The Arizona Diamondbacks have won 11 of Patrick Corbin’s last 12 home starts, which is important to consider when making your MLB picks Tuesday, as they continue a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field.
Courtesy of SBR Forum, the Diamondbacks are minus-185 favorites in the pro baseball odds, with the betting total sitting at eight in the market.
Let’s take a closer look at this National League matchup from a betting perspective, while offering a prediction along the way.
According to Jody Jackson of Fox Sports Arizona, Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder Adam Eaton has been activated from the disabled list and will be in the starting lineup tonight versus the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Adam Eaton suffered a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow during spring training and has been on the disabled list ever since. Eaton was set to open up the season as Arizona’s starting center fielder and leadoff man. Tonight he will finally fill that role. It may be three months late, but Eaton will be batting leadoff for Arizona as the starting center fielder when the Diamondbacks take on the Dodgers at Chase Field.
Eaton’s return brings up an interesting situation for the Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson. The roster currently has a logjam in the outfield, with Gerardo Parra, Jason Kubel, Cody Ross and A.J. Pollock all playing significant time this season. Who will be the odd man (or men) out is the question the organization will need to face soon. With only Parra locked in as a starter, one or more of the remaining three may find themselves as trade bait in the very near future.
This is a good problem to have for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been mentioned in many trade rumors as the trade deadline nears. It is believed by many that they may be looking to bolster the pitching staff to help strengthen the team for a playoff run.
Getting Eaton back in the lineup could provide a much needed spark for the offense. Eaton is a max effort player that provides energy for his teammates to feed off of. It will be great for Diamondback fans to see him on the field tonight.
Game Info:
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Arizona Diamondbacks
Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
9:40 ET
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The Arizona Diamondbacks have won 17 of their last 22 games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is important to consider when making your MLB picks Tuesday, as the two teams meet up at Chase Field.
Courtesy of SBR Forum, the Diamondbacks are minus-113 home favorites in the pro baseball odds, with the total being offered at 7.5 and eight in the market.
Let’s take a closer look at this National League West matchup from a betting perspective, while offering up a prediction along the way.
When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded top pitching prospect Trevor Bauer for shortstop Didi Gregorius in a three-team deal during the offseason, the reaction was predominantly one of scorn towards Arizona general manager Kevin Towers.
Matthew Pouliot of NBC Sports summed up the consensus towards Arizona’s end of the deal when he called it “a lousy idea for the Diamondbacks.”
The sabermetric community and the scouts seemed to agree that Gregorius couldn’t hit. Yet 61 games into the season, the Diamondbacks appear to have gotten the better end of the deal. Gregorius is an example of the importance of scouting for the Diamondbacks.
The Diamondbacks took Bauer with the third overall pick in the 2011 draft. Tower’s decision to trade him for a light-hitting infielder less than two years later seemed like a huge blunder at the time. Gregorius’ statistics pointed to a future as a utility infielder in the eyes of many sabermetric writers.
Jonah Keri of Grantland opined:
When Didi Gregorius grows up, he has a chance to become Cliff Pennington. The 22-year-old shortstop is also an excellent fielder. But he is, to put it lightly, an unimposing hitter. In 1,909 minor league plate appearances, Gregorius hit .271/.323/.376. He has minimal power, rarely walks, doesn’t even steal bases particularly well, with 40 steals in 70 minor league attempts
Ben Badler of Baseball America wrote at the time of the trade that many scouts shared Keri’s sentiment. Badler wrote:
Gregorius has enough upside to be a solid everyday shortstop with a defense-first profile, though there’s also enough risk with his bat that some scouts project him to be more of a utility man.
Towers and his staff saw something in Gregorius that most writers and scouts weren’t seeing. At the time of the deal, Towers compared Gregorius to Derek Jeter.
Towers’ comparison of Gregorius to a future Hall of Fame player seemed far-fetched. Though Gregorius has made the trade look like a coup for Towers in the early stages of this season, it’s still far too early in Gregorius’ career to determine if the comparison to Jeter is accurate.
Through 38 games this year, Gregorius is hitting .322/.386/.497 with 16 extra-base hits. The advanced metric Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) credits Gregorius with three runs saved in the field over 340 innings this season.
