The Diamondbacks entered play tonight amidst a nine-game losing streak that has dropped the club to an NL-worst 18-31. It’s still relatively early in the year, but Arizona’s close to digging themselves a hole they can’t climb out of.
D-Backs general manager Mike Hazen addressed the team’s downturn with reporters (including Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). While he stopped short of declaring them an eventual seller, Hazen admitted they “need to start playing better” if they’re to salvage this season. “I think June 1 is typically around the marker that we have to take some assessment on where we stand,” Hazen said of plotting the organization’s course (via Piecoro). “That’s coming upon us quickly. It doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to act on that right away, but you at least have to be mindful.”
Hazen suggested there’s still some optimism the club could turn things around. The D-Backs have been hit hard by injuries in recent weeks, but they’re starting to get some help back, at least on the position player side. Star center fielder Ketel Marte was activated from the injured list last week after he missed a month and a half with a hamstring strain. Catcher Carson Kelly, who got off to an incredible start, was recently reinstated from a brief IL stint of his own. Arizona’s still without first baseman Christian Walker, infielder Asdrúbal Cabrera and right fielder Kole Calhoun, as well as starting pitchers Zac Gallen, Luke Weaver and Taylor Widener.
Even if the club gets back to health, it’s fair to wonder if they can work their way back into the mix at this point, particularly considering the strength of the NL West. Arizona already sits 13.5 games back of the division-leading Padres and 12 and 11.5 back of the Dodgers and Giants, respectively. FanGraphs pegs the D-Backs playoff odds at just 0.1%, so the most likely scenario is the Arizona front office will eventually have to turn their sights to 2022 and beyond.
If the Diamondbacks do wind up selling near the July 30 trade deadline, they have a few players who’d figure to draw interest from more immediate contenders. Cabrera is off to a blistering .289/.393/.474 start. It’s still not especially clear when the 35-year-old is expected to come back from his IL stint, but he’d certainly generate some calls if he returns in the next few weeks and continues to perform at the plate.
David Peralta is hitting well and controlled through 2022 on reasonable $7.5MM salaries. Eduardo Escobar is struggling to reach base (.230/.271/.471) but he’s popped thirteen homers, can play a couple infield positions, and is in the final season of his three-year, $21MM deal. Marte, Kelly and Josh Rojas are all controllable through at least 2024; it seems unlikely the D-Backs would part with any of that trio unless they embark on a full teardown, but each would have plenty of trade value. There are fewer obvious trade candidates on the pitching side of the equation (again, barring an unlikely full rebuild that would make Gallen available), but lefty Caleb Smith has taken fairly well to a bullpen conversion and could find himself on the move.
Not completely related but kind of. I wish MLB would do away with divisions, just have AL/NL and everyone plays each other equally within their league. Top teams move on.
A high 80s division winner once every few years is not a big deal
It’s not so much who does make the playoffs more so who doesn’t because of tougher division/schedule
Here’s the issue, San Diego and LA might have the 2 best records in baseball at seasons end and one may be eliminated in a 1 game playoff. That’s a bad optic for baseball.
I agree, but to me thats an indictment on this 10 team playoff format. it was clearly a guise to cash in on those really fun tiebreaker games the few years before the change. A game thats played everyday over the course of 6 months should not have a single elimination playoff.
It will force baseball to change the playoff system. Of course, that won’t stop this possible nightmare for 2021.
how about east and west league?
That’s a bigger conversation than just top eight or so teams. It would also include redoing the schedule formula; a more necessary topic on its own, in my opinion. Ridiculous that half the league’s markets don’t see the other half’s top players. (First way to grow the game is to put it in front of as many people as possible, but I digress). If you got rid of divisions, you’d have to balance the schedule across the board. Even in the NBA, where divisions are pointless, they still exist as a means to minimize travel for teams.
There are still several important divisional rivalries that would go by the wayside if teams weren’t seeing each other as often and if the stakes weren’t as high.
