Arizona Diamondbacks December confidence poll

November results

At least some people voted “9” this month. Whether such rabid optimism is justified, I can’t say. It may just be another example showing that if you have a poll, 5% or so will vote for just about anything. But in general, it did appear that people were a little more hopeful. The percentages in the bottom two categories did decrease as well, going down from 40% to 34%, so it wasn’t all just about the lunatic fringe. Here are the numbers from the start of November.

• 18% - 1 (not confident in the slightest)
• 16% - 2
• 19% - 3
• 10% - 4
• 16% - 5
• 9% - 6
• 6% - 7
• 1% - 8
• 5% - 9 (very, very, VERY confident)

No consensus here, with none of the categories reaching even twenty percent. “3” led the way, at 19.3%. It’s the first time we’ve seen such a low bar for the most popular category since August 2019. Each of the “1” through “5” areas received at least ten percent of the vote, with most of the scores above four gaining some votes, or at least holding steady. However, there really wasn’t very much motion across the board, with none of them moving by more than 5% from the figure returned at the start of October. Which probably makes sense, given the lack of movement by the team over that time. The average was 3.73, up by just less than half a point. It’s still the lowest November figure in the five years of the survey.

Below, you can see the breakdown for the past 12 polls’ results, followed by the line graph showing the trends over this and previous seasons.

December poll

The team has been shuffling the 40-man roster, in preparation for the Rule 5 draft, which takes place on December 10. That’s reflected in the list of November transactions, which sees a couple of names familiar from this year leaving the organization. Junior Guerra was released by the team, while Joel Payamps was picked up by the Boston Red Sox off the waiver wire, and Emilio Vargas went similarly, to the White Sox. However, the D-backs gained Rogelio Armenteros off waivers, and also got shortstop prospect Ronny Simon from the Cubs, as the PTBNL in the Andrew Chafin deal. I suspect further moves will likely be forthcoming, though when and what they might be, it’s hard to say.

So, how do you feel about the D-backs, as we head towards what should have been the winter meetings, but is now a virtual event? The poll is below, feel free to explain your choice in the comments, especially if it has changed from the November poll.