golfmanthee
Jul 03, 2008 Jan 30, 2012 20 194
RSSUser Blog
2012 Top Prospects from MLB.com
Didn't see this posted but MLB.com released its 2012 prospect watch: if you want to save time Bauer's #9, Bradley's #20, Skaggs is #21 and recently departed Jarrod Parker is #26.
Matt Moore, Bryce Harper & Mike Trout are 1,2,3 FWIW
Criteria is still rookie eiligible
Cahill strikes out Aaron Hill AND John McDonald
Watching a little Cahill on MLB's site and came across this one - Ks 7 in 8 innings including Hill swinging and McDonald BUNTING. Bonus footage of McDOnald as he was the final out.
Dbacks sign former MLB OF Jason Lane. . . . .as a pitcher
Always found crossover players intriguing. Hey, throw Hudson, Enright, Owings and Lane out there as starters and they would have the best hitting pitching staff, no question :-)
Just an observation on Cahill & Breslow and maybe KT
by golfmanthee on Dec 9, 2011 9:32 PM EST
on AZ Snake Pit
Was going over Dbacks stats in the wake of the trade and I think I noticed an interesting trend in current DBacks pitchers. It seems to me that KT greatly values pitchers who pitch better than their FIP and/or xFIP. I'm sure he probably isn't even aware of it but check out the numbers after the jump.
14 commentsRob Neyer would have given the GG to all 3 DBacks OFers.
Mentioned at the end of the story - he felt Chris Young was the 2nd most egregious miss and would have voted for each of Parra, Young & Upton.
FWIW
Trivia: Cowgill bats RH, throws LH. That's rare. . . .
I somehow missed it (I blame it on the heavy drinking :-) ) but Colin Cowgill this year became only the 41st position player since 1901 to bat righty and throw lefty. That's not with some minimum PAs or games or anything. That's everyone who has appeared in at least half their games in the field. That's including 8 guys with fewer PAs than Cowgill has accumulated already.
BTW it is much more common in pitchers as there have been 442 of those.
BTW2 - one such player had a significantly better career than any other "bats R/throws L" position player. Can you name him?
Trivia: IPK just won #15. . . .
Came across this on b-ref: IPK just became the 6th DBacks pitcher to win 15.Can you name the other 5?
Even a non-DBacks fan should get 4 of the other 5 but the 5th one is a little tougher. I have to admit I missed it until I looked it up.
BTW, here's to hoping Hudson becomes number 7 in a couple weeks. . . . . .
Do the DBacks target good hitting pitchers?
by golfmanthee on Jul 17, 2011 10:42 PM EDT
on AZ Snake Pit
This seems like a good time to ask in the wake of Hudson's big day but I was playing with Fangraphs and noticed that the DBacks seem to have had a lot of good hitting pitchers lately.
Notes:
- I set the criteria at min 20 PA since 2009 to eliminate all the relievers who have gone 1-1.
- There are 153 pitchers that have 20 PA since 2009.
- This includes pitchers' numbers with all teams, not just DBAcks
- I didn't include Mike Hampton since the DBacks got him as a reliever but know that he is near the top of all these lists as well. If you wish to include him, add 1 more to almost all these lists.
- Hudson's numbers are not updated yet to include today's performance so he has moved up all these lists.
Here are some observations:
- RBI - DBacks are 5 of the top 21 - Dan Haren, Daniel Hudson, Micah Owings, Zach Duke, Barry Enright
- HR - there are only 12 pitchers with multiple HRs over that time & 3 have been DBacks - Owings, Haren, Duke
- OPS - 5 of the top 11 - Haren, Owings, Hudson,Billy Buckner, Enright
- ISO - 6 of the top 22 - Owings, Haren, enright, Duke, Buckner, Hudson. I mostly included this to include Owings' ridiculous .240 ISO. That's almost 70 points higher than number 2, Yovani Gallardo.
- WAR -looking at more advanced stats, using WAR, the DBacks have had 4 of the top 20 (Haren, Owings, Hudson & Duke) and 8 of the top 35 (Ian Kennedy, Max Scherzer, Enright, Jon Garland). Yes, Hudson is already in the top 15 despite havein fewer PAs than anyone in the top 20. After today, he is no doubt in the top 10, maybe top 5
- wRC+ - DBacks are 5 of the top 12 - Haren, Owings, Buckner, Hudson, Enright
- WPA - it doesn't end there. DBacks pitchers have been clutch too. They have 6 of the top 20 (Buckner, Owings, Enright, Hudson, Josh Collmenter, Haren) with Owings & Buckner having 2 of the only 3 positive WPAs over that time (Hampton is the other)
It's also worth noting that not included here are former DBacks Livan Hernandez who pre-dates this particular time period but is also all over these lists and Dontrelle Willis who was a tremendous hitter at one time but he is not on any of these lists and was a reliever for the DBacks anyway.