You want to grow the game; first thing to do is get rid of local streaming blackouts.
Keep the divisions how they are but make the schedule more balanced.
Here is the current schedule:
76 games against division rivals (19×4)
66 games against the other 10 teams in your league (either 6 or 7 games against each team)
20 inter-league games
Here is a more balanced schedule that would work perfectly mathematically:
52 games against division rivals (13×4)
90 games against the other 10 teams in your league (9×10)
20 inter-league games
No. It makes sense to play more in your division. Just dump the stupid play in game. go back to one Wild Card game.
You would still be playing more games against each of your division rivals than you would against each of the other 10 teams in your league. It’s just that 10 is way more than four so you shouldn’t be playing more total games against four teams than you play against the other 10 teams combined.
One Wild Card team. lol
I like it but the extra travel will be taxing for some teams (like Seattle).
give the Giants either Ketel marte or David Peralta
Do the Giants really need another left handed corner outfielder? Marte makes some sense but he and Gallen are not going anywhere unless Hazen decides to blow up the whole team.
Seems likely Hazen will want to sell high on Cabrera and Peralta.
Bleak.
I agree with getting rid of divisions and even leagues, but everyone should play everyone an equal amount of games. So 29 x 4 is 116 games or 29 x 6 is 174. One is too little one is too much.
Zona getting the 2000’s AL East treatment when the Yankees and Boston dominated, the. Eventually Tampa surfaced. They can rebuild the next 2-3 years. They have some good assets to deal and this will allow them replenish the farm while the top teams do their thing for the time being.
So you will be buying season tickets for uncompetitive team…bad baseball is still better than no baseball huh? This ownership is cheap and have only themselves to blame for a meaningless roster in 2021 and for some years looking forward. Mediocrity should never be rewarded and since this ownership took over it has been that….1 and done playoff appearances every 4-6 years in ANY division is a sad organization.
The residents of AZ should also foot the bill on a new stadium too i take it.. The 20year old stadium has too many seats and hasn’t been cared for in several years we are told. This organization doesn’t do what it takes to win Championships but they sure do think somebody owes them something….I say earn the respect and the new stadium first as Mediocrity isn’t something that should not be rewarded.
Spending money isn’t going to fix the team. They aren’t a very good team and they’re in a division with 2 (or 3 if you think the giants are for real) VERY good teams. If you only want to go to baseball games to watch a team you consider to be good, then no, you shouldn’t buy season tickets, but they’re not going to be good even if they don’t sell off what they have, as can be seen by their current level of play.
Not sure how you just jumped to the conclusion about the stadium funding based on nothing, but I’d agree with you on that unrelated topic, don’t publicly fund a new stadium.
donot – I’d be a season ticket holder regardless. Only thing stopping me would be distance from stadium or the timeframe I work. I love baseball.
They can spend a ton and still fall short. The rest of what you said isn’t wrong. Ownership should be held accountable. The current situation still calls for a rebuild.
Ketel Marte is as good as get as anyone will acquire this season. And he signed a terrible extension so he will only cost you 30 mil over the next 3 seasons (til his 30) and that makes him affordable to any team w prospects to trade.
This Hazen fella will show us what he’s worth with the returns he gets for marte. Should be an absolute haul
Unless you think the Cubs hold onto him, I would say that Bryant is a better get than Marte this season, but I agree that the DBacks should be able to find some pieces to begin the rebuild for him.
The thing is that Marte is controlled for 3 more years after this season in his athletic prime and Bryant is, well….. not. And Marte is cheaper; definitely a higher chance that Marte returns a haul than half a season of Bryant.
That guy in the picture looks like half the GMs in baseball. But when I go out my door into the real world every day half the world sure doesn’t look like these guys.
Sports are supposed to be about fairness and competition. Not how much money you have or what college you went to. I don’t know when we forgot this. Gosh I just want to see these people fail….
