SB Nation - Chad Tracy

2010 in Arizona: First-base

Jim McLennan — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:52:11 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

The Panda dives back to first, as a pick-off throw "bamboo-zles" Tracy and "shoots" past him during an April game in Phoenix.

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I'm pleased to report my digestive system is no longer participating in a Michael Bay remake of Krakatoa, East of Java. That's probably for the best, since our first-base situation is enough by itself to make me feel queasy. The past season was like the noted Abbott and Costello sketch for Diamondbacks fans: don't like who's starting first-base today? Come back tomorrow, you'll probably be happier. While we didn't quite have the most number of players at the position in the majors [the Cardinals used nine, though that was mostly LaRussa's late-inning shuffling: Phat Albert started at 1B 157 times], it certainly was the most unstable position on the field for Arizona, with seven different names appearing in the starting line-up.

This continues a decade-long trend: not since our inaugural season in 1998, has the same player started even 130 games at first-base, and in the past two seasons, the highs have been just 67 and 57 starts, by Conor Jackson and Chad Tracy respectively. [Today's trivia: name the most-frequent 1B for Arizona each season. Answer at the end of the article] After the jump, we'll take a look at what happened in 2010, and see whether there's hope for things to be any more stable in the upcoming season.

2009 Performance
1. Chad Tracy - 56 starts .237/.306/.389
2. Brandon Allen - 29 starts .202/.284/.385
3. Josh Whitesell - 28 starts .194/.346/.287
4. Mark Reynolds - 24 starts .260/.349/.543
5. Tony Clark - 14 starts .182/.295/.424

It's hard to say how much the numbers above are skewed by the absence of Conor Jackson. He had been a regular there in the previous three seasons, but his shift to left-field would likely have continued last season, given the ongoing failings of Eric Byrnes. However, his absence for the bulk of the season made the dearth of alternatives for Arizona at the position all the more apparent. Overall, first-base produced a line of .228/.321/.396, an OPS of just .717, dead-last in the National League.

Initially, it was Tony Clark and Chad Tracy who split time at the position, but Josh Whitesell was called up just before the managerial switch in early May. Much was expected of him, having hit .328 with 26 homers the previous year in Tucson, but he proved to be a damp squib. Though not helped by a freakishly-low BABIP, he hit only .107 in May and struggled to get his BA above the Uecker line the rest of the way. Some attempts to play Reynolds at first were made: though effective offensively (he hit .323 there), his defense was poor, and the experiment was all but abandoned after the All-Star break

Brandon Allen, acquired from the White Sox in the Tony Peña trade, was the final great hope, getting the bulk of the starts after the middle of August. However, despite similarly-impressive numbers at Triple-A to Whitesell, he struggled equally as much against major-league pitching - left-handers, in particular, gave both prospects fits. This, and a poor performance by Allen in the Arizona Fall League, meant that the Diamondbacks ended the season with just as big a question-mark at first-base as they'd had at any point in the year.

Top Free Agents
Name	Age	2009 Sal.	2009 OPS+
Russell Branyan	34	$1.4m	128
Nick Johnson	32	$5.5m	122
Adam LaRoche	30	$7.05m	122
Hank Blalock	29	$6.2m	86
Carlos Delgado	37	$12m	141
Chance of AZ free-agent activity: high.

2010 Depth-chart and Projections

Brandon Allen - .247/.309/.427
Conor Jackson - .266/.342/.425
~~Josh Whitesell - .238/.341/.385~~

We've already seen, courtesy of the Snyder-Overbay talks, that Arizona are not happy with the current candidates for first-base next season. As a result, it seems likely that they will spend some, albeit a minority, of their war-chest (currently estimated at between $10-14 million) on acquiring a more experienced bat at this position - probably one that can deal with left-handed pitching better than Allen or Whitesell have shown themselves to date. Fernando Tatis is an interesting name recently suggested there by Reynolds rapper, who could offer some position flexibility. The alternative at the moment would be to bring Jackson back from left-field to play the position against LHP - I note that he split his time in the Dominican Winter League between the two positions.

However, this decision would pose a couple of problems in turn. Jackson's defense at 1B is notably worse than in RF, and we'd then also be faced with the job of replacing CoJack in left. The most likely candidates there are Gerardo Parra, who is simlarly vexed by left-handers, and Eric Byrnes, who may not even be with the club. I would rather see Jackson left in left (as it were...) and the team go after someone who can platoon with Allen at 1B. That said, the names available as free agents all have issues of one kind or another e.g. Johnson's injury issues, Branyan would be another left-hander, and my assessment of likely activity as "high" also includes the chances of activitiy not directly involving the signing of a free-agent.

The major trading-chip in this area remains Chris Snyder, and I still think the team will look to move him between now and Opening Day. Even if this is not directly for a first-baseman, the salary relief we'd obtain as a result means we can perhaps then take on a player earning more than we could perhaps otherwise afford (whether at first or another spot, such as in the rotation). As a starting point, the six teams to get the lowest 2009 OPS from their catchers were (in descending order): Milwaukee, Houston, Seattle, Toronto, Tampa, Detroit. Might be a good starting point for shopping Snyder.

We will be interested to follow the development of Allen and Whitesell in 2010 - particularly the former, since it's worth remembering, despite his struggles, that he will still be 23 until February. Only 16 position players in the National League that age or younger got 100 PAs last season [three in AZ, who also had Justin Upton and Gerardo Parra], so there should be no rush to judgement. Allen's playing time will likely be determined both by subsequent moves, and how his own splits develop. If he can learn to hit left-handed pitching, and his overall numbers approach those he posted in the minors, he should be primed for the starting spot in 2011. Those are both mighty-big "ifs", however.

[Update] Josh Whitesell was non-tendered and as a result became a free-agent. The Diamondbacks apparently even tried to sell Whitesell to Japan, but had no luck there; it's clear that Arizona saw no potential of him helping the team in the foreseeable future.

[Trivia answer. Here are the most-frequent starters at 1B each season for Arizona. 1998-99, Travis Lee; 2000, Greg Colbrunn; 2001-02, Mark Grace; 2003, Lyle Overbay; 2004, Shea Hillenbrand; 2005, Chad Tracy; 2006-08, Conor Jackson; 2009, Tracy]

Discussion: Marlon Byrd vs. Mike Cameron

Al — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:49:09 -0000

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

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Yesterday, I posted an idea regarding a potential free agent signing for a Cubs bench position in 2010. Admittedly, this wasn't the most important possible addition to the roster for next year -- however, the Cubs had a very poor bench in 2009 and I still think Chad Tracy (at the right price) would be a good addition.

Today, I'm going to analyze two players who have been mentioned as possible center fielders for the Cubs in 2010. Again, for the purposes of this exercise, assume that Milton Bradley has already been traded somewhere and not for another outfielder; that Kosuke Fukudome will be returned to right field, and that the Tigers' Curtis Granderson (who would be my first choice) is either not made available for trade by Detroit or has been dealt somewhere else.

So, let's look at two other choices -- Marlon Byrd and Mike Cameron.

