Rebuilding other teams! The 2016 Diamondbacks thread.

Important question: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/why-we-hate-the-diamondbacks/

Dave Stewart: 'Obviously, anybody who says we can only win 78 games, they’re either not thinking or they’re not believing that what we have here is a team that’s capable of winning more games than that.'

obviously

it's going to be a fascinating team to watch, no matter what happens.

Gonna be in Phoenix in early April and staying really close to Chase Field, gonna try to catch the home-opener.

fan in LF catches hazelbaker's HR, immediately throws it back on field

team with the worst name and uniform in baseball, even worse than the marlins, calls for review, in case fan reached over wall to grab it

shot of fan in LF, lowering his glove below outfield wall in an effort to fool umpires into thinking he was admitting that he grabbed the ball below the wall

gotta love his moxy

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2016/05/25/chip-hale-points-finger-pirates-hbps/84935282/

La Russa acknowledged he went into a broadcast booth during Tuesday night’s game after he “heard some stuff on the air” that he considered inaccurate about his history with retaliatory pitches during his managerial days.

“I never have stood for inaccuracies,” La Russa said, “so I corrected the inaccuracies.

“It’s about taking responsibility. If you’re going to speak untruths then you’re going to get challenged and you should be responsible for what you say. I am. I reacted.”

http://dogtrekker.com/userfiles//tony.jpg

http://www.azsnakepit.com/2016/5/25/11765242/shelby-mille-diamondbacks?_ga=1.112623300.1150135362.1361214082

shelby miller to DL with badness

been watching a fox sports arizona show that interviews dback players abt the most mundane things, a sampling of questions

where do you live in arizona? where do you go to eat breakfast? what do you order? does your mom still shop for your clothes? what music do you listen to?

idk its kindof interesting but also i feel like insiduously wholesome as there was an advertisement during it for values.com lmao

keith law with an evisceration of management today

if you have an insider account do you mind posting the article in here
?

btw i ilxmailed u the text

oh nice, thanks mooks

more: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/how-to-solve-a-problem-like-the-diamondbacks

brutal

@Dbacks
OFFICIAL: The #Dbacks have parted ways with Sr. Vice President & GM Dave Stewart and Manager Chip Hale.

@barrysvrluga
Dave Stewart, in spring training: “Think we only win 78 games? That’s a joke.” Fired after going 69-93.

@nickpiecoro
Statement by owner Ken Kendrick in Dbacks release says they're "still discussing what the appropriate role for Tony La Russa will be."

Dennis DeYoung merch table

Dave Stewart on being fired by D-Backs: ‘Quite frankly, I’ve got better things to do’

@keithlaw
strong contender for sports quote of the year

now he can get the eurhythmics back together

larussa and stewart should just buy a semi-pro team and go dominate that league, possibly even for a few years in a row

lol that Stewart quote is gold

it's only the pirates, but robbie ray pretty much blew them away tonight

his last three starts have been dominant: 23.2 IP, 0 R, 8 H, 3 BB, 25 K

hes kept it going the last 2 starts so now for his last 5:

37 IP / 1 R / 14 H / 9 BB / 48 K

Statcast can testify to the fact that Arizona’s runners have tested opponents all year. No team has averaged longer leads than the Diamondbacks’ 16 feet. According to FanGraphs’ baserunning metric, BsR — which takes into account not only stolen bases and caught stealings, but also a team’s ability to take extra bases on nonstealing plays, stay out of double plays, avoid other outs on the bases, and so on — the Diamondbacks have been 19.4 runs (roughly two wins) above average, with the bulk of that value coming from non-base-stealing plays. Through Wednesday’s games, only the Rangers ranked higher in Baseball-Reference’s extra bases taken percentage, but the Rangers had made 29 outs on the bases, fourth-most in the majors. The Diamondbacks had made only 12, second-best behind the Brewers — who are one of the worst teams at taking extra bases. Most teams have to choose between being ultra-aggressive in advancing and ultra-protective of their outs. Only the Diamondbacks have succeeded in being both.

