Diamondbacks midseason survey: Fans weigh in on upcoming trade deadline, biggest disappointment and more

The Diamondbacks‘ first half officially came to an end earlier this week. Suffice it to say that it did not go as planned.

As of the end of Thursday’s game, they were 39-42 at the mathematical midway point of the season. Last year, they were 48-33 at the halfway point, sporting a 2 1/2 game lead in the NL West division. Entering play on Sunday, they are 2 1/2 games out of the playoff picture.

Earlier this week, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo was asked for his assessment of the team’s first half.

“We’ve had a lot of really good moments, a lot of proud moments,” Lovullo said. “But we have a lot more that we want to achieve. I don’t want to just sit at .500. I want to go out and put it on teams. And we’re good enough to do that.

“We have in spurts, but we gotta be consistent. There’s no reason why we can’t go out and win eight out of 10 games.”

Lovullo is looking for more from the Diamondbacks in the second half, and, coming off last year’s World Series run, you the fans are, too.

With the first half of the Diamondbacks’ 2024 season officially in the rearview mirror, I asked you 11 questions about the team’s first half. More than 500 of you responded. Without further ado, here is a look at what you had to say.

1. How many games will diamondbacks end up winning in 2024?

Even with the Diamondbacks sitting three games below .500, 61.8 percent of respondents expect the club to finish the season above .500. The most popular response was 82-85 wins, which garnered 43.7 percent of the vote.

In our preseason survey, 46 percent of voters had the Diamondbacks winning 90 or more games this year. In this survey, that figure was just 0.8 percent (represented by the tiny white sliver in the pie chart).

The Diamondbacks would have to go 50-29 or better the rest of the season to reach 90 wins.

2. Will the Diamondbacks make the playoffs in 2024?

Entering play on Sunday, Fangraphs gave the Diamondbacks a 20.4 percent chance of making the playoffs. Nonetheless, more than half of you, 57.6 percent to be exact, still expect the club to make a second consecutive postseason appearance this year.

The fact that the Diamondbacks sit just 2 1/2 games out of the NL wild card picture entering Sunday helps a lot, as does the fact that starting pitchers Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez are still expected back some time before the end of the season.

3. Who was the Diamondbacks’ first half MVP?

I almost removed this one from the survey because it seemed so obvious. Sure enough, Ketel Marte — whose .877 OPS and outstanding defensive metrics warrant NL MVP consideration — came out with nearly 95 percent of the vote.

Others receiving multiple votes include Paul Sewald (6), Christian Walker (6), Joc Pederson (3), Brandon Pfaadt (3) and Zac Gallen (2).

Shoutout to “The Cotton Candy Guy” as well, who received a write-in.

4. Who was the Diamondbacks’ most valuable pitcher in the first half?

More than three-fourths of “Most Valuable Pitcher” votes went to relievers, and that says everything you need to know about the Diamondbacks’ starting rotation in the first half.

To be fair, it also highlights how good the Diamondbacks’ backend relievers have been. Although he allowed three runs on Saturday, Ryan Thompson has been close to untouchable as the setup man, still sporting a 1.89 ERA. Sewald has given up all of one run in 15 2/3 innings this year. Flame-throwing youngster Justin Martinez has emerged as a trusted weapon as well.

Among the starters, Brandon Pfaadt came out on top with 19.4 percent of the vote. Pfaadt has shown flashes of brilliance in his sophomore season, but he finished the first half with a middling 4.45 ERA in 16 starts. Perhaps Zac Gallen would have gotten more love here had his sensational Saturday start happened a few days earlier.

5. Which Diamondbacks player was the best fielder in the first half?

If the season ended today, both Christian Walker and Ketel Marte would be well-positioned to win Gold Glove honors at their respective positions. Defensive metrics peg Marte as the more valuable of the two, with Marte at 11 defensive runs saved and 9 outs above average compared to 6 and 8 for Walker, respectively.

It does seem surprising that Gabriel Moreno, who won a Gold Glove in his first full season last year, is a distant third place (6.6 percent). Moreno has six defensive runs saved this year compared to 20 last season, but his fielding run value at Baseball Savant is on pace to be effectively the same as it was a year ago.

6. Which Diamondbacks player was the biggest pleasant surprise in the first half?

I had no idea who would win this. It wound up being extremely close, with four different players — Justin Martinez, Joc Pederson, Jake McCarthy and Kevin Newman — all taking around 20 percent of the vote.

