get much better than he was in 2015, at least on defense. What he is, though, is a very good player. Inciarte was exactly average on offense in …

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Welcome to Winning

On December 8, 2015 By

If you’ve come to Inside the ‘Zona seeking to feel better about the Diamondbacks’ blockbuster trade for Shelby Miller, you may be disappointed. Then again, you may be thrilled. I’m not sure I can accurately project your feelings. What I will say, to begin, is this is exactly what we expected when we started talking about TCW (The Contention …

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D-backs Pitch Type Vulnerabilities

On September 24, 2015 By

This bizarre game that we love offers a good chance to use statistics because so much happens. Hundreds of plays in the field for most starters, hundreds of trips to the plate. Random things still can and do happen, along with things we can’t or don’t measure as we look at those events. Even more common than events on the …

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The Undoing of Chris Owings

On September 23, 2015 By

Nick Ahmed led off for the Diamondbacks last night. That was a surprise, but given what he’s done against lefties (at times) this year, it wasn’t a total shock. Chris Owings hit second and that was surprise, too. Considering that Owings has managed to be worse against lefties than righties in 2015, showing a neat little reverse platoon split, that …

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With Callup, Outlooks for Yasmany Tomas and Outfield Playing Time More Obscured

On April 16, 2015 By

Having too many starting-caliber players is a good problem to have — especially in the outfield. This time last year, the four-way traffic jam of Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier was a well-publicized example, especially since the team had one of the best “fourth” outfielders in baseball already in Scott Van Slyke. As …

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Ender Inciarte, D-backs OF Alignments, and the Run Value of Defensive Replacements

On April 8, 2015 By

In addition to having some positional flexibility and not being an automatic out at the plate, most fourth outfielders have some kind of “special sauce” that can be particularly useful at particular times, such as great baserunning, being able to hit either righties or lefties particularly well, having some “pop,” or offering not just adequate but very good defense. Some …

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Out of Left Field: Platoon Trumbo and Peralta

On April 2, 2015 By

The Diamondbacks’ outfield is set. Now that we know that Yasmany Tomas is almost surely destined for the minors and that he’s going to continue working at third base, the pieces are in place. A.J. Pollock is a stone-cold lock for every day duties in center field. Cody Ross is going to get some starts, but isn’t a major piece …

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Roundup: Spring Training Notes; Catcher Developments; Tomas at Third

On March 16, 2015 By

It’s been a great week — Jeff and I just concluded our Spring Training trip that coincided with the SABR Analytics Conference. We really enjoyed meeting a ton of new people. And on behalf of both of us, I want to express our thanks to the entire D-backs Communications Department for helping us get a closer look at the team …

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Yasmany Tomas in Left and D-backs Outfielders for Sale

On March 11, 2015 By

If you’d like to acquire an outfielder, you might want to call the Arizona Diamondbacks. They have plenty and might have one more on their hands sooner rather than later, because according to reports, the Yasmany Tomas-at-third-base-thing isn’t working out so well. While that was predictable, the organization had been going to great lengths to highlight what they could, …

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Base Running Notes for 2015

On March 6, 2015 By

In 2013, the Diamondbacks were among baseball’s worst base running teams. Ranking 26th in the league, the team frittered away more than a win on the bases per FanGraphs’ Base Running statistic (-10.5 BsR); the Baseball Prospectus stat Base Running Runs was even less friendly with its measurement of the D-backs, ranking them 28th at -9.7 BRR. But things turned …

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On Defensive Value and Ender Inciarte

On February 17, 2015 By

Over the last decade or so, defense has become an increasingly important aspect of baseball. When the Steroid Era slipped away and the old, plodding sluggers capable of hitting 40+ home runs per season all but evaporated from the game, they were often replaced by younger, faster players who could at least help prevent runs even if they weren’t capable …

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Top 10 D-backs Trade Assets

On December 18, 2014 By

Earlier this month, Jonah Keri of Grantland rolled out his MLB Trade Value rankings (part 1, part 2), which is a tremendous read, and even better than last year’s list. Only one D-backs contract made the list, although if you’re going to have just one player among the top 50, it’s nice to have number 3. One …

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Will the D-backs Address their Imbalance at the Plate?

On December 17, 2014 By

The Diamondbacks have a balance problem and balance is important, at least to a degree. We hear time and again that teams seek to keep a mixture of right and left-handed bats in the lineup because, as we know, platoon splits are very real and very common. Righties usually hit lefties well and lefties, righties. This is not startling news …

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