Okay so now how are we feeling?
Any slightly less knee-jerk reactions to the first week of Spring Training?
James: I’m impressed with just how hard Merrill Kelly, Ryne Nelson, and Justin Martinez are throwing already. If they are feeling this amped up and fresh now, things could be very interesting this season – assuming the increased velocities do not come with arm injuries.
Preston: So far, players seem healthy. (With the exception of Jordan Montgomery.) ADC has had his arm heal faster than anticipated. Hard to ask for much more.
Jim: Corbin Barrels. Normally I’d not really pay attention to a player homering three times in the first week, but since Carroll does appear to have made some mechanical changes, I am hoping he has cracked the code. 50 homer season incoming!
Makakilo: Two weeks ago, in the AZ Snake Pit Round Table, I wrote: “During the offseason, Will Alek Thomas’ team-best squared up percentage finally translate to great batting?” So far, I like what I see. In spring training, against high quality pitchers (8.1 where that ties for the toughest faced by any Diamondback hitter), his .313 OBP in 16 PAs is encouraging. It compared well against Jake McCarthy (7.9 quality and .125 OBP in 16 PAs). Data from Baseball Reference.
Ben: Off the field, how difficult it is to watch and sometimes even listen to the games. I understand these are exhibition games whose results don’t technically matter, but there’s clearly at least some appetite for fans to consume them regardless and teams/MLB as a whole seem completely uninterested in catering to them. I’m not asking for a World Series-level investment, but at least making sure there is a radio broadcast for every game does not seem like an unreasonable request. On the field, I have to echo Jim: watching Corbin be healthy and have positive results from a mechanical shift is a wonderful sight to behold. I don’t put much stock in it for the regular season, but it is encouraging!
C.Wesley Baier: Spring Training still barely matters for 90% of MLB players. Once again, I’ll be not paying attention until the regular season starts.
Have there been any big surprises for you yet?
James: Not a terribly big surprise, but I was surprised to see the Diamondbacks pick up 35-year-old Casey Kelly on a minor league deal.I’ve been harping for weeks now that the Diamondbacks do not have enough big league ready pitching, but this is not the sort of arm I had in mind. My guess is he’ll struggle to ever see the mound in Phoenix, but I have been wrong about that sort of thing before.
Preston: Ildemaro Vargas looking (sounding, since I haven’t seen him, only listened to radio?) like an actual big leaguer. If he can keep this up, that is the best possible outcome, as he can be the utility guy (although I’m not sure he can play an adequate shortstop any longer) and let Blaze and Lawlar get reps in Reno. Also, in regards to Kelly, MLB.com has him linked to the wrong Pat Kelly. There have been three Pat Kellys to appear in MLB. They link him to the most wrong one, as they link him to the Pat Kelly who played for several teams through the sixties and seventies, and was the wrong race to be the father of Casey Kelly. In fact, his father appeared in three games for the Blue Jays in 1980, making him the least accomplished Pat Kelly in MLB history.
Jim: Tommy Henry being the first pitcher to go three innings? I still think he’ll be very hard pushed to make the Opening Day roster, but after last year, I’ll take as much rotational depth as we can get.
Makakilo: Two possible surprises:
- Kristian Robinson’s first 7 PAs were disappointing. Against low quality pitchers (6.0), with zero hits, he struck out 4 times and grounded into a double play.
- Kyle Amandt’s first inning pitched was encouraging (zero hits, zero walks, 2 strikeouts). He has a deceptive delivery. For details see this FanGraphs article.
C.Wesley Baier: Ildemaro Vargas still having a career is a pleasant surprise! (I’m only half joking, though)
Ben: There haven’t been any big surprises so far in my opinion, but there have been a few smaller surprises. First, I’m a little surprised that the team hasn’t made any roster cuts to this point as far as I can tell. Several other teams have started to re-assign players to minor league camps as the roster picture starts to become clearer. There have also been a couple minor surprises with usage on the position player side including Lawlar only seeing time at shortstop despite Perdomo’s contract extension.
The Chase Field tax recapture bill passed the AZ House this week. If it gets signed by the Governor, what is the first renovation you’d like to see tackled?
James: It has to be the roof. The Chase Field roof has become a league-wide embarrassment for the organization. Besides, the team needs Gallen and Kelly to stay fit in 2025. Fixing the roof situation should help get the HVAC system issues under better control.
Spencer: My preference has long been a new stadium as Chase Field has always felt out of date and soulless to me. But as one who gets to visit once every 3-5 years now, take that opinion for what it’s worth. Personally I’d be happy with the roof fixes already in place for 2025 so I’d make the HVAC system top priority I suppose. But on a more fun note, I’d remove outfield seats in left opposite the pool in right and replace it with a cactus garden. Lean into what Arizona is known for and add some character to a building that too often feels like “The Airplane Hanger with a Pool.”
Preston: Since no one else has said it yet, the clock. It’s completely pointless, but why not? Life, in general, is pointless.
Jim: Can they invest some money into edible concessions?
Makakilo: What about adding a coffee vendor, such as Starbucks?
C.Wesley Baier: As much as I’d love a new, state-of-the-art stadium with actual character, that’s never going to happen, so I’d settle for a functional roof, working A/C, and a minor face lift.
