Arizona Diamondbacks @ Colorado Rockies Sep 10 - Sep 13, 2018

[82CardsGrad]

Top 10 hitters in PA this year (with some other key players) team is scoring 4.4 R/G

Goldy 148 OPS+
Peralta 123
Marte 91
Ahmed 86
Pollock 105
Descalso 108
Jay 68
Owings 44
Souza 78
Lamb 70

Escobar 88

Top 10 from last year. Team scored 5 R/G

Goldy 142
Lamb 112
Peralta 100
Drury 91
Pollock 100
Descalso 84
Owings 85
Iannetta 116
Martinez 170
Blanco 77

Marte 88
Tomas 88

I think this tells the story, and it doesn’t look like a change in approach to the batters who remained that caused it. In fact, they seemed to improve more than regress.

It's so obvious how getting literally nothing out of RF (and even CF), as well as 3rd Base (Escobar was a decent late addition) and C has absolutely killed this team. SS and 2B are also problem, notwithstanding Ahmed's career year and Marte/Descalso providing barely adequate production.

 

[DWKB]

It's so obvious how getting literally nothing out of RF (and even CF), as well as 3rd Base (Escobar was a decent late addition) and C has absolutely killed this team. SS and 2B are also problem, notwithstanding Ahmed's career year and Marte/Descalso providing barely adequate production.

Exactly, and, on a limited budget with the obvious loss of offense, Hazen went out and tried some cheap fliers and defensive first options.

The result is a 0.2 RA/G drop from last year’s team. Sadly unable to counter the 0.6 drop in R/G.

The real story of this division race was the failure of the LAD to be the team they were last year and the underperformance of a SFG team that was expected to be better. Those two things gave us a sliver of a window, but COL looks to slide in instead.

 

[Shaggy]

Rockies already with 4 hits in the game and its only in the 2nd inning. Dbacks with only 2.

 

[Shaggy]

And then a 1, 2, 3 inning, all striking out. Has Jay even got a hit recently? Damn this team's offense is putrid.

 

[Ronin]

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[82CardsGrad]

Exactly, and, on a limited budget with the obvious loss of offense, Hazel went out and tried some cheap fliers and defensive first options.

The result is a 0.2 RA/G drop from last year’s team. Sadly unable to counter the 0.6 drop in R/G.

The real story of this division race was the failure of the LAD to be the team they were last year and the underperformance of a SFG team that was expected to be better. Those two things gave us a sliver of a window, but COL looks to slide in instead.

Yep... As I said earlier, I never considered the Dbacks a legit post-season contender. Mainly because of their inability to spend on key talent. That said, the A's continue to destroy that meme, largely due to their unending production of talent from within their system.. something the Dbacks don't have at their disposal sadly...
I give Hazen and Torey a ton of credit for making this franchise as competitive as they've been the past 2 years, given how they have shown up to a gunfight with nothing but a butter knife...

 

[Ronin]

Nick Piecoro‏@nickpiecoro 34s35 seconds ago
Can confirm it is a right elbow issue for Clay Buchholz, as they've been saying on the Facebook broadcast. He was a late scratch this afternoon.

 

[sdscard4]

This game will be 12-2 Rockies sad way to end last 30 games

 

[Ronin]

Arizona Diamondbacks‏Verified account@Dbacks 1m1 minute ago

1. Clay Buchholz was scratched from today's #Dbacks game due to right elbow tightness.
   
   
   

 

[BC867]

I just got home, have some things to do and won't be watching the game on Facebook.

But I did wonder why Buchholz showed as the starting pitcher with no innings pitched. Scratched with an elbow injury.

I see that Colorado has scored in each of the first four innings and there has already been a pitching change.

And who is in? From a large September roster? The forever Minor Leaguer whom Torey seems to have a man crush on. Bracho who, of course, joined the party and gave up a run.

The D-backs are sinking fast. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Which is what I hope Lovullo will be saying about himself during the off-season.

 

[sdscard4]

Don't matter whos pitching. Can't hit. I miss good baseball..not this analytics tunnel crap

 

[DWKB]

Don't matter whos pitching. Can't hit. I miss good baseball..not this analytics tunnel crap

Another wacky comment.

 

[BC867]

Don't matter whos pitching. Can't hit. I miss good baseball..not this analytics tunnel crap

Another wacky comment.

That's it? "Wacky" that a fan states that he misses good baseball?

Inflicting Ted Williams' "lift" approach on a team of line drive hitters is not good baseball. He was the greatest natural hitter in the history of the game. No other player fits that description. That is why Williams failed as a Manager. He expected every player to be Ted Williams.

I believe that if a team follows the theory to aim for line drives every at-bat, but selectively go for a fly ball (if the situation calls for it), we'd see a helluva lot less strikeouts and popups. It is so simple. A line drive leaves much less time for the fielder to get to than a fly ball.

And I cannot understand the philosophy of stubbornly hitting into the exaggerated shifts of today. If you are not hitting the way you like (which describes most D-backs games), take what they give you. "Hit it where there ain't". Single and double them to death. It would be a lot better than the D-backs usually not being able to compete after the 4th inning.

 

[TJ]

Officially turned off D-Backs in-game notifications on my phone. Can't take this debacle anymore.

 

[BC867]

Holy cow! I see that the Rockies are leading 10-3 after 7 innings.

Runs given up by D-backs pitchers ...

Koch (4 in 3 innings); Bracho (1 in 1); Sherfy (0 in 2 w/ 4 K's); Diekman (3 in 0); Boxberger (1 in one-third); and Chafin (1 in two-thirds).