All four have valid cases. Martinez has a 1.17 ERA in 30 2/3 innings after posting a 12.60 ERA in a cup of coffee in the majors last year. Pederson has a career-high 149 OPS+. McCarthy’s OPS is more than 100 points higher this year than last. Newman opted out of his deal with the Diamondbacks in late March, only to wind up signing back several days later. It is hard to say what the Diamondbacks would have done without him; Newman emerged as the club’s everyday shortstop while Geraldo Perdomo worked his way back from injury.

Other players receiving multiple votes include Randal Grichuk (4.6 percent), Marte (1.6 percent), Thompson (1.4 percent) and Pfaadt (0.4 percent).

7. Which Diamondbacks player was the biggest disappointment in the first half?

It is no secret that a few select players have struggled mightily for the Diamondbacks in 2024.

Nearly 40 percent of you pegged Eugenio Suárez as the club’s biggest disappointment. Suárez appeared to be the optimal solution to the team’s third base problem after being acquired in an offseason trade, but he has posted just a .595 OPS, tied for the second-lowest mark in baseball among qualified hitters.

Expectations entering the year were arguably much higher for outfielder Corbin Carroll, but he garnered 26.5 percent of the vote here. Carroll has gone from winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award and finishing top five in MVP voting in 2023 to a .613 OPS so far this season.

Meanwhile, among pitchers with 60 or more innings, left-hander Jordan Montgomery has the second-highest ERA in baseball at 6.03. Fellow free agent signee Eduardo Rodriguez has yet to throw a pitch this year due to injury.

Frankly, the season has been something of a disaster for all four of those players, and getting them back on track — or just healthy, in E-Rod’s case — would be a big boost for the club in the second half.

8. With half of the season in the books, how would you grade the Diamondbacks’ 2023-24 offseason?

The Diamondbacks drew widespread praise for their busy offseason, but the only way to accurately assess offseason moves is to wait and see how they play out. So far, the results have been subpar.

Suffice it to say that you all thought much more highly of the Diamondbacks’ offseason in our preseason survey — which, mind you, was distributed prior to the team signing Montgomery — than you do now:

	A	B	C	D	F
Preseason	39.7%	55.9%	4.1%	0%	0%
Midseason	5.8%	27.2%	48.7%	15.3%	3%

More than 95 percent of you gave the Diamondbacks an A or B for their offseason in March. Now, that figure is down to 33 percent.

9. If the trade deadline were tomorrow, how should the Diamondbacks approach it?

The Diamondbacks have some big decisions to make with the July 30 trade deadline now only a month away. How the team performs between now and then figures to have a big impact on which direction they ultimately go.

Sitting at 2 1/2 games out of the playoff picture right now, most of you — 65 percent, to be exact — said that the Diamondbacks should be buyers if the deadline were tomorrow. Meanwhile, 14 percent of you said that the Diamondbacks should sell, and 21 percent said that they should stand pat.

We’ll get more clarity on the team’s trade deadline approach in the coming weeks.

10. How confident are you in the Diamondbacks’ overall direction?

In spite of the team’s subpar first half, 77 percent of you said that you are still either somewhat confident or very confident in the team’s direction moving forward. That seems pretty high, although it is down considerably from the preseason survey, in which more than 99 percent of you expressed confidence in the team’s future.

Fifteen percent of you are now unsure about the Diamondbacks’ direction, with another eight percent feeling not very confident or not confident at all.

11. Given how the first half has gone, what do the Diamondbacks need to accomplish this season to meet your expectations?

About 15 percent of you said that you are content with the team finishing above .500 this year. Almost all of the other 85 percent need the team to at least make the playoffs to feel satisfied. Nearly a quarter of you — 21 percent, to be exact — said that the team would have to advance past the wild card round to meet your expectations.

Sustainable postseason success has alluded the Diamondbacks franchise since its inception. Only once have the Diamondbacks strung together back-to-back postseason berths — in 2001-02 — and never have they won postseason series in back-to-back years.

Sitting three games below .500 with now under 80 games to play, the Diamondbacks are not exactly well on their way to bucking that trend. Nonetheless, there is a lot of baseball left to be played — more than enough time to turn their disappointing season around.

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Top photo: Joe Rondone/The Republic