Marlon Byrd has played eight seasons in the major leagues with three teams (the Phillies, the Nationals and the Rangers). He was the Phillies' regular center fielder in 2003, his rookie season; he played well enough to finish fourth in Rookie of the Year voting (behind Dontrelle Willis, Scott Podsednik and Brandon Webb). Declining quickly in his second year, he found himself dumped to the Nats, and signed with the Rangers as a free agent after the 2006 season. He never got full-time playing time again until last year, when he put up a very good .283/.329/.479 year with a career-high 20 HR and 89 RBI, numbers he hadn't come close to previously. His .808 OPS was in the same general area as his other two part-time seasons in Texas; overall he hit .295/.352/.468 (.820 OPS) in his three years as a Ranger.

Further, he seems to have been helped by Rangers Ballpark -- he posted an OPS over 100 points higher at home in each of his three seasons in Texas, although his career OPS is also higher at home (.810) than on the road (.716).

Byrd is 32. He will be 33 in August. His 2009 season appears to be an outlier in terms of power (his 43 doubles tied for 8th in the AL) and these are just the types of numbers that Jim Hendry often gets sucked into giving a three-year backloaded contract to. I'd stay away from Byrd.

With Mike Cameron, you know exactly what you're getting. He will be 37 in January, and over the 11 seasons since he became a fulltime regular in 1999 (not counting the two years prior to that when he had fewer than 500 PA for the White Sox), his OPS has ranged from .759 to .837. He's averaged 22 HR, 75 RBI, 66 walks and 143 strikeouts over those 11 seasons -- and his 2009 season was pretty close to that (24 HR, 70 RBI, 75 BB, 156 K).

At 37, he might have to be rested from time to time and for that, the Cubs have Sam Fuld. In a lineup that has Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and (presumably) a healthy and 2008-style Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto, Cameron could hit sixth or seventh, as he did in Milwaukee, and produce the same way he did there. In 138 career PA at Wrigley Field, Cameron has hit .261/.355/.521 with 8 HR, and hits .257/.349/.454 in day games.

At 37 -- well, you wouldn't want to give a longterm deal to a guy like that. But a one-year contract with a mutual option for a second year based on incentives -- I'd do that. Cameron is also familiar to Lou Piniella, who managed him for three years in Seattle -- two of those years the Mariners went to the postseason.

Mike Cameron isn't my first choice; as I wrote last week, that would be Curtis Granderson. But -- if Granderson isn't available, Cameron would be a good second pick.

Why The Cubs Should Sign Chad Tracy

Al — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:41:19 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

Chad Tracy doubles in two runs vs. the Cubs in Phoenix last April 29.

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While all of us are awaiting Thanksgiving dinner and the Cubs to trade Milton Bradley (not necessarily in that order), I thought I'd start an occasional series on players who might otherwise fly under the radar who I think could help the Cubs in 2010.

Obviously, this wouldn't be one of the "sexy" free-agent signings that the Cubs have had in the past -- and given the player payroll constraints, they're not likely to have one of those this offseason. But there were plenty of holes in the Cubs' offense last year, particularly on the bench, that need to be addressed. The 2008 Cubs had a productive starting lineup and a solid bench, and that's one of the reasons they led the National League in runs scored. The Cubs need to solidify the bench as well as answer the obvious questions (such as how and where Bradley will be dealt and who will be acquired to replace him).

It's pretty clear to me that Micah Hoffpauir is exactly who a lot of us said he was -- a Quadruple-A player, someone who can dominate at the Triple-A level but is exposed in the major leagues. Getting extended playing time in 2009 due to injuries, Hoffpauir hit .239/.300/.427 and hit so poorly from June 1-August 2 (.179/.216/.357) that he had to be sent back to Iowa, returning to Wrigley Field with the Iowa Cubs on August 9 and joking that he just wanted to pick up a pair of pants he had left in the clubhouse when the Cubs left on a road trip. Plus, Hoffpauir will be 30 years old on March 1; I think he's had his proverbial 15 minutes.

Chad Tracy, who is only a couple of months younger than Hoffpauir (he'll be 30 on May 22), looked like he was on his way to becoming a solid major league regular after having 20-HR seasons in 2005 and 2006 and OPS of .911 and .794 in those two seasons. After the 2006 season the Diamondbacks signed him to a three-year deal worth $13.25 million, with a $7 million club option for 2010 (and a $1 million buyout). Almost immediately, Tracy got hurt -- he had a rib injury, an oblique injury, a knee injury that required surgery at the end of spring training in 2008, and a couple of minor injuries including another oblique. Here's a list of all of his various DL stints.

His production, naturally, tumbled; he never had any semblance of regular playing time over the last three years and his OPS of .695 in 2009 was the worst of his career. On November 5 the D'backs declined his option and paid him the $1 million buyout.

Nevertheless, after Tracy came back from the last injury in September, he hit pretty well in a small-sample-size 31 plate appearances, drawing six walks and hitting a pair of doubles and another pair of homers.

Tracy can play 1B, 3B and the corner outfield spots. No one's asking him to be a superstar or even a starting player. But playing part-time, if he's healthy, he'd be a fine addition to the Cubs' bench -- and he hits lefthanded, which should please Lou Piniella. He'll probably never get back to his 2005-06 level of production, but he doesn't need to -- just be a good option off the bench, and provide a real backup third baseman, something the Cubs did not have in 2009.

I'd offer him a one-year deal with protection for the team if he spends too much time on the DL, and possibly an option year that would vest with a certain number of plate appearances. He's the perfect choice to replace the unproductive Hoffpauir.

This week in AZ baseball: Webb returns, the 2010 roster takes shape, and an AFL Gameday Thread

Jim McLennan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:30:28 -0000

Didn't bother doing one of these last weekend, as there really wasn't enough to justify it. Not the case at all today, with a lot of contract news following the end of the World Series, and as a result we can see the first signs of the roster for next season taking place. Or, at least, cross some names off the potential candidates' list, anyway. Today is also the Arizona Fall League All-Star game out in Surprise, with first pitch at 6:15 pm. It's going to be televised, both on the MLB Network and free at mlb.com, so this post will also be the Gameday Thread for that event.

Details of that, analysis of the roster moves, an update on the latest numbers by Diamondbacks in winter ball and more, after the jump.

While no surprise, the big news is, of course, that Brandon Webb will be pitching for the Diamondbacks in 2010, after the team exercised their option. Everyone concerned seemed upbeat at the news, our ace saying, "I was hoping that they would. I was just waiting for the phone call. It was up in the air for a while and rightfully so, it was a big question mark for a while, but I've bounced back really well and am feeling good and I'm happy I'll be back next year." His agent - and one-time SnakePit poster! - Jonathan Maurer added, "We've said from Day 1 that Brandon is very happy with the Diamondbacks and our preference was to remain in Arizona. We would love to work out something long term, but we will just take this year and see how it plays out." Webb concurs: "Hopefully it goes well for both of us and we can maybe start some talks, if everything goes well, toward the end of next year."

