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SnakePit Appraisals: Brad Ziegler

It was the best of seasons, it was the worst of seasons... Welcome to the man about whom Charles Dickens might have written. Had he, y'know, been born 150 years later. And been a baseball pundit.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Strengths
  • "Tale of two halves  First half he was his usual excellent self." - shoewizard
  • "For the better part of a month, he was one of the top relievers in baseball. Other than that, he was meh, but a lot of it was do to injury." - preston.salisbury
  • "4, meeting unrealistic expectations would have been a 5." - xmet
  • :The ability  he has to come in and get a double play is amazing… He is a solid reliever." - gamepass
  • "He was very good  However, it was because of the rib injury he was not as successful later on." - AzRattler
  • "Was really good until he stupidly tried to play through an injury in a lost season " - JoeCB1991
  • Positive: 9 GIDP in 281 batters faced." - Makakilo
  • "Ziegler was so good at being a set up guy, if he had had a closer like Reviera behind him, he would have had so much acclaim by now, he’d be making $10 million a season. He was that good until his knee got flaky on him." - ford.williams.10
  • "The results may not have been as great as in 2013, but he also was given a greater number of borderline impossible situations coming in, thanks to Gibby’s erratic game management." - TylerO
Weaknesses
  • "In 2014, for the Diamondbacks, oldest and highest paid reliever (except if you think of Cahill as a reliever)" - Makakilo
  • "When a team is losing darn near 100 games, a set up guy like Ziggy is more like a luxery and NOT a must have." - ford.williams.10
  • "If he’d been healthy all season and still had the awful second half he had, it would have been a 2." - Fangdango
  • "Second half fell apart due to injury." - shoewizard
  • "He should not have tried to play through the injury." - gamepass
  • "4 for his actual performance  1 for being an idiot and playing through an injury in a lost season." - imstillhungry95
  • "Before he was shut down it was hard for me to distinguish when he was pitching or when Reed was pitching. The windup was different but the results were the same. Whiplash from watching the home runs." - cnsieler
Towards 2015
  • "I think he should back in the form he had before the injury to start the new season." - gamepass
  • "Concern for next year due to age if not used judiciously." - xmet
  • "Sadly for us, the injury destroyed his trade value over this winter. It will be good to have him back, but he’s a luxury piece on a team that really can’t afford it (I’ve said that about a lot of players, it seems.)" - preston.salisbury
  • "Should the Dbacks keep Zigler hoping they’ll somehow contend or trade him for a power hitting outfielder that’s in AA or AAA next year?" ford.williams.10
  • "Uncertainty. Will his microfracture surgery restore his knee cartilage?" - Makakilo
Comment of the Thread

Diamondhacks

Three for Ziggy

He could lick ’em by smiling
He could leave ’em to hang

The Tally
  • 5 - Highly Satisfied: 15%
  • 4 - Somewhat Satisfied: 54%
  • 3 - Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied: 21%
  • 2 - Somewhat Dissatisfied: 9%
  • 1 - Very Dissatisfied: 1%
And, so, we complete the individual assessments of the Diamondbacks for the 2014 season. The general consensus appears to be that Brad's season was derailed by injury, with his numbers up to that point being in line with those posted previously. However, many questioned the value of an expensive, veteran reliever on a team that posted the worst record in the majors this year; if there isn't drastic improvement next season, there is certainly a case to be made for trading Ziegler, and getting some pieces which can help with the retooling of the Arizona team.

The Scoreboard
  1. David Peralta 4.82 (162 votes)
  2. Evan Marshall 4.76 (119)
  3. Josh Collmenter 4.71 (151)
  4. Paul Goldschmidt 4.64 (168)
  5. Ender Inciarte 4.51 (111)
  6. A.J. Pollock 4.48 (132)
  7. Chase Anderson 4.18 (161)
  8. Chris Owings 4.13 (112)
  9. Oliver Perez 4.12 (94)
  10. Vidal Nuno 3.96 (92)
  11. Brad Ziegler 3.74 (92)
  12. Joe Thatcher 3.68 (57)
  13. Eury de la Rosa 3.63 (91)
  14. Cliff Pennington 3.52 (62)
  15. Tuffy Gosewisch 3.50 (113)
  16. Brandon McCarthy 3.43 (542)***
  17. Jake Lamb 3.31 (115)
  18. Gerardo Parra 3.14 (122)
  19. Zeke Spruill 3.09 (89)
  20. Wade Miley 2.94 (122)
  21. Didi Gregorius 2.75 (106)
  22. Miguel Montero 2.67 (128)
  23. Mike Bolsinger 2.67 (117)
  24. Bronson Arroyo 2.63 (125)
  25. Matt Stites 2.56 (92)
  26. Will Harris 2.49 (61)
  27. Randall Delgado 2.25 (122)
  28. Martin Prado 2.16 (75)
  29. Aaron Hill 2.11 (91)
  30. Mark Trumbo 2.01 (170)
  31. Addison Reed 1.99 (114)
  32. Cody Ross 1.48 (105)
  33. Trevor Cahill 1.07 (147)