Why would you expect the population of GMs for North American teams to mirror what the entire world looks like?
Do you also have a problem with players that had financial means to improve their talent and players that go to colleges that are considered good baseball programs?
Expand by 2, then 4 leagues of 8 teams each, no inter league play. Shaughnessey playoff format with 4 league winners.
What would it realistically take for the braves to get David Peralta (big fan of him.) Maybe something like De la Cruz, Grayson Jenista, and Cj Alexander? I’m curious to see yalls opinion.
I’m expecting the Mets (any other team in the hunt, Yanks) to be in play for the freight train so imagine it will cost a bit. There would need to be a replacement of sorts as the Dbacks OF depth is already thin (see Marte in CF).
Waters then De LA Cruz but more than likely something in-between these two ideas
Agreed that the OF depth is thin, but it’s not nonexistent. Marte, Rojas, Smith, Locastro, and VanMeter can perform in some capacity with Calhoun on the way back, and it’s yet to be seen when Alek Thomas will settle down. Definitely not what you’d want out of a contender, but that’s an acceptable number of OF on the MLB roster without Peralta. I know Marte would return more, but there’s enough control left there that he’ll still be on the roster when some of the top prospects start making there way up.
Peralta makes sense for the Braves or Yankees. He’s a guy a winning team should want, and both teams could use a lefty bat. For the Braves, Peralta would be on upgrade on Duvall, who they let walk. He can make a world of difference.
Has not been fun to be a fan of this team. Unwatchable since 17.
I doubt they would get waters, as he’s a top 50 prospect. I could also see(although Anthopolous doesn’t like to part with prospects.) Tucker Davidson (8th) Jaseel De La Cruz (9th) Trey Harris (14th) and Estarlin Rodriguez. Tucker Davidson is MLB ready and could slot into Arizona’s rotation immediately. He has the upside to be a #3 pitcher. Jaseel De La Cruz could be a #4 or #5 Starter but I think he’d be a dominant set-up guy or other high leverage reliever. Trey Harris is also close to MLB ready with scouts thinking he could be a great 4th outfielder but wouldn’t be surprised if he became a MLB regular. He has a decent hit tool and has a pretty high floor. Estarlin Rodriguez is a bit of a project, he’s in A-ball at the moment and has terrific stuff if he can locate consistently. Thats 3 organizational top 15 prospects and a project with great upside for 1 1/2 years of David Peralta.
Working Caleb Smith into the trade would be fantastic for the Braves. A lefty-hitting outfielder and lefty swingman pitcher would be just what the doctor ordered.
@cey hey
That would be pretty good, I wonder if Arizona would be reluctant to part with Smith however because they just traded for him last year and still has control left
As a Braves fan, I would have no issue with the next 10 World Series winners being the following…
2021: Braves
2022: Braves
2023: Braves
2024: Diamondbacks
2025: Braves
2026: Orioles
2027: Braves
2028: Braves
2029: Brewers
2030: Braves
The problem isn’t divisions, it’s that there are 5 teams per division and 3 in each league. 5 teams per division means there’s always one team playing outside the division late in the season, when everyone should be playing a division rival.
I don’t mind the interleague games in the format they started with, a small, special segment of the season. But the 15 teams per league means an interleague game almost every day for the length of the season, making them far less special..
And I would rather see the occasional 85 win team making the playoffs, than I would a 90+ win team missing the PS because the top WC won a game or two more. I’m definitely for 2 WC, and it also means more teams being in it late in the season
I don’t like the one game play in game. The playoff games to break the regulate season ties were exciting, but this is just artificial attempt to duplicate those. All of baseball, except the WC games is based on the series. from the start of the season to the WS. Have the WC game be a 3 game series to make it fair. Any team can beat another in one game. I would hate to see the some team like the Cubs, beating either the Dodgers or Padres in a one game playoff. No offence to the Cubs, but they’re not as exciting to watch as the Padres/Dodgers, who should be playing each other this PS.