Three months after the surgery in early August, Webb will be doing a little gentle soft-toss next week to end his season, before then closing things down and eventually beginning his usual build-up towards spring training and, all going well, Opening Day. He sounded fairly confident he'll be the same pitcher he was: "Even when I was throwing and I was still having some pain, the life on the ball was still there. I can't be too sure, but I'm pretty sure I'll always probably have that sinking action, because that's just how my arm action is, it allows the ball to do that." I certainly hope so: Webb without his sinker...why, that'd be like Lincecum without a pipe in his mouth.

Brandon may be coming back, but there are a lot of Diamondbacks who apparently won't be - though again, none of the news on that front was massively unexpected. On the pitching front, Doug Davis and Scott Schoeneweis filed for free-agency, while Daniel Cabrera declined his assignment to Reno and became a free agent too. Yusmeiro Petit was taken from Arizona on waivers by the Mariners - likely a better location for the fly-ball prone Petit Unit., and our colleague on Lookout Landing are quite excited. The trio accounted for almost one-third of our starts last season (34 for Davis, 17 for Petit, one for Cabrera), and means the competition for the fifth spot next year is currently down to Billy Buckner, Bryan Augenstein and Kevin Mulvey, with the first-named the favorite at this point. Doug Slaten was also picked up off waivers, by Washington.

On the position player front, we say a poignant farewell to Chad Tracy, whose 2010 option was bought out by the Diamondbacks. Only two players - Luis Gonzales and Steve Finley - have played more games in an Arizona jersey than Chad, who appeared 704 times for Arizona over six seasons. His career line with the team was decent, at .280/.339/.453, for a .792 OPS, but since returning from knee surgery, his output has slumped. Chad's numbers against left-handed pitching were particularly poor, helping to make the decision to decline his $7m option relatively easy. Also possibly on the way out are Alex Romero and Trent Oeltjen, moves intended to relieve the impending crush in the 2010 outfield.

Good article in the Republic today on how the economic downturn is hitting all valley sports teams, not just the Diamondbacks. "Every professional sports team in metro Phoenix, along with Arizona State University's football team and the annual Fiesta Bowl, has had trouble selling tickets this year... Teams have been forced to try promotions once considered unthinkable as the drop in attendance cuts deeper into revenue and costs jobs.." Said Jerry Colangelo: "I have been here over 40 years, and this is the worst it has ever been." Other points of interest with regard to the local franchises:

The Suns streak of home sellouts ended this month and the team just laid off about 10% of employees.
The Coyotes have the lowest average crowd in the NHL, attracting just 5,855 for Monday's game. [There's also an article on whether Phoenix might be better served by minor-league hockey]
The NFC champion Cardinals have needed an extension for all but one of their home games, to avoid them being blacked out on TV.

Time for an update on our winter league ball-players, starting with Conor Jackson in the Dominican. If he's still not showing much power - one home-run in fourteen games - he's still getting on base with impressive frequency: he has an OBP of .523, thanks in part to a K:BB ratio of 14:9. Conor's batting .364 and has stolen six bases in six attempts. Alex Romero and Trent Oeltjen are also hitting above .350 in Venezuela and Mexico, but since they are potenially going to be ex-Diamondbacks in the near future, I'm not going to look too hard there. The potential 2010 right-side of our infield continues to struggle: Tony Abreu has a .640 OPS in the Dominican, while Brandon Allen is hitting only .162 in the traditionally-hitter friendly AFL. Allen's 19 walks do lead the league, however.

On the pitching front, Tom Layne is the only one of the four in the AFL making a good impression. He has allowed two earned runs in 9.1 innings of work, on seven hits and four walks, with ten strikeouts. Bryan Augenstein has pitched the same number of innings, but allowed fifteen hits, leading to seven earned rusn. That's still better than Cesar Valdez, who has wobbled his way to an 11.25 ERA in eight innings. Intriguing line from the Dominican, where Jordan Norberto has nine strikeouts in five innings: while he's allowed five runs, only one has been earned. Scott Patterson has been working well in Venezuela: in 5.1 innings, he has given up three hits and a walk, with six K's.

Speaking of the AFL, today is the Rising Stars game at Surprise, where 50 of the best and brightest major-league baseball has to offer will go head to head. The only Diamondback taking part will be Allen, but it'll be almost your last chance to see live baseball from inside the United States until next March, so I fully intend to take advantage. As mentioned, the game is on both the MLB Network, and streaming for free at mlb.com, so there's no excuse not to be watching this one - and commenting in this thread. [I'll be here, just a little late, as we've got to have dinner first]

The scheduled starting pitchers are both 2009 frst-round draft picks - Desert Dogs right-hander Stephen Strasburg was #1 and Atlanta left-hander Mike Minor was #7. Be my first chance to see the much-vaunted Strasburg in action. Per Red Reign in the comments, looks like Strasburg has been scratched from the game with a strained neck. Probably injured it lugging his bonus to the bank.

Finally, Clay Zavada had his number, #35, retired by Illinois Valley Community College on Thursday. He pitched there in 2003 and 2004, and is the first alumni of the institution to reach the majors in its 85-year history. Around 200 replica handlebar mustaches were handed out for the ceremony, at half-time in a basketball game at the college in Oglesby. "It couldn’t happen to a better kid," said IVCC athletic director Tommy Canale. "He’s really had some tough tribulations in his life and he fought through that." Hear, hear.

Building A Cubs Champion: 2010 Edition

Al — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:15:22 -0000

by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Like it or not, one of the keys to the Cubs' success in 2010 is a resurgence by Alfonso Soriano. Here, he launches his game-winning grand slam vs. the Astros last July 27.

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Last year about this time, I made this post discussing what I thought should be the makeup of the 2009 Cubs.

Brave, isn't it, of me to post that link when I'd just as soon forget about it. I was shouted down and laughed at (people are still giving me grief for the Kevin Millar thing, and they were absolutely correct), and had the Cubs put that 25-man roster on the field last April, they'd undoubtedly have had a much worse season than they did in real life (case in point: Alex Hinshaw, who I thought was an up-and-coming LOOGY, threw only six major league innings in 2009, posting a 12.00 ERA).

So let me go about this project this year in a different sort of way. A year ago (actually, October 20, 2008 was the date I wrote the post about my proposed 2009 roster) we were all still stunned and angry that the 97-win team that had dominated the National League all season went three-and-out in the playoffs. This was before Lou's "we've gotta get more lefthanded" mantra led us to the Milton Bradley disaster, before popular favorites Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa were let go, and a lot of us were wondering, "How can we make a team that good into one that will win 11 games in October?"

Jim Hendry and Co. were asking themselves the same question, obviously, but came up with the wrong answer. Without rehashing what we've rehashed all summer long, clearly, it didn't work -- and not just because of Hendry's moves, but because players like Alfonso Soriano, Geovany Soto and Mike Fontenot seriously underperformed their 2008 numbers by considerable margins and for various reasons, and because Aramis Ramirez, who is the Cubs' best hitter, missed 50 games with a dislocated shoulder and wasn't at full strength the rest of the season, eventually playing in only 82 games.

I believe in what new owner Tom Ricketts said at his introductory press conference: that the Cubs already have the talent that can win the World Series, and only need a few tweaks to bring the club back to pennant-contending level. I'm also going to assume that what we've heard about player payroll is correct: that it will be increased, if only "slightly", from 2009, and thus will wind up at (approximately) $145 million. That will rank third in baseball, behind the Yankees and Red Sox.