Ben: I tend to agree that the roof or the AC system have to be priorities as they impact players and fans alike. It’s been a minute since I last attended a game at Chase (during the 2019 season), but even then the AC system struggled to keep up with the heat of the fans inside and the desert heat outside. And while Jordan Montgomery was rightly mocked for complaining about the humidity, it’s no secret that the AC needs an upgrade and I’m of the opinion that the team should prioritize upgrades that affect players and fans rather than one or the other.
Thoughts on ABS so far?
C.Wesley Baier: I have been a proponent of the ABS challenge system since I first encountered it in the AAA playoffs a few years back. It is seamless and unobtrusive as far as affecting the pace of play goes, while being easy to understand for both new and old fans. It is a nice compromise that improves the accuracy of officiating while maintaining the human element. Overall, I’m a fan!
James: I’ve been a fan since they started testing it in the minors. Of all the experimental changes that baseball has been bandying about, this one ranks near the top for me.
Spencer: It’s long overdue. Just as the pitch clock was. All due respect to Max Scherzer, but times change and perhaps it’s time for some more objectivity in a part of the sport where umps can be highly subjective based on the players involved.
Preston: ABS is a great thing, but it needs some better implementation. This is one area where I can speak from (somewhat limited) knowledge. Other bat and ball sports that use the same ball tracking technology do not overturn the umpire’s original call unless it is definite. Hawkeye Technologies, while an excellent company and the best in the business, is not correct to the micrometer with their ball tracking. No one can be. I would prefer to see a system like used in cricket, where if the ball is only partially in the Hawkeye zone, it remains with whatever the umpire called in the first place (particularly since, unlike cricket, the strike zone changes between batters, adding another layer of difficulty.) Pitches should not turn from balls to strikes because a computer determined that the tiniest fraction of the ball crossed what a programmer said was the strike zone. Pitches should not turn from strikes to balls because the ball missed what a programmer said was the strike zone by a tiny fraction. There needs to be an “umpire’s call” option, where the call stands, but the team that challenged does not lose their challenge, because there is uncertainty. Pretending that computers make things certain has seriously bad side effects.
Jim: Cricket is a little different, because it’s partially used as predictive there e.g. would the ball have hit the wicket if the batter hadn’t got in the way? That’s never going to be 100% objective, hence the overrule option only when definitive. But I do like the “stands” option, where it’s close enough to go either way.
Makakilo: I like it! Diamondbacks Corbin Burnes and Alek Thomas made positive comments about it per this Sportico article!
Ben: I think it’s great. It’s certainly not perfect and could use some tweaking (especially regarding the number of challenges), but I love that it’s relatively unobtrusive and shows both that the umpires are pretty accurate and that some batters/catchers have an excellent understanding of the strike zone. I also deeply appreciate that MLB has been very deliberate in introducing changes for the most part while at least nominally taking fan feedback into account when making decisions.
What’s the coolest vacation you’ve ever been on?
C.Wesley Baier: The coolest ‘vacation’ I’ve been on is either going to Electric Daisy Carnival Vegas ‘22 with my niece, or the recent time I’ve spent visiting my brother in Reno. Both have been very memorable expierences.
James: I took a “working vacation” to Harlaxton, England in the summer of 2018. It was nice to visit so many of the places that were inspirations for locales throughout English literature. Also, that just so happens to have been the year that England made the semi-finals in the World Cup. Being there, pubbing, while the nation cheered on the Three Lions was an entirely different sort of sports fan experience and I am glad I got to enjoy it. Also, the 100 or so different ciders I got to try while I was there ranged from middling to amazing. I might have developed a reputation for ciders among my peers while I was there.
Spencer: Sea kayaking around south east Alaska in 2013. Twenty-seven days camping on whichever beach looked good for the night. I’d go back in a heartbeat (I actually did get back to Alaska in 2023 but it was on a cruise and not quite the same).
Preston: As someone who rarely gets to take an actual vacation, I’m going with a different type of answer. A few years ago, I wanted to go to the SEC gymnastics championships. I asked a woman I’d gone on a couple of dates with to go with me. We’re married now, and going back to the gymnastics championships in a few weeks. While a brief trip to the Birmingham in Alabama isn’t on anyone’s bucket list (nor should it be, let’s be fair) everything that has happened partially as a result of that trip outweighs the greatest sights I have seen. And I have seen some sights.
If I take the question literally, I once rode a train from Banjaluka to Sarajevo, in December, with no heat. Definitely the coolest. I then got snowed in and never saw much of Sarajevo. I followed that up by riding a bus from Sarajevo to Belgrade. The person next to me was from Chicago and living in Prague, and there were other people from all over, because New Years in Europe results in things like that.
But every day on earth can be beautiful, can be cool. Taking my kids on a brief walk today where we discussed the importance of dead trees to an ecosystem was a blessing I’m glad to have experienced. Since I don’t get many proper vacations, finding the “cool” in ordinary events is the secret to a happy life.
Jim: My honeymoon, two weeks traveling round Europe on first-class trains. Had a rail pass so we could go where we wanted, as we wanted, just booked hotels when we arrived. Had a vague plan, but didn’t last long!
Makakilo: Although I was going to write about my trip to Japan, Preston’s words changed my mind. Yesterday, I went to a picnic on the beach. It was the coolest because nearly every person talked about one of their adventures. Now, I really want to see giant Manta rays at night. We played games. We ate homemade muffins and homemade cookies. A nearby beach stand had a bookcase for book exchanges. I traded for a book written 50 years ago about mind power. Yesterday’s picnic was my coolest picnic ever.