Gregorius’ hot start with the bat and glove has made him one of the most valuable shortstops in baseball to this point in the season. He’s a big reason why the Diamondbacks are in first place in the National League West.
The general consensus at the time of the deal was that Towers had made a mistake in dealing Bauer, a top pitching prospect, for Gregorius. Bauer has a 4.63 ERA at Triple-A this season. He’s walked 27 in 46.2 innings. He’s also walked 15 in 16.1 innings over three spot starts for the Cleveland Indians.
Gregorius has been one of the most valuable shortstops in baseball this season, while Bauer has been struggling with his control. The consensus opinion against the deal would appear to be completely wrong. However, nearly half a season is not a large enough sample to determine if the trade is a success for the Diamondbacks.
Bauer could still develop better control and deliver on the promise that made him a top pick in the draft. Gregorius could begin to sputter offensively as the league learns how to pitch to him. A lot can change over the rest of this season and over future years, particularly given the youth of Bauer and Gregorius.
What we can ascertain right now is that the trade represents the value of scouting for Arizona. According to Nick Piecoro of AZCentral, it was scout Pat Murtaugh who first discovered Gregorius for the Diamondbacks.
Murtaugh‘s assessment of Gregorius’ offensive potential was more optimistic than that of other scouts. Piecoro wrote:
But Murtaugh saw Gregorius in 13 games last season. After each series, he bumped up the grades in his scouting report, namely as it pertained to his offensive ability and potential. The stats didn’t match up with the scouting report, but Murtaugh thought they might in the future.
If being a general manager were as simple as looking at a few statistics on Baseball Reference, more people would be qualified for the job. Alas, the job is much more challenging than that.
Many scouts and sabermetric writers didn’t think Gregorius would hit. Towers saw some Derek Jeter in Gregorius when he watched him play. Murtaugh saw someone who would eventually hit despite his uninspiring numbers.
Early in 2013, it looks like the Diamondbacks got it right by dealing Bauer for Gregorius. Good scouting appears to have paid off in a big way for Towers and his staff.
Time will tell if the comparison by Towers of Gregorius to Jeter will prove to be prescient. For now, the Diamondbacks are happy to be in first place with the one of the game’s best young shortstops helping to lead the way.
All statistics in this article are courtesy of ESPN and Baseball Reference.
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The San Francisco Giants have lost all four of Matt Cain’s starts this season, which is important to consider when making your MLB picks Tuesday, as they continue a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park.
Sports bettors will find that the Giants are -130 home favorites in the pro baseball odds (courtesy of SBR Forum), while the total sits at 6.5 in the market.
Let’s take a closer look at this National League West matchup from a betting perspective, while offering up a pick along the way.
With Opening Day quickly approaching, only three National League teams have a better winning percentage than the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, they sit in the middle of the Cactus League standings. Wins say a lot during the regular season, but we need to look deeper to find meaning in those numbers during spring training.
Want proof? The Kansas City Royals are 22-6, with the Los Angeles Angels at just 8-17. No, records don’t really matter in spring training.
For the Diamondbacks, there are many other things we’ve learned during spring training that hold more value. Let’s take a look at 10 of them.
Adam Eaton, considered among the most exciting young players in baseball, was expected to start in center field and bat leadoff for the Arizona Diamondbacks this year. Instead, it was recently announced that he will miss up to the first two months of the season because of injury.
Arizona announced via the team’s Twitter account that the 24-year-old Eaton will miss the first six-to-eight weeks of the season because of a UCL injury in his left (throwing) elbow:
OFFICIAL: @dbacks OF @adamspankyeaton will miss 6-8 weeks with left elbow UCL sprain
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) March 22, 2013
The story was confirmed in a separate report by CBSSports.com’s Mike Axisa.
Eaton, who also bats left-handed, was expected to start in the wake of Justin Upton having been traded to the Atlanta Braves this past offseason.
He first came to the organization as a 19th-round draft choice in 2010.
Despite standing only 5’8”, he consistently impressed during his time in the minors, batting a combined .355 with a .966 OPS and 98 stolen bases in 319 games over three seasons.
Eaton also performed well in a 22-game major league cameo with Arizona last year. Playing regularly during the final month of the season, he hit .259 with two home runs, 19 runs and 14 walks.