Thus, instead of trying to build a roster simply by picking pieces from here and there, let's use that $145 million to put together a winning team.

Let's begin with players we know will be with the team next year, and their payroll figures (all numbers from the excellent site Cot's Baseball Contracts). These players are under contract for 2010 and will definitely be on the team, followed by their contract amounts:

Alfonso Soriano, $19,000,000
Carlos Zambrano, $18,875,000
Aramis Ramirez, $16,500,000
Kosuke Fukudome, $14,000,000
Ryan Dempster, $13,500,000
Derrek Lee, $13,000,000
Ted Lilly, $13,000,000

That's $107,875,000 for seven players. The Cubs also owe Jeff Samardzija $1,000,000 on the major league portion of his deal (whether or not he throws a major league inning) and $500,000 to the long-ago-released Luis Vizcaino, who pitched 3.2 innings in a Cub uniform. We're now at $109,375,000, leaving "only" $35,625,000 for 18 more players to fill out the Opening Day 25-man roster. That means there are going to be a fair number of minimum-wage players in 2010, because among the players remaining, a number of them are arbitration-eligible, meaning they will be in line for raises.

The first order of business is to remove Milton Bradley from the premises. We have had many long debates about whether and for whom he should be traded, but I believe this is top priority for Jim Hendry and will happen sooner rather than later. Disagree if you wish, but I think the best of many not-so-great scenarios is to send him -- and Aaron Miles -- to the Giants for Aaron Rowand. Between Bradley and Miles, they are owed a total of $23.7 million; Rowand is owed $36 million. Since in doing a deal like this, you would be relieving the Giants, essentially, of $12 million (approximately) by taking the third year of Rowand's contract, Hendry should ask the Giants to split the difference and pay half of Rowand's 2012 contract, which would split the total dollars (approximately $60 million) between the two teams, about $30 million each.

This would also accomplish equalizing the 2010 payroll -- or come close -- to what Bradley and Miles would have been owed ($11.7 million) and what Rowand is owed ($12 million). I think the Giants would be willing to do this, because you are taking $6 million off their 2012 payroll, while leaving their 2010 and 2011 payrolls where they are now, since Bradley is owed $12 million in 2011.

I concede that Rowand has had two pretty poor offensive seasons in San Francisco (at least in part due to injuries). But in 2007, he had a fine hitting year in Philadelphia, and I believe that he has at least a chance to return to that level in Chicago. If you were looking at the possible acquisition of Rowand in a vacuum, you wouldn't do it -- but the necessity of removing Bradley from the team makes this probably about the best way to accomplish that. At best, this could turn into a Hundley-for-Grudzielanek-and-Karros sort of deal.

So, now the Cubs have a center fielder (with Fukudome moving back to his original position, right field, improving the outfield defense at two spots), but we are now at eight players and have only $23,625,000 left. They're fortunate that Geovany Soto is not yet arbitration-eligible, so let's say the Cubs bump him up to $825,000 from the $575,000 he made in 2009. That's a pretty good raise, given the bad year he had. Now we're at $22,800,000. Backup catcher Koyie Hill made $475,000 in 2009 and had a good year for a backup. Let's move him up to $600,000, leaving $22,200,000.

I'm going to leave the double-play combination alone for 2010. It's likely that by 2011, Starlin Castro will be the Cubs' starting shortstop -- but for now, because Lou and Jim like them, Jeff Baker and Ryan Theriot will return. Baker made $415,000 in 2009 and had a good run after he was acquired from Colorado -- one of Hendry's best moves last year. Let's pay him $500,000, and Theriot $700,000, both up from 2009. That's 12 players, and $21,000,000 remaining for the other 13 -- we're getting to the point where we can actually think about signing a free agent or two or making a deal.

Among our 12 signed players so far are nine hitters -- so, given the current fad of having 12 pitchers on your staff, we have room for four more offensive players. I like Andres Blanco and Sam Fuld -- both performed well in backup roles in 2009. Neither hits much, but both play outstanding defense and neither is going to be expected to start more than a handful of games. Fuld made $401,500 and Blanco $400,000 (the minimum) in 2009, and let's give them both raises to $425,000. We are at 14 players and have $20,050,000 left. We'll need one more outfielder and also a guy who could fill the role that was filled in 2007 and 2008 by Daryle Ward, and in 2009 by Micah Hoffpauir.

Sad to say, I'm non-tendering Micah. He's 30 in March and didn't really do well most of last year -- he's a one-dimensional player, since he's really not a very good outfielder, and didn't do well in the dimension (hitting) he was supposedly good at. Since we're no longer locked in to the "lefthanded" mantra of a year ago, the Cubs can put the minimum-wage Jake Fox -- bumped up to $500,000 for his good performance of a year ago -- in this slot, and re-sign Rowand's close friend Reed Johnson for $3 million to fill in when his buddy hits the brick wall at Wrigley too many times.

So, we now have $16,550,000 left for nine pitchers -- which means we're going to have to fill most of the bullpen with minimum-wage guys. That's actually fine with me -- look at the disaster that was Aaron Heilman last year (in my opinion, Heilman should be non-tendered) -- and the Cubs have a couple of real good prospects, in my opinion, to fill middle-relief roles in Justin Berg and Esmailin Caridad. They get the minimum $400,000 each, leaving $15,750,000 for seven more pitchers. It was reported earlier this week that the Cubs are negotiating a two-year deal with John Grabow; reported figures are "between $6.5 and $7.5 million" for the two years. Let's assume for this post that it's in between, and Grabow gets $3.5 million for 2010. We've got $12,250,000 left and six spots to fill on the pitching staff. Carlos Marmol is going to close; he made $575,000 in 2009, so let's bump him to $800,000. Angel Guzman will be his primary right-handed setup guy (Grabow's the lefty setup guy, or should be, if Lou would ever use him right). Guzman made $421,500 in 2009; he could be renewed at $500,000.

Our payroll drawer is nearly empty (you can almost count the remaining Benjamins, right?); we have $10,950,000 remaining and still need to fill three spots, one in the pen, and two in the starting rotation, and here's where it gets a bit dicey (and this is why I left this part for last). First, you can fill one of the starting spots with Randy Wells, who made the minimum last year and certainly deserves a raise; let's put him at $750,000 (or maybe even a bit less; he's renewable, meaning you don't have to give him that much of a raise until he's arb-eligible next year), leaving $10,200,000. The Cubs have five free agents: Rich Harden, John Grabow, Kevin Gregg, Chad Fox and Reed Johnson. I already re-signed Johnson and Grabow above; Gregg and Fox, thanks for your service, see you in another uniform next year (and please, Jim, not another minor-league invite for Chad Fox. He's done).

But what to do with Harden? If you offer him arbitration, he'll almost certainly accept. To paraphrase Longfellow's nursery rhyme, "When he's good, he's very, very good; when he's bad, he's horrid". If Harden accepts arbitration, he's likely to get pretty close to all the remaining dollars in the drawer -- so reluctantly, we say goodbye to Rich, without the arb offer, unless you can somehow agree ahead of time to get him to sign for $8 million or so. That's not unreasonable given his $7 million salary in 2009 and his mediocre performance.

