Probably the worst news of the year to date came last week, with the unfortunate report that Daniel Hudson's elbow needs another Tommy John surgery and, at least, another 12 months out. We look at other pitchers who've been down this path.
Almost from the get-go last night, Ian Kennedy was in trouble. But it was the epic meltdown of an eight-run fourth inning which led to it entering the pantheon of all-time sucky starts by an Arizona starting pitcher.
What is BABIP - batting average on balls in play - and why is it a number to take into account when evaluating pitcher performance?
Denial. Keith Law think it's just a river in Egypt.
41 games in, which is as near to one-quarter of the way there as we'll get. So, let's take a look at the Diamondbacks' season so far, and weigh good against the bad.
Ok, nothing like a hyperbolic headline to get you drawn in... But at this point in the season, we've got a rotation doing something never before accomplished in Arizona.
It's no exaggeration to say that Paul Goldschmidt destroyed the Los Angeles Dodgers single-handed this series, driving in nine of the 17 runs we scored, going 7-for-13 with four homers. Let's look at his performance in more detail.
Should there be a change of roles? A change of personnel? Or do we just grit our teeth and wait for things to ven themselves out?
Seven series in and the D-backs relief corps has been occasionally good, but occasionally awful. Will the real Arizona bullpen please stand up?
In Tuesday's game against the Yankees, McCarthy lasted only four innings, allowing nine hits and two walks: three earned runs were allowed, but he left them loaded in the first two frames. It was the third consecutive underwhelming start for him.
We're 12 games into this season's campaign. That's a full 7% of the games in the book, so it's clearly time to look at the numbers so far and find a definitive answer about... stuff.
Following up on the piece I ran last off-day, looking at the worst starts to Diamondbacks careers, prwhitaker1 suggested I take a look at the other end of the spectrum. So, here we are!
In light of Eric Hinske’s game winning extra innings home run yesterday, I started thinking about the 2013 Arizona Diamondbacks and "veteran presence".
Heath Bell's first appearance for Arizona last night started badly - with a home-run on the first pitch - and went downhill, as he retired one of six batters faced. But was it the worst D-backs debut of all time? Not even close.
One of the best things about last night's game was seeing Ian Kennedy return to 2011 form, striking out eight and allowing two runs over seven innings. Let's take a look at it in a little more depth.
It has been a long spring: almost seven weeks since pitchers and catchers report. But we now sit on MLB Opening Day, ready for the true marathon to begin. Let's look back at how the preseason went for the Diamondbacks.
In the final part of our interview with new D-backs commentator, Steve Berthiaume, we look around the leagues and see who he thinks are play-off bound this season. We also ask the most important question of them all...
Paul Goldschmidt was never exactly going to be on the first train out of Arizona. But he is now locked up, with his cost controlled, forever. Or perhaps it just seems that way...
There's no doubt: if healthy, McCarthy could be one of the best free-agent signings of the winter. But this is a man who made his major-league debut in 2005, and has yet to make more than 25 starts in a season there. Will 2013 be any different?
Probably the biggest new arrival on the 2012 Diamondbacks is Martin Prado, who offers positional flexibility and reduced strikeouts. But how will he hit?
Continuing our chat, with the new D-backs play-by-play guy, I asked Steve Berthiaume about his style of broadcast, and how he sees the D-backs in 2013.
While in town for Cactus League action and the WBC, snakecharmer got the chance to catch up with Joe again, and see how he was doing this spring.
In a season that was disappointing. Paul Goldschmidt's performance at first was one of the bright spots of 2012 - not least for his complete pwnership of Tim Lincecum. But what might 2013 bring for Goldzilla in terms of the long-ball?
How does Montero compare with other catchers, in terms of controlling the running game? And how many base-stealers will he throw out this year?
Before doing an MLB.com webcast at Salt River Fields, Steve was kind enough to talk to the SnakePit. In this part, we cover growing up in Boston, working for ESPN and how he got the job in Arizona.
Somewhat inspired by John B's "regression" post, figured it might to fun to throw up a series of posts looking at specific stats for specific D-backs. We start with our likely lead-off man's numbers on the bases.
