Reactions to the Cubs series, potential City Connects, and more!
The pitching staff did not like Wrigley. One off series or something more?
Wesley: Merrill Kelly found it to be just fine on Sunday. I’m a little worried, but not particularly so.
Makakilo: Just like baseball, windy days can make pickleball a much different game. The series at Wrigley was a one-off.
Spencer: I remain worried.
DBacksEurope: I am not worried, this is reality. The Diamondbacks can demolish any team and can struggle against any team. The Cubs series once again proved that. The Cubs are not a bad team though.
Ben: I’m not too worried. That wind game was absurd and I’m chalking it up to the conditions rather than lack of execution. I think it’s more a one-off, but it’s also just part of a long season. At this point, I’m more concerned with Gallen failing to find any rhythm between starts – although that decreases his price and likelihood he accepts a qualifying offer.
Preston: I started to answer on Sunday morning, but figured I would wait until after the game. As it turns out, the only pitchers that struggled (even with the wind blowing out for two of the three games) were Gallen and members of the bullpen who instantly boarded a flight to Reno. Gallen is a bit of a concern. If the rumors are correct and Gallen and Strom were not working well together, and now Gallen is even worse, I’m thinking we may be glad in the long run that we haven’t extended him.
1AZfan1: Mostly a one off. The bullpen didn’t allow an earned run in 7.1 innings after the ‘Wind Game’. Kelly/Burnes gave up 3 runs between them in about 6 innings each and Gallen had a Pfaadt-ish outing where he had a blow-up inning but was otherwise cruising through the majority of his 6 innings.
Which will have more of an impact: losing Puk or gaining Jameson?
Makakilo:
Two of my thoughts on Drey Jameson.
- This season in AAA, his fly ball % was a career low 16.7%. If he can continue to prevent fly balls, he may see success. Otherwise, his 66.7% home runs per fly ball (this season in AAA) will be hard to watch. Data from FanGraphs.
- Although it remains to be seen, it’s possible that his fastball velocity will be better than Puk. “Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Drey Jameson unloaded perhaps the fastest pitch of his career against Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani during Cactus League action on Monday at Camelback Ranch.”
Three of my thoughts about AJ Puk.
“It’s arguable that he is the best left-handed pitcher in the Diamondbacks bullpen.”
“AJ Puk is the gold standard, meeting or exceeding the demarcation line for all five statistics.”
- Got-The-Job-Done (GTJD) (no earned runs and no inherited runners scored).
- Percentage shutdown games (at least .06 WPA).
- Percentage meltdown games (at least negative .06 WPA).
- Strikeouts per batter faced (SO/BF).
- Whiffs per pitch thrown.
It’s positive that in 5 innings pitched after 2 April, AJ Puk did not allow a home run. This AZ Snake Pit article noted a conundrum that after 8 games the Diamondbacks were one of the best three teams in allowing a low percentage of hard-hits, and yet their home-runs-per-9-innings was second worst in the league. After 21 games, the Diamondbacks remain better than average in allowing a low percentage of hard-hits, while their home-runs-per-9-innings remains worse than average (albeit their rank improved).
Spencer: Hopefully Jameson. Worried it’s Puk.
DBacksEurope: Losing Puk. It remains to be seen if Jameson can have an impact. Before he went down he was not exactly our strongest reliever, although he had flashes of might. I almost forgot about him, to be honest.
Wesley: I think they’re about equal. wouldn’t be surprised to see Drey end up more valuable thank Puk would have been at the end of the day.
Preston: Jameson is a potential top-tier reliever who was really only optioned for roster management and to get him some game action. If he paints the corners with 99, he’ll be a great seventh inning guy, with Ginkel in the eighth and Martinez in the ninth. Puk being out is a loss, but there are options. The Jalen Beeks signing looks prescient. Kyle Backhus is earning a look at the major league level. Andrew Saalfrank will be back in June (hopefully wiser for his experience.) And in case we’ve all forgotten, Mantiply has been pretty bad before and gotten it figured out, so he could again.
1AZfan1: If Puk’s absence is limited to no more than 6ish weeks, I’d say Jameson’s addition will be more impactful. Starting to get him as many reps in the Bigs early in the season as possible is great to determine if he will be a reliable option for the 2025 stretch run/playoffs. If Puk is gone for a significant portion of the year or this elbow issue becomes a recurring thing, his loss would be more impactful. Jameson has potential, but I’m not expecting him to replace Puk one-for-one in 2025.
Ben: I tend to agree that it’s losing Puk at this point. He’s extremely experienced and has a great mentality as a reliever while also having a great repertoire that’s delivered excellent results since coming over. I was encouraged by Jameson’s spring training and minor league results, but he’s a very different pitcher who won’t really be able to “replace” Puk so much as give Torey another option out of the pen.
The city connects are coming. What would your ideal ones look like?