For the sake of argument, then, let's say we have this $10,950,000 available for our two remaining spots. One of those spots is going to go to Sean Marshall, who, I believe, deserves another shot at the starting rotation after doing a good job as a swingman in 2009. Lou misused him as a LOOGY -- Marshall can clearly do better than getting one LH batter out -- and I'd like to see Sean, now 27 and with four major league seasons under his belt, get a shot at starting. Sean made $450,000 in 2009, and could be paid $600,000 in 2010. In this scenario Samardzija makes the team, likely because the Cubs are paying him the $1 million whether he makes it or not. Otherwise there are other possibilities, including Arizona Fall Leaguers John Gaub and Andrew Cashner, or maybe someone else who will have a good spring (and please, let's not have another David Patton scenario), for this final spot.

That leaves $10,350,000 (or just under $10 million if you use Gaub or Cashner, who would make the minimum). You could consider signing someone like Jon Garland, who just got his option declined by the Dodgers and is a free agent. Garland made $7.25 million in 2009 and had a "typical" Garland year, which is as an inning-eater; you could probably get him for about $8 million for 2010. Garland has made at least 32 starts for eight straight years, and has pitched no fewer than 191.2 innings in any of those eight. Doing that would take the pressure off the staff, especially if Ted Lilly isn't ready for Opening Day, and would let Marshall play the "swingman" role again. Or you could give that last rotation spot to Tom Gorzelanny, who made $433,000 in 2009, and save the money for a midseason acquisition.

Note that I haven't gone all DeRomantic here and proposed bringing back Mark DeRosa, although I think he'd still be a solid addition, even at age 35, for the right price, and a note in this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article indicates the Cubs may indeed make DeRo an offer. I also haven't retained Mike Fontenot, who could probably be traded -- I mentioned above non-tendering Heilman, but it may be possible that both Fontenot and Heilman could be dealt, even for low-level prospects. In fact, my 2010 team as proposed above has only two players (Rowand and Garland) who were not with the Cubs at some point in 2009 -- unless they decided not to go with Jake Fox in the bench role and instead signed a free agent (or one who soon will be) such as Ross Gload or Chad Tracy, whose option was declined by the Diamondbacks yesterday. Still, despite all the travails, injuries and bad performances in 2009, the Cubs won 83 games. With performances returning to career norms, better health and a little luck, just a few tweaks could have us returning to the postseason in 2010.

The 2009 'Pitties: Game of the Year

Jim McLennan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:35 -0000

by Ross D. Franklin - AP

Gerardo Parra tried to dodge a pounding after a walk-off hit in the 10th inning against the Dodgers on August 15th.

View full size photo »

Not quite as close a poll for the second of the 2009 'Pitties. The B-bullpen of Jon Rauch, Esmerling Vasquez, Clay Zavada and Leo Rosales swept majestically to a collective victory, for their nine innings of no-hit ball in the marathon against the Padres. The same game is also nominated in this week's category.

One of the good things about baseball having a 162-game schedule is that, even in a disappointing year like the Diamondbacks experienced in 2009, there will still be contests which we remember with great fondness [contrast any 'Game of the Year' poll for the Detroit Lions last season, which I imagine made kinda wretched reading...] Arizona still won 70 games, and included among them were blowouts, squeakers, comebacks, slugfests, pitching duels and marathons.

After the jump, you'll find our selection of the five best games of the 2009 season described in detail - the link goes to the recap of the contest in question.

May 16th: Max finally tastes victory, vs. ATL

Only twice since 2002 has the team scored a dozen or more and shutout the opposition - oddly, both times were against the Braves. Here, a 12-0 victory was important, not just for the offensive outburst, but because it gave Max Scherzer his first career win, in his fourteenth start. However, it was only late on that it became a sure thing: when he was lifted for a PH in the seventh, after six innings of four-hit ball, it was only 3-0 to Arizona. However, the offense then piled onto the Atlanta bullpen, tagging them fror nine earned runs over the final seven outs, capped by Chris Snyder's grand-slam in the ninth. This was the largest winning margin for the Diamondbacks since 2006.
May 23rd: biggest comeback of the year, vs. OAK

Arizona had more than their fair share of opposition recoveries inflicted on them in 2009 (44 blown leads in all, ahead only of Washington in the NL), but this was our biggest comeback of the year. We trailed the A's 5-1 going into the eighth, having been stifled by, of all people, former D-back Edgar Gonzalez. However, another ex-Arizonan, veteran Russ Springer, was tagged for three runs without retiring a batter, and we tied things up on a two-run Chad Tracy double. We scored three times in the 11th, but Chad Qualls made it interesting, allowing two runs to score and putting the tying run on third with one out. A ground-ball double-play allowed him and Arizona to escape, 8-7.
June 7th: the game without end, vs SDP

I think the fangraph is all we need here, as we blew a 6-0 lead, allowing five runs in the ninth, then traded zeroes with San Diego until the 18th, where Mark Reynolds' three-run shot off a utility infielder won it for the Diamondbacks, five hours and 45 minutes after the first pitch. Madness? This is Petco!
August 15th: the late, late show, vs. LAD

Jonathan Broxton came into the ninth with 25 saves in 29 opportunities, and having allowed just two home runs in his previous 97 innings, going all the way back to June 2008. With a 3-1 lead - Hiroki Kuroda having out-duelled Doug Davis - things looked bleak for the home outfit, especially after Gerardo Parra's K reduced our WP to 5%. However, Mark Reynolds then deposited the first delivery he saw into the bleachers, and three pitches later, Miguel Montero followed suit, tying the game up. Parra then redeemed himself, driving in the winning run with one down in the bottom of the tenth, sealing the Diamondbacks' first series victory over the Dodgers for more than a year.
August 29th: Garland and Upton and Reynolds, oh my! vs. HOU

Seven shutout innings from Jon Garland - not just his best start in a Diamondbacks' jersey, but also his last before getting traded to LA. Mark Reynolds became the first Arizona batter since 2001 to hit forty home-runs in a season. And Justin Upton hit his 21st blast, four days after no longer being 21 himself. On Luis Gonzalez Appreciation Day and in front of the fourth-biggest home crowd of the year to that point, the D-backs rolled to a 9-0 win over the Astros. This was SnakePitFest 2: Clay Zavada pitched a scoreless eighth in front of the mustached ranks of the Zavada Brigade and team president Derrick Hall stopped by to say hello. Yeah, not too bad a day, all told...

Poll

What was the Game of the Year for the Diamondbacks in 2009?

May 16th: Max finally tastes victory, vs. ATL

5 votes

May 23rd: biggest comeback of the year, vs. OAK

13 votes

June 7th: the game without end, vs SDP

25 votes

August 15th: the late, late show, vs. LAD

14 votes

August 29th: Garland and Upton and Reynolds, oh my! vs. HOU

10 votes

67 votes | Poll has closed

Farewell: Chad Tracy, Yusmeiro Petit, Doug Slaten, Daniel Cabrera (and maybe Alex Romero and Trent Oeltjen)

Jim McLennan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:05:45 -0000

More photos » by Rick Scuteri - AP

Chad Tracy gets high fives from Josh Whitesell and Augie Ojeda after hitting a three-run homer against the Pirates in July. Chad's now gone: who else will be left?