The decision to go with him as a full-time starter in 2013 was looking good in light of his .390 batting average and 10 RBI in 20 games this spring.
Eaton was also starting to receive national accolades for his play.
ESPN.com’s Keith Law named the outfielder his top potential impact rookie this season in an Insider (subscription required) article.
He was also ranked as Baseball America’s 73rd-best overall prospect entering the season.
FoxSports.com’s Jack Magruder reported that Eaton has a small tear to a ligament in his elbow. He had noticed discomfort in the elbow two weeks ago but had continued playing until finally getting it tested.
According to an Associated Press article appearing on ESPN.com, Eaton was defiant in insisting that he would be back before his projected return timeline:
I’m sitting here today saying it’s not going to take me that long. I’m going to do at all costs to get back quicker. I put all my faith in the doctors but at the same time for me there’s an aspect where I want to try to get back a little sooner and try to push things a little bit. We’ll be smart with it of course, we’re not going to do anything stupid with it. But I’m definitely going to try to do a speedy recovery for sure.
While Eaton is sidelined, Gerardo Parra will likely receive the bulk of the playing time in center field for the Diamondbacks.
Arizona general manager Kevin Towers told MLB.com’s Tyler Emerick that the plan is to shut Eaton down for a month and then ease him into a throwing rehab schedule. He will be able to swing a bat during the shutdown period, so he may not need much time to be game-ready when he is finally cleared to play.
The scrappy Eaton explained to Emerick how bitterly disappointed he was to receive news of his injury:
It’s the worst timing ever. I didn’t sleep a wink last night and I probably won’t for the whole month I’m out. It’s going to be tough to see the guys have fun every day, but I guess it’s all part of the game. It’s going to kill me for sure.
If he can come back quickly, Eaton would still have enough time to have an impact rookie season. For now, he’ll have to wait, which seems to be the worst agony of all.
Statistics via Baseball-Reference
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The grass is cut, the skies in Arizona are clear and the temperatures are perfect. It’s time for baseball again in the valley of the sun, which means the Arizona Diamondbacks can put a disappointing 2012 season behind them and start fresh for 2013.
The landscape of the National League West has changed, with the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers expected to compete with the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. The Diamondbacks can’t be counted out of the equation, though.
They have a deep and talented pitching staff, and a good combination of youth and veterans who know how to get the job done. It was just two years ago that this team won 94 games and the National League West crown.
Let’s get to the season preview.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have extended the contract for newly acquired infielder Cliff Pennington, keeping him in Phoenix on a two-year, $5 million deal. The signing was reported by Buster Olney of ESPN via his Twitter feed.
The 21st overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft played five seasons with the Oakland Athletics. He was never much of a hitter, but played defense well enough to start. He was the starting second baseman for the Athletics in the 2012 Division Series.
He came over to the Diamondbacks in the three-team deal that sent Heath Bell to Arizona and Chris Young to Oakland. The Diamondbacks depth chart on MLB.com has Pennington as the starting shortstop.
But Arizona also acquired Didi Gregorius from the Cincinnati Reds to play shortstop, and it cost the team Trevor Bauer, who is a top pitching prospect. So, where the 29-year-old Pennington fits into their long-term plans is unclear.
Perhaps the move insures a deep infield to go along with their stacked outfield and strong, young rotation.
Either way, the shortstop position, which looked so uncertain after the trade of Stephen Drew during the 2012 season, has a little more depth to it now.
The Diamondbacks’ off season might not have been easy to define with some of their surprising moves, and the never ending Justin Upton rumors. But they seem to have filled in a lot of holes in the process.
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The Arizona Diamondbacks are primed to make a run at the defending MLB champion San Francisco Giants and the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. 2012 was a letdown, but 2013 is going to be a major rebound year.
At 81-81, the Diamondbacks fell well short of expectations in 2012. They aren’t expected to win the National League West in 2013, but they are expected to be in the race.
They’re deep at starting pitcher, with more help in Daniel Hudson on the way later in the year. They’ve got a deep bullpen with multiple closer options, so they can sustain injuries and continue on.
The offense was No. 6 in the National League in home runs and batting average in 2012, which they would certainly take again in 2013. Let’s take a look at who’s going to breakout and lead the Diamondbacks back to the playoffs.