Makakilo: Many city connect uniforms are garish (obtrusively bright and showy). One exception is the Diamondbacks’ Serpientes uniform, which was not bad. In the context that any uniform that distracts from watching baseball is not a good thing, the Serpientes uniform is close to ideal.
On 9 May, the Diamondbacks are scheduled for another city connect uniform. Mentally I’ll be wearing my sunglasses while hoping to be pleasantly surprised.
Spencer: I think I’d like one that’s mostly red with lots of purple and teal piping (perhaps in the snake scale style of our A). Something that incorporates both eras of Diamondbacks colors but isn’t just the original uniform. It existed, it can be a throwback every once in a while, but nostalgia only gets you so far. I like Serpientes so I hope that stays on the jersey.
DBacksEurope: You tell me, Arizonans. City Connect means it should connect to the city. Where I am from, the local team once a year plays in an Airborne shirt, to honour the fallen in The Battle of Arnhem. The Airborne shirt is maroon and Cambridge blue because of the 1st British airborne division. That is a City Connect shirt. I would say something similar should be possible to invent for Phoenix. Desert, copper, Grand Canyon…the first City Connect was a success, let’s hope the next one will be too.
Preston: Ironically, the original Diamondbacks’ colors were chosen basically as a “city connect” with copper and teal (which has always been more of a turquoise in honor of one of Arizona’s products) being odes to Arizona. Purple, of course, was Colangelo’s color. Thus, a turquoise jersey with copper lettering (and maybe some purple around the lettering, maybe not) could be an ode to that. Unfortunately, if the leaks are anything close to correct, it looks like Nike is going with Grimace-vomit on black. I liked the Serpientes. I do not anticipate liking these.
1AZfan1: Here’s a screenshot of the leak Preston referenced. It is truly terrible and I hope that this isn’t what we’re stuck with for the next few years.
ISH95: /whispers I kinda like these
Ben: I would love something that actually connects to the city as the name would suggest. I don’t love the city’s flag, but incorporating some of that maroon with the absolutely fantastic Arizona flag could make for a killer combination. I understood the “Serpientes” name and color themes – and appreciated their uniqueness – but it still felt a little performative rather than genuine connection with the Spanish-speaking population.
Do you think baseball will ever become co-ed, or is the end game the Woman’s PRo Baseball League that is starting next season?
Makakilo: I love the idea of a Woman Pro Baseball League. A great first step towards co-ed baseball would be exhibition games with a mix of women and men players (reminds me of mixed doubles in pickleball).
Spencer: I hope we get full co-ed teams in my lifetime. Of all the major sports, baseball feels like the easiest to facilitate that. Maybe soccer too but even that’s more physical in a dangerous way (and in the US at least, men would have a hard time accepting just how inferior at the sport they are…). Unfortunately, baseball tends to be behind the times in the modern era, so I expect there’s too much pushback from fans and people around the game for a long while. A separate league is a great first step though.
DBacksEurope: Every sport where physical strength is important, is a sport where a woman will not be able to compete at the same level as a man. Baseball is one of them. If it is pure technique, I am sure women will be able to compete with men. I am thinking about sports like snooker, darts, bowling. The problem then is that women do not get paid the same as men for what they do, so less women reach the highest level.
Preston: I’d like to see it. But the substantial barrier to it is that the position with the most jobs available (pitching) may also be the position least likely for a woman to succeed. I don’t know this, and I may be entirely wrong, but I suspect that due to skeletal differences, women would encounter even more injuries than men when pitching. A separate women’s league will answer that question.
1AZfan1: I would absolutely be open to women in MLB, but, as DBE and Preston alluded to, I am doubtful that they will be able to match up physically at the big league level. We’ll see.
Ben: I’ve loved the increased attention the media the general population have given to college softball over the past five or six years. They’re incredible athletes and seeing what they’re capable of doing- especially when pitching is truly remarkable. I have little doubt that given similar training and time, they could match up extremely well with their male counterparts. But that change has to start from the grassroots and I’ve long thought that it’s time for softball to lengthen the distance between bases to better match college baseball. I fervently hope I get to see a co-Ed league of some kind in my lifetime.
Any Easter traditions in your family?
Makakilo: Invite people to my house for homemade veggie pizza on an outdoor grill.
Spencer: Forgetting it’s Easter then frantically putting together a lamb dinner so when mom calls we can say we celebrated!
DBacksEurope: When I was young we would go on chocolate egg hunt, play the game of egg tap and visit church. Those were nice traditions. Now I don’t have any traditions with my own family. I’d try to do the egg tap with my kids and wife, but my wife was never enthusiastic and my son doesn’t like hard boiled eggs so the tradition quickly faded away.
1AZfan1: Church does a breakfast on Easter Sunday that we participate in. Other than that, hiding eggs for the kids to search for.