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With a hat-tip to Amit for the first news, a flurry of roster moves for the Diamondbacks the morning after the World Series - albeit most of them not entirely unexpected. Chad Tracy had his buyout exercised, while Daniel Cabrera, Trent Oeltjen and Alex Romero were outrighted to Reno. Cabrera has also elected to become a free agent instead, and it's possible Oeltjen and Romero may follow - ladylike weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth to follow. Yusmeiro Petit was picked up off waivers by the Mariners, and Doug Slaten went similarly to the Nationals. The 40-man roster now has five vacant spots left on it, after the moves.

Not really any surprises here. However, I'll write a bit more about these decisions in Saturday's round-up.

The 2009 Diamondbacks Season, Part VI: Defense

Jim McLennan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:33:06 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

One of three AZ errors in a nightmarish inning against Anaheim in J.U.N.E. - as in Justin Upton's Newest Error. But was he really that bad?

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Few losses were more spectacularly painful for the 2009 Diamondbacks than the one which we endured in Seattle on June 21st. With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, Clay Zavada loaded the bases with two down. Enter Chad Qualls, who got a ground-ball to Mark Reynolds, who made a perfect throw across to Tony Clark at first, for the last out of the inning, to send the game into extras. Except, Clark muffed it, dropping the ball and the winning run cantered across home-plate. That was one sad example of what seemed to plague Arizona for much of the year - just a week later, another inter-league game, against Anaheim, turned into a meltdown with three Angels batters reaching on D-backs' errors in the same frame.

Looking at some defensive stats, it would seem very clear that it's an area in which the Diamondbacks need to improve significantly, if they are to have any hope of challenging next season. However, as ever, after the jump, we'll be taking a look at a broader range of numbers and whether they can add any depth to the picture. We'll also see who they say was the best defender on the team this year. You might be surprised by the answer.

By just about every basic metric, our defense was undeniably among the worst around. With 124 errors, the Arizona Diamondbacks were ahead of only the Washington Nationals (143) - and that's in all of major-league baseball, not just the NL. At 68.0%, their defensive efficiency - the percentage of balls in play which e converted into outs - was better than just the Astros (67.6%) in the National League. We turned only 132 twin-killings (ok: technically, it was 131 and a triple-play), fifteen below league-average and ahead of one team, the Marlins (129). If there's any hope, it's that we had significantly fewer errors over the last 81 games (fifty) than the first 81 games (seventy-four). Let's start by breaking down the errors to see what positions were the source of our problem.

2009 Arizona errors
Pos	Err.	NL Av.	Rank
C	9	8	=5th
1B	15	10	=2nd
2B	11	13	=10th
3B	27	19	3rd
SS	16	18	9th
LF	9	6	3rd
CF	5	5	=5th
RF	13	5	1st
P	19	13	2nd

While Mark Reynolds may have made more individual errors than anyone else, third-base was not an especially problematic positions for us. First-base, right-field and - perhaps surprisingly - our pitchers, all made 45% or more errors above NL average. Whatever Doug Davis's merits, his fielding wasn't apparently one of them, as he was tied for the league-lead in errors, with five. Jon Garland was just behind, committing four, but especially notable was Blaine Boyer, who had three errors in only nine chances. At the other end, Dan Haren was one of four NL pitchers to be perfect when given more than 40 chances (Wainwright, Josh Johnson and Livan Hernandez were the others).

For right-field, I don't think I need go into specifics - I could just post Justin Upton's baseball card as an explanation there. At first-base, things probably weren't helped by the lack of a regular man at the position. Chad Tracy (56) started most there, but we had six other names written into the line-up, ranging from Brandon Allen (29 games) down to Rusty Ryal (five). Mark Reynolds was responsible for one-third of the 1B errors, despite starting only 24 games there. The vast majority (21) were before the All-Star break, and I doubt we'll see much of him there in 2010. For the next chart, we break down the E's into catching, fielding and throwing errors, and compare to NL average.

Error by type + position
Pos	Cch	Fld	Thr
C NL	11% 4%	0% 18%	89% 78%
1B NL	27% 22%	60% 54%	13% 24%
2B NL	0% 11%	71% 53%	29% 37%
3B NL	0% 1%	48% 54%	52% 44%
SS NL	6% 7%	38% 49%	56% 44%
LF NL	0% 0%	33% 74%	67% 26%
CF NL	0% 0%	80% 75%	20% 25%
RF NL	0% 0%	77% 80%	23% 20%
P NL	0% 8%	5% 22%	95% 70%

We are dealing with pretty small numbers, especially in the Arizona sample, so caution should be exercised. However, a couple of numbers do stand out as worthy of mention. The pitchers' problems mentioned above seem to be almost entirely on the throws, and the same goes for left-field - that ties in with my memories of the Parrazooka mis-firing in that position. Also worth mentioning is the change in numbers between 2008 and 2009 for Mark Reynolds. He made half as many errors at third on throws last season as in 2008 (18-9), on almost the same number of total chances. His fielding errors were also down, (15-10), but it's Mark's throws that really improved.

There's no doubt the errors tell a sorry tale of the problems in Arizona, but as we saw (in some depth!) earlier this season, they are far from the whole story as far as defense is concerned. There's a whole raft of numbers which go beyond the simple error, and some don't cast the Diamondbacks defense in such a bad light. Leading the pack would be Fangraph.com's UZR - see the above link for more info on it. As measured by that, the Diamondbacks' defense overall were at +22.0, which was fifth-best in the National League. WTF? Shome mishtake, shurely? Well, here's the breakdown of UZR by position. Yes. Another table... [Note: UZR isn't calculated for catchers or pitchers]

2009 AZ UZR by pos.
Pos	UZR	NL Rk
1B	-7.0	15th
2B	14.0	2nd
3B	-3.7	=9th
SS	7.2	2nd
LF	14.1	5th
CF	-13.1	14th
RF	10.4	2nd

There are some radical differences here, though UZR does concur with Errors that first-base was our worst position or thereabouts. Second-base comes up as a strength too - it has to be said, Felipe Lopez far from disgraced himself there this season, and we find ourselves in the same place as we were last winter, with a big questionmark at the spot. However, it's the contrast at CF and RF which are most striking. If you looked purely at errors, you'd think Chris Young was about average, while Justin Upton was the worst in the majors, commiting more by himself than the entire outfield of eight teams. However, UZR strongly disagrees, rating Young at -7.4, ninth of 11 qualifying fielders, while Upton was at +6.3, tied for Jason Werth as best in the league.

