Arizona Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen has complimented his team's talent all year. That talent needs to produce in the final four games.
arizonasports.com
To be fair, Hazen was most certainly not the only one "touting" the talent on this team. Many baseball "experts" and many of us at ASFN, have been doing the same. Some excuse the players and pin any shred of poor play or poor outcomes, solely on the shoulders of the manager. However, the truth is the talent we were all excited about, have not consistently produced at levels needed to push this team into the post season. In large part, injuries have crippled this team more than any other MLB team. But, over the final 30-45 days, we've seen guys like Perdomo, McCarthy and even Walker consistently come up short. We've seen Corbin Carroll get off to an historically putrid start and, though his power numbers improved dramatically, he remains stuck at a .230 batting average. And let's hope Geno doesn't do his Clark Kent to Superman act again next year!
We've seen guys like Kelly, Pfaadt, Gallen, Rodriguez and Montgomery be at best, inconsistent and more often disappointing. And we've seen our entire pen, with the lone exception of Puk, consistently suck.
The manager always takes the brunt of the blame in situations like this... however, the truth is simply this: The players on this team have by & large, failed to perform at the levels their talent suggests they should perform at.
This offseason will be very interesting to say the least. I am convinced Perdomo and McCarthy will be relegated to subs, if they remain with the team. I feel pretty certain Walker will be gone as the team will not bring him back. I think Montgomery will sign his player option and at some point prior to or close to the trade deadline, the team will trade him.
And I hope and pray that Kelly, Gallen, Rodriguez and Pfaadt figure their shyte out and perform more consistently at a high level.
