Early impressions

Broseph

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looks like we are going to hover around .500 all year. Lots of ups and downs and inconsistent play. At least Hazen is keeping us from being absolutely terrible while he cleans up the mess from the previous regime .
 

BC867

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looks like we are going to hover around .500 all year. Lots of ups and downs and inconsistent play. At least Hazen is keeping us from being absolutely terrible while he cleans up the mess from the previous regime .
So far, the hitters are carrying the team. And they have had to try to come from behind late in games a lot so far.

The starting and relief pitchers indicate much less than a .500 team.

My predicted 68 wins (before the start of the season) would put them at a .419 winning percent (if that is called winning). :)

But I'm rooting for better.
 

AZ Native

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So far, the hitters are carrying the team. And they have had to try to come from behind late in games a lot so far.

The starting and relief pitchers indicate much less than a .500 team.

My predicted 68 wins (before the start of the season) would put them at a .419 winning percent (if that is called winning). :)

But I'm rooting for better.
My pick was an optimistic 76 wins. I really don't know what to expect.
 

AZCB34

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So far, the hitters are carrying the team. And they have had to try to come from behind late in games a lot so far.

The starting and relief pitchers indicate much less than a .500 team.

Not a recipe for any success.
 

RON_IN_OC

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This may be an interesting trade deadline year...if they're at .500ish and how far behind they are.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

82CardsGrad

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I can't be the only one who is pleasantly surprised by this team thus far. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were to suddenly become who I thought they were... Their next 7 games are in Philly and Washington. And then 18 straight division games before the break.
I am most stunned by their offensive rankings. 2nd most runs in the NL. Without one legit offensive all-star, they are somehow more productive than they were with Goldy and AJ.

Anyway, as always, the huge dilemma for Hazen & Co. will be if they become sellers prior to the deadline. Or, can they somehow continue to win at a .500 clip, or slightly better, and allow some of their young talent already in the bigs and those down on the farm, to continue to develop... setting the stage for potentially better days 2,3 and 4 years from now??
 

overseascardfan

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I can't be the only one who is pleasantly surprised by this team thus far. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were to suddenly become who I thought they were... Their next 7 games are in Philly and Washington. And then 18 straight division games before the break.
I am most stunned by their offensive rankings. 2nd most runs in the NL. Without one legit offensive all-star, they are somehow more productive than they were with Goldy and AJ.

Anyway, as always, the huge dilemma for Hazen & Co. will be if they become sellers prior to the deadline. Or, can they somehow continue to win at a .500 clip, or slightly better, and allow some of their young talent already in the bigs and those down on the farm, to continue to develop... setting the stage for potentially better days 2,3 and 4 years from now??
They have no real disappointments on the roster. Only Greinke has a huge contract and he is at least playing well enough to make it palatable even though we’re a non playoff team. There are a lot of young promising players on the big league roster and the farm looks promising especially after this year’s draft. The only real disappointments are Souza & Lamb but they are still on entry level contracts.
 

Dback Jon

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I can't be the only one who is pleasantly surprised by this team thus far. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they were to suddenly become who I thought they were... Their next 7 games are in Philly and Washington. And then 18 straight division games before the break.
I am most stunned by their offensive rankings. 2nd most runs in the NL. Without one legit offensive all-star, they are somehow more productive than they were with Goldy and AJ.

Anyway, as always, the huge dilemma for Hazen & Co. will be if they become sellers prior to the deadline. Or, can they somehow continue to win at a .500 clip, or slightly better, and allow some of their young talent already in the bigs and those down on the farm, to continue to develop... setting the stage for potentially better days 2,3 and 4 years from now??


I really think there was some addition by subtraction. As much as Goldy was productive, he was streaky and his laid back persona dampened the clubhouse, IMHO. AJ was hurt too much to count on.

For all the carping about Walker, his WAR is on .1 below Goldys (add .2 for Cron). Having Escobar Fulltime at 3rd is an upgrade. Marte is an upgrade in CF.

If we had a better bullpen, we'd be leading the WC.

As for selling, who? You need to keep the young'uns. Maybe get someone that needs a back up C in Avila (his OPS is 3rd on the team).
 

82CardsGrad

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They have no real disappointments on the roster. Only Greinke has a huge contract and he is at least playing well enough to make it palatable even though we’re a non playoff team. There are a lot of young promising players on the big league roster and the farm looks promising especially after this year’s draft. The only real disappointments are Souza & Lamb but they are still on entry level contracts.