Before we anoint J-Up as unjustly robbed of the Gold Glove, we should probably do some checking. There has been some interesting work done lately on the accuracy possible by the hit-tracking systems, on which metrics like UZR depend. These are still human-powered - there's no version of PITCH/fx, which uses multiple cameras to objectively record location and speed. As a result, the 95% confidence level is +/- eighteen feet and four degrees of direction. That's a significant margin for error. If we contrast the Baseball Prospectus stat, Fielding Runs Above Average, it gives Arizona a combined total of -38. That seems to sit closer to what we'd intuitively expect. But even here, we see Chris Young in the basement at -13 and Justin Upton leading the way at +9.

Let's check one more. Bill James just released his Fielding Bible Awards for 2009, which combine votes from a number of sources. You won't be surprised to learn that no-one on the Diamondbacks won anything, but the following players were mentioned - note that these do not separate AL and NL, so the ranks are among all major-league players. Miguel Montero (13th, C); no-one at 1B; Ryan Roberts (13th, 2B); Mark Reynolds (16th, 3B); Stephen Drew (13th, SS); Gerardo Parra (19th, LF); Chris Young (10th, CF); Justin Upton (4th, RF); Jon Garland (P, 6th). So maybe Upton really was the best fielder on the Diamondbacks last year.

A couple of other things to note. Not all Arizona pitchers saw balls in play converted into outs at the same rate. If you look at the Defensive Efficiency figures for those who pitched 40 innings or more, there's a wide gap between the conversion rate for Leo Rosales (73.9% of balls in play became outs) and Billy Buckner (63.2%). Now, while these numbers need to be broken down more - it could just be that Rosales induced more infield flies, and Buckner more line drives - one would tend to expect both numbers to regress towards the team's overall mean (68.0%). Might be another reason to give Buckner a shot in the rotation next year.

Finally, let's take a look at the outfield: how were they at holding runners, and stopping them from taking a base. There are a lot of different scenarios involved here. Runner on first and a single; do they go to third? Or if they're on second, do they go home? What about advancing on a sacrifice fly? You can break down the numbers for each situation: here they are for our LF, CF and RF players. In total, however, the "hold rates" for the positions, the National League average and the number of "kills" - runners thrown out - were as follows. LF: 66.8% (63.3% ave, one kill). CF: 37.6% (44.0% ave, three kills). RF: 52.7% (50.5% ave, four kills). This is more evidence Young's 2009 defense wasn't up to much - not least because all three kills were by Parra...

Overall, there is a huge amount of room for improvement in this team's defense. Not necessarily in their range, which seems not to be the issue. It's more in the "fundamentals" side, such as hitting the cut-off man, knowing where about you have to be on a play, and not making mental mistakes. The raw talent and skills on view in the field were sometimes very impressive in 2009: however, too often, there was a problem with converting that into outs. And as Mark Grace said, if you habitually give a major-league team four outs in an inning, they will eventually bury you. Sound basic baseball needs to be the focus of this team in spring training next year, and if the players aren't on board with that, they should get familiar with the bench.

I was going to talk about our baserunning as well, but I've already gone on longer than expected, so that will have to wait for part...er, seven. I hope to have this series finished in time for Opening Day. Mind you, I'm not saying which Opening Day...

NL West in Review: 1st Basemen

Poseidon's Fist — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:00:33 -0000

Introduction

Baseball is still being played out there somewhere, but for the Rockies, it is sadly the offseason. Before the hot stove really heats up and we start looking forward to 2010, I thought I would run a series reflecting on the great season 2009 was.

Over the next three months or so, I will be breaking down each of the five teams, position-by-position, starting today with first base. The series will be comparable to what Brendan Scolari did for TrueBlueLA before the season, although it will be using actual performance rather than projections.

Method

These articles will indeed utilize WAR heavily. I understand SABR stats have been contentious around here lately; however, if you're one of those fans who thinks "who cares?" to wOBA and WAR, don't just tune this all out. I have included all traditional statistics as well, so you are welcome to take or leave any information presented as desired.

Positional splits for traditional statistics can be found anywhere. However, value statistics like WAR and wRAA are not broken down anywhere for each player's ABs by position (at least that I have found). Thus, I had to compute them on my own so that, for instance, only Garrett Atkins' ABs as a 1B count here. The methods for doing this are clearly outlined by Purple Row's own Jabberwocky right here.

UPDATE: After posting, many noted that the PA's I reported from Fangraphs were inconsistent. After contacting David Appelman, I confirmed that those PA's represent PA in games where the player played first base at one time, not necessarily at the time of the PA. I reworked everything from the Baseball-Reference database.

In addition, I reworked the park factors. Instead of utilizing an assumed universal linear weight, I used Statcorner's component factor for each offensive event for home games (I assumed away games yielded a net neutral effect). This is not how Fangraphs does park effects pertaining to WAR, so their numbers will look different. Appelman told me they will have value position splits this offseason, perhaps by February, in time for this series to be over. Note that these numbers are not perfect. They are best used for window-shopping comparison rather than hard evidence.

Results

First base is a classic premium offense position, but the 25 men that played first base this season in the division are collectively uninspiring (save a couple). Brendan Scolari's projections had the Padres finishing first, followed by the Rockies, Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Giants. Here's how the five teams shook out in 2009 (wOBA* is my park-adjusted wOBA):


Teams	Players	Avg	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	wOBA*	WAR
1. San Diego	4	.275	41	103	.403	.539	.421	6.45
2. Colorado	4	.310	17	97	.403	.467	.388	4.65
3. Los Angeles	3	.283	13	100	.357	.397	.342	1.92
4. San Francisco	6	.271	17	80	.328	.405	.327	1.81
5. Arizona	8	.228	19	88	.321	.396	.311	-0.90

Aside from Arizona's complete collapse, we saw essentially what was expected. On the strength of Adrian Gonzalez' stellar season, the Padres trounced the rest of the division at first base. Pablo Sandoval's offense and Travis Ishikawa's glove (worth one whole win?) almost pushed the Giants past Los Angeles, but not quite.

The Diamondbacks utilized eight different men at first, with only Mark Reynolds capable of hitting north of .222. It isn't surprising then that the Diamondbacks were collectively below replacement value at first base. That's right - they could have perhaps gotten more production at first had they signed Joe Koshansky out of spring training and given him the job.

For a graphical comparison, here are the five teams plotted by component RAR (Runs Above Replacement, or WAR times 10).

Since we are comparing only first base, every team as a positional RAR of -12.5. Replacement is essentially the same for each team, just slightly varied, as it is defined as 20/600*PA. The definition is explained here.

For a closer look at each team and each player, take the jump.

Instead of posting the entire database of all 25 first baseman, here are the top and bottom five:

Rank	Player	Team	PA	Avg	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	wOBA*	UZR	WAR
1	Adrian Gonzalez	SDP	670	.275	39	97	.407	.546	.426	4.3	5.18
2	Todd Helton	COL	643	.325	15	86	.415	.489	.399	-1.4	3.75
3	James Loney	LAD	645	.384	13	90	.359	.403	.346	0.8	1.73
4	Travis Ishikawa	SFG	349	.283	9	39	.330	.393	.322	10.4	1.31
5	Pablo Sandoval	SFG	97	.385	5	17	.423	.648	.480	-0.1	1.09
~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
21	Jeff Baker	COL	4	.000	0	0	.000	.000	.000	-	-0.08
22	Ryan Garko	SFG	120	.250	2	12	.325	.352	.289	-1.7	-0.35
23	Rich Aurilia	SFG	73	.174	0	9	.188	.171	.236	2.8	-0.38
24	Chad Tracy	AZ	230	.221	4	28	.291	.348	.282	0.3	-0.40
25	Brandon Allen	AZ	115	.204	4	14	.287	.388	.287	-4.2	-0.60

Of all qualifying players (arbitrarily chosen as 100 PA), the high is in bold and the low is in italics. The full table and accompanying calculated spreadsheet can be found here in Google Docs. If anyone wants the Excel file to view derivations, you may email me.

