Giving Them What They Want

It's at the bottom of every Jibber Jabber Chad Jones writes. Email Chad Jones at blah blah blah blah. Most writers hate that thing, but it's part of the business right? Well, unlike most writers, Chad Jones actually reads your emails. You want to hear about the Diamondbacks do you? Chad Jones listens, this week, in a FREE PREVIEW OF PREMIUM CONTENT he's Giving Them What They Want.

So Alex from Peoria doesn’t care that much about the Red Sox or Yankees and he begs me to write about the Diamondbacks. Well Alex, I’ve got three things for you. First, I don’t like the Red Sox or Yankees either which is why I haven’t written about them. Two, don’t beg. You’re not a dog, and I’m not a hot blond (dirty brown actually). Third, you’ve got it. You and the rest of the subscribers are the reason why I get to do what I do, so I might as well give you what you want, and talk about the _D'Backs.

I wonder where we should start? How about Shawn Estes?

The man projected by many to be Arizona’ fourth starter found his way on the injury list after tweaking his ankle. Of course in Diamondback fashion he didn’t turn it covering down on first or even pushing off the mound. That would be too traditional, or dare I say Yankee like. Instead the 32year old former Rocky decided he needed to find a new way to get hurt, and succeeded when he was run-up-under by his dog.

That’s right; one of Arizona’s biggest free-agent signees might miss his first start because of an English bulldog.

I can already here you die-hards rationalizing how this kind of freak injury could happen to anyone, just as Sammy Sosa, and that the sneak attack wasn’t a sign that the _{D'Backs are quickly joining the Cardinals as the most disrespected organization in their respective sport. But you know what, it might be time to wake up and smell the coffee because the D'Backs have been going the way of the Cardinal quicker than a Randy Johnson, or Curt Schilling fastball.}

This opinion isn’t being based entirely on the fact that you had and lost two of the game’s five best pitchers in the last two years.

I also considered the rest of the ownership’s blue print on how to make a 51-win team that couldn’t bat itself out of a wet-paper bag, worse.

First, you trade away the man who won 1/5 of your games. I know the Unit forced the trade, but come on, you have to at least try and get off the Titanic before it sinks don’t you?

Of course the reason why Mr. Mullet abandoned ship is the same reason why he went 16-14 last year, despite a 2.60 ERA. Arizona’s offensive was terrible. You know the equation better than I: a .253 AVG (26th), and a .393 SLG (28th), plus 441 BB (29th), equals a major league low 615 runs.

But hey, "last year, smash year," it’s not how you did, it’s what your doing that matters, so let’s take a peak at what Arizona really did to fix their problem.

First, they added Craig Counsell and Royce Clayton’s combined 10 HR, 77 RBIs and .260 AVG. To bad they sent Shea Hillenbrand’s 15 HRs, 80 RBIs and .310 AVG up north to Toronto, and let Danny Bautista’s 11 HRs, 65 RBIs and .289 AVG slip away to the Devil Rays.

In all fairness, Shawn Green and Troy Glaus can easily account for those numbers, and then some, except for the facts that your new $45 million man hasn’t played 100 games since 2002 and Green’s average has dropped from .297 to .266 over the last four years.

I will admit Javier Vasquez was a good pick-up but doesn’t hurt to know that Arizona had to give up their gem for the Yankee’s trash. Russ Ortiz’s 15-9 record and 4.19 ERA are pretty solid too, but then again Schilling went 21-6 in Boston last year.

Oh did I mention that Arizona’s 4th starter, Estes, got blind sided by an English bulldog?

Regardless, the "addition by subtraction theory" that Arizona teams are famous for using only works when the flow of talent works something like this: Good Talent in, Bad Talent out. As usual, Arizona’s got it backwards.

Is that more to your liking Alex?

_{Email Chad Jones at}