https://theringer.com/2017-mlb-arizona-diamondbacks-best-baserunning-in-baseball-paul-goldschmidt-8fdf6cff3fcd

also http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-best-offensive-player-in-baseball/

this team's so good it's a pity I still can't remember who they are

literally forgot goldschmidt was on it

they could sign trout to a 10 year deal and by year 10 I'd still have to take a minute to remember which uniform he wears

tell you what, any team with Brandon Webb anchoring its staff is doing something right

it's funny you say that because brandon webb has always been the only player i can recall being canonically a diamondback (i think i've mentioned this in the past)

other than luis gonzalez who doesn't count, those old unis had character

and chad tracy of course

lol i did a long ass post in 2014

the dbacks are the one team who i think just end up solely in my blind spot. the padres are sort of the same thing bc they're so quiet and usually unremarkable and tucked away. their team colors are literally camouflage. when i think of the history of the padres i think of tony gwynn and their 84 jerseys and uh heath bell. and luke gregorson. they had a really good bullpen for a while.

but the diamondbacks generally don't even exist in my head even when i'm looking right at them. just total cognitive dissonance. i've probably seen footage from chase field a million times but i have no recollection of it and i only just found out it has a retractable roof. i have no idea who plays for them at any given time. i probably know every starter on their roster but i can't actually make the mental connection to the team. if you asked me out of the blue to name someone i wouldn't be able to conjure up paul goldschmidt; if i ever think about paul goldschmidt out of the blue, it'd probably take a few minutes to actually remember the team he's on. as soon as i post this i will probably lose the connection between goldschmidt and the diamondbacks. i literally cannot think of a single other player from 2014 right now. as soon as justin upton went to the braves i completely lost the memory of justin upton as a diamondback, and it still seems weird to think about. whenever i'm reminded of 2001 it's really, really jarring -- both the win and schilling/johnson being on the team at all. how the hell did that happen? ok i just looked up RJ's career and i thought he only spent 1 or 2 years with them, not the entire best stretch of his career. i knew those seasons happened but in my memory they happened in a void. just randy johnson pitching like the best pitcher alive wearing an all-white uniform in the middle of endless space. i can remember the shot of a fan in 2001 with a "yankees = past/dback = future!" sign (lol) but i can't imagine anyone in arizona actually wearing diamondback merchandise. it wouldn't even make a difference if they were good. i'm pretty sure i didn't notice them in 2011 either.

i was thinking about this today after this thread got posted in and having the exact same thoughts

i remember that the diamondbacks are a team but at any given moment i can't name a single player
i am aware of the existence of most of the members of the diamondbacks but if i think about them i can't connect them to a team, i imagine them in generic white unis

i'm convinced this will continue until they go back to their 2001 colors

wait i skipped over the part where i talked about randy johnson in a generic white uniform, ack

okay my only canonical memories of the diamondbacks are brandon webb wearing the crappy new uni and gonzalez and tracy wearing the old ones

this team has absolutely no character and i can't even blame their terrible uniforms

here are some guys who had crazy seasons with the d-backs:

matt williams had a season where he went off for 35 hr and 142 rbi

jay bell hit 38 HR and scored 132 runs that same season.

and also that year, steve finley hit 34 HR (hit 35 another year for them.)

chad tracy hit 27 hr a decade ago, slugged .553 and hit .308. no idea.

matt reynolds hit 44 hr for them.

troy glaus had one season with them and hit 37 HR (i've completely forgotten about his entire career tbh.)

similarly reggie sanders had one season with them and hit 33 HR.

chris young had a good rookie year with them. 32 HR.

eric byrnes finished with a placement somewhere in the MVP voting because of one year he had with them.

tony clark in 3/4ths of a season with them: 30 HR, 87 RBI, .304/.366/.636

and one pitcher as a bonus:

Ian Kennedy won 21 games for them in 2011.

i associated many of these players' big seasons with other teams in all honesty.

that ian kennedy fact straight killed me

i do not remember him being a dback and i do not remember him having a good season

also a weird result of getting into baseball in 2005 is that i think of troy glaus exclusively as a blue jay

junior spivey (i remember the name, but this is the first thing i can tell you about him) finished 14th in the mvp voting in 2002 thanks to his all-around fine season.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-best-offensive-player-in-baseball/

goldschmidt is such a unique, cool player

I think we can all agree that the 2017 Arizona Diamondbacks do not exist