After getting the PA right, Pablo Sandoval's contribution lessened to a more understandable fifth in the division, and Garrett Atkins turned out to not be such a deadweight after all, though he is ranked 15th. Part of that was due to a generous defensive score, which did not help Jeff Baker out.

Going Forward

Provided the Padres don't sell off A-Gone (and he doesn't want to be traded), the top two teams and the top two players will return in the same role next season. The Dodgers will continue with James Loney in hopes that his bat wil return to 2006/07 form after a two season hiatus.

Arizona looks like they will try to groom 2009 rookie Brandon Allen, though a dark horse could be Conor Jackson. He was terrible this season before catching Valley Fever - if he is retained, he could be insurance for Allen after the emergence of Gerardo Parra in left field. The Giants will bring back Travis Ishikawa and Ryan Garko so that Bruce Bochy can find a way to ineffectively use them.

Next week, I'll move on to second base. Where will Clint Barmes and his 23 home runs land?

The 2009 'Pitties: Play of the Year

Jim McLennan — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:15:09 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

Mark Reynolds vs. Brad Lidge on July 28. And boom goes the ~~dynamite~~ thermonuclear device (large megaton variety).

Browse more photos »

It's time to start the process of handing our the AZ SnakePit end-of-season awards. It may not be a year which will live long in fan memory - to be honest, it's probably one we would like to forget, sooner rather than later - but there were certainly moments that we'll treasure. And that's where we start, with the Play of the Year 'Pittie. There are six nominees this season, covering plays offensive, defensive and managerial, all the way from May through September. After the jump, you'll find details of the nominees, and in case you want to relive any of those moments, you'll also find links to video of the plays in question.

May 4. Triple-play vs. LAD
Immediately after booting a ground-ball for an error, Josh Wilson started the first triple-play for Arizona since May 2000. With two runners going, Casey Blake scorched a line-drive,which Wilson snagged, flipped to Felipe Lopez for the second out, with the ball then going to Conor Jackson on first to end the inning. However, in the dugout afterward, Wilson got stick from his team-mates for not stepping on second and tagging the runner arriving from first for an even-rarer unassisted triple play. "That's what they all said. That just never crossed my mind. I thought I heard Felipe saying, 'Throw it, throw it,' and knew that we had the chance to get the outs there. That's something I don't think too many guys out there would think about."

May 26: Chris Young saves the day vs. SDP
This looked like another D-backs meltdown. With a 6-4 lead in the ninth, and Tony Pena and Chad Qualls both unavailable, the Padres loaded the bases with no outs against Juan Gutierrez. Scott Hairston hit into a double-play - a run scored and the tying man was at third with two down. Then Kevin Kouzmanoff latched onto a 95-mph fastball, smacking it to deep right-center. The pitcher said, "At first when he hit it, I put my hands up, and when I saw C.Y. running back and running back, I thought, 'Oh my God.'" However, Young, going at full-speed, was just able to track the ball down at the warning track, preserving victory for the Diamondbacks and Max Scherzer, who had pitched seven innings of two-run ball, as well as ending the Padres' 10-game win streak.

July 21: Mark Reynolds dives into the stands vs. COL [and just about everyone else]
If not getting quite as much coverage as his offensive explosion - or even his strikeouts - Reynolds' defense has improved by just about every metric at third-base this year. The errors are down significantly, and he was one of the most-seen players on Baseball Tonight's Web Gems [their awards show is on Monday, ESPN2, at 5pm AZ time]. Particularly in the second-half of the season, it seemed hardly a series went by without Mark landing on some poor/lucky spectator in the front row down the third-base side. The one linked above is perhaps the most impressive such example - but you can replace that play with this one. Or this one. Or even this one. Never say we don't give you choices here at the SnakePit....

July 28: Mark Reynolds, 481 ft. home-run vs. PHI
With Arizona 4-1 down in the ninth, Justin Upton drew a walk to lead off the inning and bring Mark Reynolds to the plate. Special K delivered his 28th home-run of the year, a titanic blast to left, which landed in Friday's Front Row. Initially estimated at 464 feet, the number was revised upwards by Hit Tracker Online to 481 feet - the second-longest home-run of the entire 2009 season, and tied for the longest in Chase Field history, matching the one hit by Justin Upton on July 6th, 2008. [In case you're wondering, the site gives Richie Sexson's Jumbotron shot a distance of 463 ft] It was Mark's most impressive bomb of 2009, one of fifteen over 440 feet, as he won the Golden Sledgehammer for the longest standard distance on his home-runs.

August 7: AJ Hinch gets ejected vs. WAS
It took a while before new manager AJ Hinch "popped his cherry" and got ejected from a game. However, when it happened, it was certainly memorable. Trent Oeltjen legged out an infield single to lead off the bottom of the eighth, but was called out by first-base umpire Jerry Crawford. Hinch surged from the dugout and the two got into an impressive nose-to-nose argument, with the rookie manager doing a decent job of standing up to the 32-year veteran, who had probably thrown out more managers than AJ had made pitching changes. Also worth nothing was the backing Hinch got from some of his players: Reynolds described it after the game as "awesome," and Dan Haren chipped in with his vocal two cents from the dugout too.

September 26: Chad Tracy’s pinch-hit grand-slam vs. SDP
It wasn't a great year for Chad, and his future here is cloudy, to say the least, but he delivered a blow when we needed it most. He came off the bench with the bases loaded in the seventh and Arizona down by a run, to smack an 0-2 pitch off Luke Gregerson over the fence in right-center. It was the sole pinch-hit slam in the NL this year to turn a deficit into a lead [the other in the majors was by the Rays Ben Zobrist on April 17], and the first such in D-backs' franchise history - it was only the third PH slam of any kind for AZ, following ones by David Dellucci and Tony Clark. Said Tracy on the night, "It was awesome. I finally got a pitch I could handle... That's the first time I've had a curtain call. It's a pretty unbelievable feeling."

Poll

What was the Diamondbacks' 2009 Play of the Year?

May 4. Triple-play vs. LAD

35 votes

May 26: Chris Young saves the day vs. SDP

9 votes

July 21: Mark Reynolds dives into the stands vs. COL

28 votes

July 28: Mark Reynolds, 481 ft. home-run vs. PHI

31 votes

August 7: AJ Hinch gets ejected vs. WAS

8 votes

September 26: Chad Tracy’s pinch-hit grand-slam vs. SDP

31 votes

142 votes | Poll has closed