Off-day open firestorm thread

A lot of chatter suggesting today might be the day where the Diamondbacks owners pull the trigger and get rid of the personnel responsible for the wretched start to the season. I've got a feeling we're not quite there yet - last night's ninth-inning heroics have likely bought a stay of execution. But how long for? Certainly, I can't see it happening on the upcoming road-trip, which swings through San Diego, Milwaukee and the south side of Chicago. The next off-day (not that this is an absolute requirement) is two weeks from today, between three-game sets at Chase against the Nationals and the Dodgers.

I get the feeling there will still be a wholesale cleaning of house at some point, and it's one that will likely involve both Kevin Towers and Kirk Gibson. However, it's this full-on change of regime, which I think makes it unlikely to happen sooner,  rather than later. For as Ken Rosenthal pointed out, "Replacing a GM at mid-season generally is considered more difficult than replacing a manager," due to the upcoming draft in early June, followed by the trade deadline in July. He also reckons there are also no obvious internal candidates, which would certainly complicate any replacement process.

There is also some suggestion the worst may be over. While we still haven't played .500 ball for a ten-game stretch this season, we are 4-4 in the last eight and, perhaps more importantly, have scored the same number of runs as we have allowed. That's the first time we have done that over any eight-game spell - the next-best such streak for the Diamondbacks this season had a -8 run differential. There haven't been any blowouts, with the four losses being by a total of seven runs. Admittedly, we're still waiting for our first blowout victory: we haven't won by more than four runs for 39 games. [The team record streak there is 55 games, at the end of the 2004 season and into 2005]

So, what do you think? Have we reached the bottom of the Marianas Trench which has been 2014 so far? Or does Ken Kendrick need to continue building a large wicker man in the parking lot at Chase Field? Here are some stats, along with how they've changed in the two weeks since we last checked in.

Offense

• BA =  .245 (9th in NL) - was .251 (9th)
• OBP = .300 (10th) - was .300 (11th)
• SLG = .379 (9th) - was .384 (10th)
• OPS = .679 (11th) - was .684 (11th)
• OPS+ = 89 (10th) - was 85 (12th)
  
• wRC+ = 85 (11th) - was 82 (12th)
• Runs per game = 3.77 (11th) - was 3.72 (13th)
• fWAR = 1.0 (11th) - was 0.5 (14th)
• fWAR leaders = Chris Owings (1.0), Paul Goldschmidt (0.8); A.J. Pollock (0.7)
  
• fWAR trailers = Cody Ross (-0.7), Tony Campana (-0.4), Gerardo Parra (-0.3)

Pitching

• ERA = 5.20 (15th in NL) - was 6.02 (15th)
• ERA+ = 70 (15th) - was 66 (15th)
• K/9 = 8.19 (7th) - was 7.65 (12th)
• BB/9 = 3.38 (2nd) - was 3.10 (9th)
• HR/9 = 1.17 (1st) - was 1.24 (3rd)
• Opp. OPS = .773 (2nd) - was .823 (1st)
• xFIP = 3.76 (6th) - was 4.11 (14th)
• fWAR = 0.8 (10th) - was 0.3 (13th)
• fWAR leaders = Mike Bolsinger (0.3), Josh Collmenter (0.2), Oliver Perez (0.1)
  
• fWAR trailers = Bronson Arroyo (-0.3), Addison Reed (-0.1), Wade Miley (0.0)