Agree... Greinke is the only clear All-Star on the team, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Marte get selected should he continue to produce at current level. Possiblly Escobar as well and maybe Peralta if he can continue playing at a high level, which he'll need to do after missing some time on the IL.

If I were Hazen, I would look to dump Lamb if possible. And it's SO tempting to trade Greinke, especially since he's having such a fantastic season - driving up his value.
But I like what I've seen thus far from youngsters such as John Duplantier, Cron, Carson Kelly, Vargas and even LaCastro (who is definitely not an everyday player, but a very nice utility man)... Merle Kelly has really surprised me as well.
 

82CardsGrad

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As for selling, who? You need to keep the young'uns. Maybe get someone that needs a back up C in Avila (his OPS is 3rd on the team).

Kinda answered this in my response to overseas... If they do decide to sell, I would think it's gotta be guys like Lamb and Greinke. It would make zero sense to dump any of the young guns...
 

1Sun

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They have no real disappointments on the roster. Only Greinke has a huge contract and he is at least playing well enough to make it palatable even though we’re a non playoff team. There are a lot of young promising players on the big league roster and the farm looks promising especially after this year’s draft. The only real disappointments are Souza & Lamb but they are still on entry level contracts.

Bradley, Hirano and Godley are disappointments, as is Ray to a lesser extent, and Swihart is performing here even worse than he was in Boston. In terms of the position players, nobody else that isn't hurt is under-performing.
 

Dback Jon

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Ray seems to have turned a corner. But yes, Archie, Yoshi and Godley are below par.

Swihart - hope to never see him again. WAR of -.7
 

BC867

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I really think there was some addition by subtraction. As much as Goldy was productive, he was streaky and his laid back persona dampened the clubhouse, IMHO. AJ was hurt too much to count on.

For all the carping about Walker, his WAR is on .1 below Goldys (add .2 for Cron). Having Escobar Fulltime at 3rd is an upgrade. Marte is an upgrade in CF.

If we had a better bullpen, we'd be leading the WC.

As for selling, who? You need to keep the young'uns. Maybe get someone that needs a back up C in Avila (his OPS is 3rd on the team).

As much as I have supported Avila as backup C, OPS can be misleading because it combines the ability to get on base with extra base hits. Two separate skills.

In Avila's case, his OBP is 2nd because he bats 8th, ahead of the pitcher, and gets pitched around consistently. That does not help the team.

His SLG PCT, in limited at-bats, is only 7th.
 

BC867

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Bradley, Hirano and Godley are disappointments, as is Ray to a lesser extent, and Swihart is performing here even worse than he was in Boston. In terms of the position players, nobody else that isn't hurt is under-performing.
As down as I, and we, have been on Archie . . . Steve pointed out that he is successfully trying to build a repertoire of pitches.

His change-up has been too close in speed to a fast ball, but a few other pitches are showing improvement.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Especially since they had the common sense to take him out of the 7-8 closing role.
 

Dback Jon

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As much as I have supported Avila as backup C, OPS can be misleading because it combines the ability to get on base with extra base hits. Two separate skills.

In Avila's case, his OBP is 2nd because he bats 8th, ahead of the pitcher, and gets pitched around consistently. That does not help the team.

His SLG PCT, in limited at-bats, is only 7th.

Good point on the On-base. It would be interesting to see how that compares to other #8 hitters.

Of course if he is catching for Greinke, then getting on base helps.

And how many of the walks are two-out walks? If he is walking with zero or 1 out, doesn't matter if the pitcher is next, they may try to somewhat pitch around him, but not to any degree.
 

BC867

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Good point on the On-base. It would be interesting to see how that compares to other #8 hitters.

Of course if he is catching for Greinke, then getting on base helps.

And how many of the walks are two-out walks? If he is walking with zero or 1 out, doesn't matter if the pitcher is next, they may try to somewhat pitch around him, but not to any degree.

Good points! But every time Avila comes up, my eyes see a lefty power hitter and it bugs me to see him pitched around vs. one of the other end of the batting order lighter hitters.
 

82CardsGrad

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Good point on the On-base. It would be interesting to see how that compares to other #8 hitters.

Of course if he is catching for Greinke, then getting on base helps.

And how many of the walks are two-out walks? If he is walking with zero or 1 out, doesn't matter if the pitcher is next, they may try to somewhat pitch around him, but not to any degree.

It seems Kelly is Greinke's guy...
 
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