D-backs pitcher Zach Davies, then a Brewer, fires a pitch. Photo taken by David B. King. The D-backs are one of the hottest teams in baseball. Yes, the squad that went just 51-111 last season has now won 11 of their last 14 to improve to 17-14 on the season. As ludicrous as this sounds, … Continue reading Is the D-backs’ Hot Start Sustainable?
Analysis
The Deterioration of the D-backs’ Rotation
Photo taken by Barry Stahl The D-backs’ collapse seemed rather sudden in the moment. A team that had been above .500 for three consecutive years and fairly aggressive in free agency (by their standards) somehow found themselves with a 77-145 record from 2020-2021. In hindsight, it seems a bit more predictable. The impoverished farm system … Continue reading The Deterioration of the D-backs’ Rotation
Roof and Panels Closed
I have enjoyed writing at Roof and Panels Open over the past year, and I am excited to announce that I will now be writing at The Rattle with a talented team of writers. With that in mind, I will no longer be actively posting to Roof and Panels Open. The site will remain open … Continue reading Roof and Panels Closed
Not Tanking When Everybody Else Is
Hazen has said over and over again that the Dbacks are looking to stay competitive, not going with the tanking route that has been so popular ever since the Astros lost their way to dominance. In a sense, it is hard to believe; they traded away their best player and casually let their next two best walk away without a fight. But Hazen isn't saying that the Dbacks are staying competitive just to sell tickets; he actually is gunning for a competitive season. Hazen chose not to trade away David Peralta, Nick Ahmed, and Robbie Ray, players that certainly could bring back large hauls but are losing their value as the clock ticks closer to free agency, instead waiting to see if the Dbacks will fake their way to playoff contention in the first half of the season.
Spending Small and Not Spending At All
The offseason is naturally a boring time for baseball fans, and we try to hold ourselves over until Pitchers and Catchers Report Day through projections, prospect rankings, and offseason signings. But in the past few years, offseason signings have dwindled, and the dreary winter months have been more boring than ever. For the Dbacks, this has been more true than most teams, quite remarkably, because Hazen, three offseasons in, has yet to make a major splash in free agency. Each offseason has been highlighted by one major trade (Segura, Souza, Goldy), followed by a series of minor pickups that you will have forgotten in five years time.
Dback Pitchers Are Slowing Down—On Purpose?
Pace of play has become a controversial issue surrounding the sport ever since Commissioner Rob Manfred replaced Commissioner Bud Selig as the most powerful person in baseball. Manfred has wanted to speed up the game, which so far has meant a series of ineffective initiatives such as removing the four-pitch intentional walk and other tiny "time-wasting" aspects of the game. The debate on the topic remains heated, but regardless of your opinion—or even that of the players—larger reforms (a pitch clock, mainly) are coming. Everything is pointing towards a faster nine innings.
And The Beginning
In the last article, I wrote about the Goldschmidt Trade entirely from the viewpoint of what the Dbacks gave away, what that meant, and the end of the era. I intentionally ignored the return because the face of the franchise leaving is too large of a deal to not get its own spotlight. But the end of the Goldy Era has fostered the beginning of the next era, whatever that may look like, so now, I am going to look at the trade entirely from the opposite perspective: what we gained, what that means, and the birth of an era.
It's been wild ride for Weaver over the past couple of years. Before the 2017 season, he was ranked as the 7th best prospect in the Cardinals organization on account of "an easy plus change," but he lacked a third pitch that could keep him in a major-league rotation. He broke out to a 3.88/2.93/3.19 ERA/xFIP/DRA line in ten games started that season, but in 2018, in fifteen more starts, he was less valuable, as his DRA rose to 4.62, about three percent below-average. His strikeout rate fell 8.7%, his walk rate rose 2.1%, and he still is searching for that ever-so-important third pitch.
Envisioning a Rebuild
Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion over the direction the Diamondbacks should head in, and it is not hard to understand why. While the Dbacks missed the postseason by nine games, they showed extended flashes of postseason talent and held onto the division lead until September struck. However, some of that talent, in the form of A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin, will be leaving the team, or at the very least, will command a significant raise. Financially, the front office spent more on this season than they have for any prior team, and with the controlled players contracts set to rise, ownership may not allow the payroll to balloon for a team that barely finished over .500. Still, 2019 represents the last season that Paul Goldschmidt is under team control, and rebuilding means giving up on the hope of capitalizing on one of the best talents in the game. On the other hand, if the team goes for it in 2019 and fails to make the playoffs, they will lose a major opportunity to build the farm and could trap themselves at the bottom of the league, potentially preventing themselves from winning until the mid-late 2020s—or later.
2018 In Context
It's all over now.
Actually, it was over weeks ago, but now it's really over. No chance of making the postseason, no more ways to help the Dodgers succumb to that same fate, just three games against the Padres so that we can say goodbye. The month of September, which for over a month prior was expected to be a fun, exciting journey, turned out to be exciting for everybody but the Dbacks. Instead of a wild ride to the postseason, September has given the Dbacks a sole series win after it was already too late. The craziness of this year, the ups and downs, have subsided, the dust has settled, and the 2018 Diamondbacks are dead.
Roof and Panels Open 