Not sure what it all means but like I said, was just poking around and noticed that the lists are full of recent DBacks.
BA's Mid-season Top 50 - DBacks included!
Didn't see it posted anywhere but BA just came out with their mid-season Top 50 Prospects and 3 Dbacks are included: Skaggs at 19, Parker at 40 and GOldschmidt comes from nowhere to rank #50. Pretty impressive climb for Goldschmidt considering he wasn't even in BA's Top 10 for the DBacks at the start of the season: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2011/2611157.html
Joe Posnanski Poscast - DBacks mentioned
1st probably 10 minutes of Joe Posnanski's most recent podcast is all about the DBacks. Not lots of analysis or anything but interesting commentary from some outsiders.
FWIW
OK, I hate to be a negative nellie but. . . . . .
by golfmanthee on Apr 6, 2011 1:08 AM EDT
on AZ Snake Pit
Just thought I would point this out - the Dbacks' major off-season acquisitions were JJ Putz, Zach Duke, Geoff Blum, Melvin Mora, Armando Galarraga, Xavier Nady, Rusell Branyon, Willie Bloomquist & Henry Blanco
Just thought I'd look at what they did as a group in 2010. . . . .
Another analysis of the Haren trade, with numbers and everything! :-)
Another analysis of the Haren trade by Hardball Times. Short answer: the Dbacks came out behind on the deal but not by much. To me the analysis misses one aspect though - the cost savings. If the Dbacks use the savings next year (from both Haren & Jackson's departures) on a free agent, that has to be factored in as well.
Brief rundown of the DBacks arms acquired at the deadline
Pretty brief and doesn't include Skaggs since he's not official yet, but some analysis of each of the arms acquired by the DBacks (as well as several other teams)
Jeff Salazar sighting. . . .
Former fan-favorite Jeff Salazar managed to draw a walk off Stephen Strasburg last night, one of only 2 baserunners Strasburg allowed.
Sergio Santos makes the Show. . . .
Sergio Santos made the opening day roster for the White Sox. . . . .as a pitcher. White Sox converted him to pitcher last year and he's out of options and apparently they thought enough of his potential that they will break camp with the former DBacks' 1st round pick in the pen.
Interview w Chad Moeller
Rob Neyer linked to this in his column at ESPN but an interview in the NY Times with Chad Moeller about his favorite pitchers to catch. As you might imagine, DBacks figure prominently. Good stuff.
The Haren trade. . . .2 years on.
by golfmanthee on Dec 17, 2009 12:56 PM EST
on AZ Snake Pit
On December 14, 2007 the DBacks traded the 2nd Chris Carter, Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland, Carlos Gonzalez & Greg Smith for Dan Haren & Connor Robertson in a blockbuster trade. Obviously Haren has been outstanding but after seeing Carter's name in Rob Neyer's column today, I thought I'd look at how the trade has worked out by the numbers.
SI ranks the farm systems. The DBacks are. . . .
. . . .not rated very highly: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/12/01/farm.systems/index.html
I assume they aren't giving much weight to this year's draft crop since most draft reviewers are giving the DBacks high marks for this year's draft.
Chris Young - where from here?
by golfmanthee on Sep 17, 2009 12:33 PM EDT
on AZ Snake Pit
The positive hype over Chris Young started virtually the day of the trade with the White Sox and included comments like perennial All-Star and so on. As of a couple years ago, he looked like his ceiling might be someone like Jim Edmonds and he likely was going to at least be a 10-15 year regular who made a few AS teams. Um, now it doesn't look quite so rosy.
I previously wrote a post about Mark Reynolds and players who hit 40 HR at age 25 or younger - if you'll recall it was a VERY impressive list indicating that Reynolds is probably headed toward being a legitimate star. I thought I might try a similar analysis to Chris Young to what players who have had similar seasons at a similar age have done in the past.
More after the jump.
Mark Reynolds - fluke or the real thing?
by golfmanthee on Aug 14, 2009 2:15 PM EDT
on AZ Snake Pit
Have been real up in the air about Mark Reynolds for awhile. Obviously the guy strikes out a lot but count me among those who think that Ks aren't THAT bad. OTOH, extreme strikeout guys don't tend to have long or great careers with a few obvious exceptions. Reason is simple: hitting requires making contact with the ball and if you fail to make contact with the ball a lot, you have problems being a consistent. productive hitter.
Showing 1 - 20 of 20
