True mediocrity, thy name is… ?
Day #4 results
“Fans are divided, good player.” There was one obvious choice in this category, and he indeed proved to be the winner of this square. But it is worth discussing the two other nominees who received enough recs to turn Sedona Red: Zack Greinke and Justin Upton. The former is interesting, because he was never liked before signing here. In particular, as ercil noted, his role in the infamous Hinske brawl put him on the naughty list for a lot of D-backs fans. Though on the other hand, Zack was hating Yasiel Puig before hating Yasiel Puig was cool. But then he became the biggest contract in franchise history, in a stunning move not unlike the recent acquisition of Corbin Burnes.
For a while everything was cool, especially in 2017 when he went 17-7. However, bad playoff outings (not least the wild-card game where he lasted 3.2 innings) dimmed his luster. As the team subsequently fell back to a .500 team, Greinke’s $34 million a year contract began to seem more like an albatross than a necklace, effectively stopping the team from rebuilding. He was dealt to the Astros in mid-2019, though Arizona still ended up paying over $10 million a year to Houston in both 2020 and 2021. It ended up at #6 in our survey of the worst Diamondbacks’ contracts of all time, though it’s hard to blame Zack, who was by no means bad during his time here.
Upton is a radically different matter. He was the first time the D-backs had the #1 overall pick in the draft, and so expectations for him were high from the start. He blazed through the minors and made his major-league debut while still a teenager. J-Up didn’t get any Rookie of the Year votes, but did make an All-Star appearance in his age 21 season, and the following season, “Uptown” was born at Chase Field. But Upton’s performance was only intermittently impressive, and his relationship with the crowd was spiky, telling reporters in 2012, “I don’t care anything about what fans think of me.” Uptown came down the following January, and two weeks later, Upton was dealt to Atlanta.
The easy winner, however, was Curt Schilling, and it’s a case where matters after leaving the D-backs have soured some fans on him. While here, he was stellar: 17.4 bWAR in 2001-02, though finished second to teammate Randy Johnson in the Cy Young both seasons. Schilling was dealt to Boston in 2003, and was subsequent reported as (though strenuously denies) making disparaging comments about Arizona. He has had issues with some members of the press (to the extent his Wikipedia page has a whole section, “Conflicts with media”!) But it was likely a decision to wade into politics, particularly post-2016, as Curt has become increasingly vocal about his views there. That’s a great way to divide fandom.
Adding him in, here’s yer grid, with Schilling pictured during a return to Chase Field…
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Day #5: Fans are divided, average player
Welcome to the most “Meh” category of them all! Curious to see how this goes, because most average players tend not to generate much in the way of fan reaction. Note that there is a difference between “divided” and “apathetic”, which makes it a little more challenging! Perhaps of some help, my previous article on the Arizona Averagebacks? Or perhaps not!
In case you need a reminder, this is how it works.
- Go to the comments section.
- If your choice is already mentioned there, give it a “rec”.
- If your choice is NOT mentioned, leave their name as a new comment, and make your case for them.
- One nomination per comment
- Duplicate nominations will get deleted.
- Whoever gets the most recs wins the square. I’ll used my executive power to decide any ties.