When I've hoped for consistency, this isn't the kind of consistency I had in mind.

Now I have to convince myself to stop posting any more like this for the rest of the season. It is what it is! 'No longer a surprise.

Roger, out.

 

[AZCrazy]

It's been a wild ride, and they've always come back from bad streaks before, but not at the end of the race. Thanks for the occasional thrills this year guys.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I know that this team was undermanned and our backend pitchers really let us down. But man does this stupendous el foldo to end the season suck.

 

[BC867]

I know that this team was undermanned and our backend pitchers really let us down. But man does this stupendous el foldo to end the season suck.

The stretch run should be the culmination of the preparation all season long. In September, the time for experimenting is over. But the Manager has said more than once recently that he will try new things. He is taking shots in the dark. Then giving up on them after a couple of games, such as batting Souza leadoff, which produced good results.

What is happening is the logical outcome of such folly. It illustrates the downside of learning on the job. Or, as we've seen, not learning on the job. We've seen it from his coaching staff as well.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The stretch run should be the culmination of the preparation all season long. In September, the time for experimenting is over. But the Manager has said more than once recently that he will try new things. He is taking shots in the dark. Then giving up on them after a couple of games, such as batting Souza leadoff, which produced good results.

What is happening is the logical outcome of such folly. It illustrates the downside of learning on the job. Or, as we've seen, not learning on the job. We've seen it from his coaching staff as well.

No offense but you rail about this with the suns too. Where do you think sports professionals are supposed to learn? They learn on the job. Each time they take a step up a rung on an organizational ladder they have to learn new skills. Unless you just want to always hire retreads. Experience has value, but it’s not the sole answer to success. In fact I’d argue retreads typically have less upside and their failure rate is likely somewhat similar to young or new professionals.

 

[1Sun]

No offense but you rail about this with the suns too. Where do you think sports professionals are supposed to learn? They learn on the job. Each time they take a step up a rung on an organizational ladder they have to learn new skills. Unless you just want to always hire retreads. Experience has value, but it’s not the sole answer to success. In fact I’d argue retreads typically have less upside and their failure rate is likely somewhat similar to young or new professionals.

The key is whether or not there is steady progress. In other words, is he, in fact, learning on the job? Unfortunately, Torey Lovullo is trending in the wrong direction and showing no signs of learning. Some professionals are just better suited to certain roles. Torey Lovullo is a great bench coach. In my opinion, he has demonstrated he just does not have the ability to develop the skill set to be a good manager. His interpersonal skills (which befit a bench coach) are excellent. His strategic and planning skills (necessary for a good manager) are severely lacking.

 

[sdscard4]

If we were told at the start of the year you will be 5 out the division and 4 out the wild with 15 to go I think we all would take it. Lets ride this out.

 

[Phrazbit]

I don't get what happened to Archie's curveball. It was a monster pitch for him and now it seems like he doesn't even throw it anymore. I'm sure he had it get smacked some and lost confidence in it but his fastball is getting flat out destroyed of late. He throws a great heater but if hitters know it's what he's throwing 90% of the time, it ain't hard to hit.

I don't think Torey should be on the hot seat though and I think Hazen has shown a real talent for swinging value trades. I hope they stick around and survive what is likely to be a lean couple seasons. Hazen's real task now if rebuilding the farm system. He inherited a wasteland and our team being highly competitive the last 2 seasons further depleted it.

I think we should have either sold or gone balls deep though. I'm not a fan of this half measure we took. This was clearly a make or break season for us with Corbin and Pollock hitting free agency. If they thought this was a potential contender they should have been going all out for guys like DeGrom and Machado. Selling would have been really difficult, the fans would, rightfully, have felt betrayed about the dismantling of a team in playoff position, but I think the hemorrhaging of talent we're about to experience is going to be just as painful for the fan base.

I do like Hazen though. It's too early to tell if he has an eye for the draft, but I like emphasis on defense and I think he's shown a good eye for bargain talent. If our defense had been even average this season we'd 10+ games out right now.

 

[BC867]

The key is whether or not there is steady progress. In other words, is he, in fact, learning on the job? Unfortunately, Torey Lovullo is trending in the wrong direction and showing no signs of learning. Some professionals are just better suited to certain roles. Torey Lovullo is a great bench coach. In my opinion, he has demonstrated he just does not have the ability to develop the skill set to be a good manager. His interpersonal skills (which befit a bench coach) are excellent. His strategic and planning skills (necessary for a good manager) are severely lacking.

Versus Ochie's generalization about managers, your analysis is specific about Torey. I appreciate that.

His performance during this stretch run of still experimenting has personified the Peter Principle. In a hierarchy, every employee tends to reach his level of incompetence. You keep promoting a person until he reaches the level at which he does not excel. The only thing to do then is allow him to make a fresh start back at his old level somewhere else.

And, yes, Ouchie, the Suns have done the same thing over the years. I guess if, in fact, Phoenix still thinks of itself as a "small market", it is inevitable. Where hiring unproven people into key roles saves money.

 

[BC867]

I don't get what happened to Archie's curveball. It was a monster pitch for him and now it seems like he doesn't even throw it anymore. I'm sure he had it get smacked some and lost confidence in it but his fastball is getting flat out destroyed of late. He throws a great heater but if hitters know it's what he's throwing 90% of the time, it ain't hard to hit.

A cracked fingernail. Hopefully by next season, it will no longer be an issue. And he can keep making SanTan Ford commercials.

 

[UncleChris]

I think Archie may be tipping his pitches, plus he hasn't been locating them particularly well either.