Currently viewing the tag: "Paul Goldschmidt"

It feel like just yesterday (actually it was Monday) that we were all roused up about how bad the Diamondbacks’ outfield defense is. Let’s face it: Yasmany Tomas is really just Mark Trumbo again. Well, in fairness to Mr. Trumbo, Tomas’ career UZR/150 in the outfield is far worse, but there are some sample size issues there. Chris Owings

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Something weird is going on in MLB this year. Per FanGraphs, the rate of pitches in the zone has gone up sharply, from 44.7% to 47.1%. That may not sound like a lot, but 139,949 pitches have been thrown this year — that’s an extra 3,359 pitches in the zone, and it’s not even one fifth of the way …

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As a few D-backs fans have noted, one Paul Edward Goldschmidt hasn’t really been himself to kick off the 2016 season. These feelings come from a place of privilege, it should be noted, because Goldy is still a perennial and current top performer in the National League, producing offense at a rate about 40% higher than league average. But this …

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It’s that time, sports fans: Opening Day for the Diamondbacks and 19 other teams. If you follow the D-backs, you’ve survived a slow death to the season in 2013, a 2014 that was derailed before it got going, and a 2015 season that included some long-lasting experiments that were at least as frustrating to watch as they were smart to

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Yesterday I wrote a lot about Paul Goldschmidt as a possible Hall of Fame candidate. If you didn’t read the full installment, I’d suggest going back and taking a gander. Today things won’t be so long and exhaustive. Let’s keep it short because that’s what Double Plus Fridays are all about anyways (at least in theory).

I decided to …

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Yesterday was big for me. I’m not usually one for the Hall of Fame discussion because I think it has gotten away from what was intended in some ways and the arguments are often either pedantic or ill-informed. Those aren’t great options, so I usually steer clear. This year, however, Ken Griffey, Jr. was up for enshrinement and, having grown …

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There’s this book called Moneyball. You may have heard of it. Oh wait, you saw the movie? Well there was a book before the movie and it was better than anything even Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill could produce. People know I like baseball and most of the time, they start conversation like, “Oh, you write about stuff like …

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Want to flummox one of baseball’s best offenses? Try pitching low and away. It seems obvious, and it’s probably true of most teams, to some degree. But only three teams struck out at a higher rate on those pitches than did the D-backs — a 19.4% K rate is not very good. They’ve also avoided doing big time damage in …

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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 second Jarrod Saltalamacchia was designated for assignment by the Marlins, a connection to the D-backs seemed obvious. Atrocious work behind the plate in 2014 seemed to disqualify him for a lot of clubs, but the D-backs, who had Jordan Pacheco banging around and had brought on Gerald Laird in spring training, seemed less concerned with those numbers. And when …

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Let’s face it, Paul Goldschmidt hasn’t been going so well lately. I mean, he’s still been good, but good isn’t great and great is what we’re accustomed to seeing out of Goldy. He’s an MVP-caliber player who’s been playing like a solid regular for the last month. Guys like David Peralta, Welington Castillo and A.J. Pollock have been picking …

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Even before the season started, it looked like the pitching staff would be a difficult puzzle to solve in August, and even if there have been fewer comings and goings than we might have guessed, that might start to change here pretty soon — and we are looking at some interesting questions as 2016 starts to be more of the …

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When Goldy made the Near-MVP Leap from a 124 wRC+ 2012 season to the 156 wRC+ level he attained in 2013, it seemed almost too good to be true. Here he was, this guy who was supposed to be pretty good but probably not great, and his hot start that year just never seemed to disappear. It was a new …

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It’s starting to look like the D-backs may end up having discussions about Jeremy Hellickson — something we thought in our Midseason Plan would be a good idea to initiate. Hellickson followed a rocky April with a solid May, but had his worst month in June. So far in July, he has a 2.50 ERA in three starts. Not enough …

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You know the story: in 2012, Paul Goldschmidt was quite good. In 2013, he made The Leap into the MVP discussion on the back of a 36 HR, .302/.401/.551 season, finishing with a wRC+ of 156. He was almost exactly as great in a Frieri-shortened 155 wRC+ campaign last year, and since coming back this spring, he’s taken it to …

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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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