Snake Bytes 9/26: Goodbye Goodbye

Diamondbacks News

[MLB] Here are the 10 most bonkers stats of 2023 by Anthony Castrovince

Rookies with 9 triples

Presumptive Rookies of the Year Corbin Carroll of the D-backs and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles each have nine three-baggers this season.

Carroll became the first AL/NL rookie ever with at least 20 homers and 50 steals. And both of these guys have at least 25 homers and 25 doubles, which is obviously impressive. But for those who believe the triple is the most exciting play in baseball, these kids are coming through. They both have nine on the year, giving Henderson a share of the lead in the AL with the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. and Carroll a share of the NL lead with teammate Ketel Marte.

How rare would it be for rookies to have at least a share of the league lead in triples in both the AL and NL? Well, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s happened only once — in 1904! That year, the Washington Senators’ Joe Cassidy led the AL with 19, and Harry Lumley of the Brooklyn Superbas led the NL with 18.

[Inside the Diamondbacks] Diamondbacks Bullpen Coughs Up Late Leads in Loss to Yankees by Michael McDermott

Handed leads of 3-2 and 4-3, the bullpen twice was unable to put up a zero to preserve the lead. Ryan Thompson, who threw 10 scoreless innings to begin his D-backs career, surrendered a game-tying solo home run to Oswald Peraza in the 7th. The damage could have been much worse, but Alek Thomas leaped at the wall to rob Aaron Judge of a go-ahead extra base hit to preserve the tie. After getting that run back in the following inning, Kevin Ginkel allowed three runs to cross in the 8th. Ginkel struggled with command, as two walks followed a pair of singles to open the frame. His last pitch, an Estevan Florial sacrifice fly, gave the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish.

[MLB] D-backs lament missed chance in Wild Card race, but ‘we’ll be good’ by Steve Gilbert

“We fought hard,” Lovullo said. “We put ourselves in a really good position a couple of times, and then we just couldn’t execute on the mound, and that’s what cost us. When you look up there and you give up four runs in the final two innings that you pitch, you’re not going to win a lot of baseball games.”

[MLBTR] The Opener: Gray, NL Wild Card, Offseason Outlook by Nick Deeds

NL Wild Card race tightens:

The race for the last two NL Wild Card spots is headed for a photo finish. The Diamondbacks and Cubs are currently tied with identical 82-74 records in the last two spots, with the Marlins (81-75) sitting one game out and the Reds (80-77) on the periphery of contention as well. The Cubs have the toughest schedule of the four teams remaining, drawing the Braves and Brewers for their final two series of the regular season. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks figure to face the White Sox before a tough regular season finale against the Astros. The Reds and Marlins have easier roads ahead of them, with Cincinnati facing the Guardians and Cardinals while Miami opposes the Mets and Pirates.

With the standings so close even as the season comes down to the wire, it’s worth noting the tiebreaker situations facing the teams involved. All three of the Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Reds hold the season series record tiebreaker over the Cubs, while the Marlins hold the tiebreaker over Arizona and Cincinnati as well. The Reds also hold the tiebreaker over the DBacks, meaning that if all four teams finished with identical records, the Marlins and Reds would make the postseason while Arizona and Chicago would head home.

[AZC] What are MLB’s tiebreaker rules? How the NL wild-card race could end by Theo Mackie

Four-way tie

The tiebreaker to select the first team in a four-way tie would simply be overall winning percentage in games among the four tied teams. The next three teams would then be ranked based on the three-way tiebreaker rules outlined above. Here’s how that would play out:

Marlins, Reds, Diamondbacks, Cubs: In games among these four teams, their respective records were the following: Marlins 11-7 (.611), Diamondbacks 11-9 (.550), Reds 14-12 (.538), Cubs 9-17 (.346). That means the Marlins would finish first. Following the same three-team scenario as above, the Reds would finish second with the Diamondbacks third and the Cubs fourth.

Baseball News

[MLBTR] Padres Plan To Reduce Payroll To Around $200MM; Front Office Changes Possible by Mark Polishuk

An Opening Day payroll of just under $249MM and some aggressive acquisitions of star players meant that the Padres were fully expecting a championship in 2023, but San Diego has instead posted only a 77-79 record, and the season’s final week begins with the Padres still in mathematical contention for a wild card slot by only the faintest of margins. It has been an unusual season in many ways at Petco Park, as such analytical numbers as the Padres’ +91 run differential (the 10th best in baseball), their 7-22 record in one-run games, and unfathomable 0-12 mark in extra-innings games all suggest that the Padres might simply be one of the unluckiest clubs in recent memory.

However, the organization doesn’t seem to be writing off 2023 to just misfortune, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Padres are planning a different strategy for next season. This includes “player commitments of around $200MM,” as Acee writes that the payroll cut is “in part because they are out of compliance with MLB regulations regarding their debt service ratio.”

Spencer’s Spicy Supplement: Another loss for reckless spending as a form of contention... For good or ill, this abrupt turnaround will leave ripples across “mid-market” MLB teams. Most intriguing (and touched on in the full article) will be how they choose to reach this goal. Will Juan Soto (who’s trade package looks to sustain America’s Pastime in the Nation’s Capitol) be jettisoned for salary relief and a lesser return? Will recent signees Bogaerts/Machado be sent packing? Would Tatis be movable even if they included the illustrious Ethan Salas in the deal? We’ll have all winter of zero baseball to find out.

[MASN] Jackson Holliday named Baseball America’s Minor League Player of the Year by Steve Melewski

At around this time last year, the Orioles Gunnar Henderson was named Baseball America’s 2022 Minor League Player of the Year. Now the Orioles have two players in a row so honored.

As his remarkable first full season on the farm is winding down, today shortstop Jackson Holliday of the Orioles was named the 2023 winner by Baseball America.

This is the third time since the award started in 1981, that one organization had a winner two years in a row, but the first time it was two different players. The New York Mets’ Gregg Jefferies won in 1986-87 and Andruw Jones of Atlanta in 1995-96. Now Henderson and Holliday go back-to-back for the Orioles.

Holliday’s season has seen him progress four levels, starting the year with Low Single-A Delmarva, moving to High-A Aberdeen and then on to Double-A Bowie and now he is with Triple-A Norfolk.

[ABC] After cancer diagnosis, young Arizona baseball player defies the odds by Nick Ciletti

Our coverage of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month continues with the story of an Arizona boy who has defied the odds with the help of his doctors and nurses, his mom’s unrelenting love, his own will to survive, and a love of baseball!

Ask anyone who knows Julio Rodriguez-Siraitare and they will tell you this fifth-grader from Nogales is a Major-Leaguer in the making. Better yet...let Julio tell you himself!

Spencer’s Spicy Supplement: In addition to just being a nice feel good story to start your day, I love the baseball connections this kid has! His name matches one of the most exciting young players in the game. Given the photo in the story, he is an Angels’ fan. And he lives in Arizona, where another young and exciting player is locked up for a decade! Looking at you Mr. Hall for why this kid is growing up in Arizona but not an ardent Diamondbacks’ fan...