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Please have a seat. I’m sorry to call you here under these circumstances, but as you know your team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, had a really tough year.
Behavioral issues aside with your players decapitating mascots, botching fly balls, and using alleged foreign substances on their pitching glove, we need to discuss the real issues that lead us to this point of failure and a final record of 52-110.
Here is their final report card for this year.
Believe it or not, this is the grade Torey Lovullo has earned. In what became a nightmare of a season for this organization, Lovullo stood at the helm of this sinking ship as its captain in the midst of a violent storm and kept it from capsizing.
While the 110 losses is second worst in franchise history to the 2004 season that Bob Brenly – who helped bring Arizona our first major championship – didn’t survive as manager, this season was the perfect storm of injuries, lack of depth within the organization, and terrible luck.
That doesn’t mean Lovullo is not without his faults. His mad scientist approach to making everyone into utility players is questionable. He used over 150 different lineups this season, and the team suffered defensively at both second base and centerfield due to switching Ketel Marte’s position.
But at the end of the day, the D-backs renewed Lovullo’s contract because they knew this mess was on the front office more than it was on their manager. Their failure to properly staff this team with adequate personnel to take on a competitive NL West is what lead to this team’s shortcomings and eventually a 100-loss season.
To say the D-backs were below average in both defense and pitching is an understatement. Only one team – the Baltimore Orioles of course – finished with a team ERA higher than Arizona’s 5.13.
The D-backs got 41 quality starts out of starting pitching for just 25% of their outings. Their .321 winning percentage ties the Baltimore for worst in all of MLB.
So how do they earn a C+?
Despite appearing to be another disastrous and overpriced signing by the D-backs, Madison Bumgarner really turned things around this season, owning a 3.95 ERA and an opponent batting average of .238 in his final 14 starts of the year. Zac Gallen returned to form in a dominating performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of the season, while Merrill Kelly consistently held the rotation down all year.
But more than anything, the D-backs made history with two of their four no-hitters in team history occurring this season courtesy of Tyler Gilbert and a 7-inning no-hitter lite by Bumgarner.
Say what you will, but despite some high highs and some low lows, this starting rotation still has potential to be good if not great moving forward.
The bats were being stored in the lunchroom walk-in this season. Arizona was ranked 26th in team batting average, 29th in home runs per game, and 25th in runs per game.
It wasn’t all bad though. Extra base hits were their thing, ranking second in doubles and fifth in triples thanks to those corners at Chase Field. Marte continued to rake all season long despite several hamstring injuries, Daulton Varsho emerged as a potential offensive powder keg, and Josh Rojas proved to be a valuable commodity on the base path.
They also had 22 games with 5+ run innings this season even though it seemed like those crooked numbers often eluded them.
The D-backs did have instability at the hitting coach position, opting for two coaches instead of one and then parting ways with those coaches midseason, so a different direction with Lovullo’s staff may get things back on the right track for this team at the plate.
Over the past 10 seasons, defense has been a staple of this franchise, especially infield defense with two-time Gold Glove winner Nick Ahmed anchoring the team at shortstop. However, the wheels fell off defensively for this team this year.
The D-backs were -37 in defensive runs saved, a category that they have consistently seen positive numbers for in past seasons. They were -17 at second base, -5 at third base, and -8 at shortstop. The other major area of concern was centerfield, where they were -25.
As a team this season, Arizona had a fielding percentage of .983, which is below the league average of .985, and 100 errors, which is the fourth highest in baseball behind the Marlins, Red Sox, and Twins.
Much of this could potentially be rectified by Marte returning to second base and the D-backs assigning an actual centerfielder to play the position. Sounds crazy, I know.
Personnel decisions and lack of depth could be considered big culprits in the defensive mistakes and inconsistency this team experienced in 2021.
If I could, I would give everyone in the bullpen except Joe Mantiply and Noe Ramirez detention. This bullpen was flat out unreliable. They tied the Washington Nationals with a 5.08 ERA for second worst bullpen ERA in the majors, and their collective WAR of -1.2 was the worst in MLB, again matching the Nationals as the only two team bullpens in MLB with a negative WAR.
Their closer situation is still their biggest question mark. They were dead last in saves with 22 and had the seventh most blown saves with 28. Those 28 save conversions would have completely changed the complexion of this season, going from historically bad to a mediocre 80-82.
Mantiply and Ramirez have been bright sports for a relief staff where much else didn’t go right. The offseason acquisitions the D-backs made acquiring Joakim Soria and Tyler Clippard to bolster the pen didn’t work as both players spent considerable time on the injured list this season, with Soria eventually being traded to the Blue Jays for two minor league players.
Arizona has so many areas to address this offseason, but correcting their issues with relief pitching is critical and should be a priority for Hazen and Lovullo.
OK, personal grievance time. What the hell has happened to the food at Chase Field? What once was a culinary utopia that featured some of Phoenix’s most popular restaurants in a ballpark capacity – such as Paradise Valley Burger Company, Lolo’s Chicken & Waffles, and Portillo’s alongside original and ridiculous concoctions you could only get at Chase – is now a shell of its former self.
What’s worse is that most of these vendors that have departed haven’t been replaced by anything exciting. It’s all the standard sports stadium spread. It’s bad enough that a 52-win team on the field isn’t drawing anybody to the ballpark as is, but when you remove the dining aspect out of equation it seems like you’re unnecessarily limiting the reasons fans would purchase a ticket.
Kudos to newcomer Gadzooks for replacing the hole left in my heart by America’s Taco Shop no longer being around, and of course Hungry Hill continues to be a staple of Chase Field.
But I will never forgive them for letting Dutch Bros go.
Overall, I feel like many of these issues are correctable with this team still having potential, and I think it would be best for everyone if we didn’t repeat this year. But if these areas aren’t addressed immediately, I’m afraid that’s exactly what we might see in 2022.
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