Arizona Diamondbacks 2016 Year in Review

What Went Wrong?

If you want to describe what went wrong for the Arizona Diamondbacks this year, you probably need to start with the player everyone was watching before the season even began. Zack Greinke, the $200 million man, was the shiny new toy purchased by a team not known for throwing its financial weight around. While expecting a repeat of his landmark 2015 season would have likely been too much for even the most optimistic observer, most were figuring that he would remain among the game’s very best starters.

It certainly didn’t proceed that way. Greinke was hammered for seven runs in four innings in his first outing for the D-Backs, and he continued to struggle throughout April. He began to turn things around in May and June, but then he hit the DL with an oblique injury that caused him to miss all of July. He faltered again upon returning in early August, and it all added up to a 4.37 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 3.27 K/BB ratio over 158.2 innings. Definitely not what we have come to expect from Greinke.

While expectations were not quite as high for Shelby Miller, the club was really counting on him to be a solid number-two arm in the rotation. You don’t trade your recent number-one overall draft pick for someone you don’t think is going to help you. To put it bluntly, the plan was an abject disaster. The 25-year-old righty sputtered to a bloated 6.15 ERA, 1.67 WHIP and 1.67 K/BB in 20 outings. It got so ugly that the D-Backs were forced to send him down to Triple-A for a spell in mid-July to try to figure things out.

Of course, the rest of the rotation didn’t perform much better. In fact, Arizona starters posted a 5.19 ERA as a group – only Minnesota was worse (5.39). No pitcher who made at least 10 starts for the D-Backs this year finished the season with an ERA under 4.00. The staff was filled out with several younger hurlers not quite ready for primetime (Robbie Ray, Patrick Corbin, Archie Bradley).

The bullpen was similarly dreadful. D-Backs relief pitchers combined for a 4.94 ERA, third-worst in the league ahead of the Reds (5.09) and Rockies (5.13). It didn’t help that the squad’s two best relievers, Brad Ziegler and Tyler Clippard, were shipped out via midseason trades. After Ziegler converted 18 of 20 save chances as closer, the club turned primarily to Daniel Hudson and Jake Barrett, who went 5-for-7 and 4-for-9, respectively.

In an arid climate and home ballpark that have always been quite friendly to hitters, the Diamondbacks have traditionally struggled to put an effective pitching staff together. (Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling are distant memories.) The 2016 season continued that trend, top to bottom.

Injuries struck some of last season’s biggest offensive contributors as well. A.J. Pollock didn’t make his season debut until August 26 after breaking his right elbow just before Opening Day. This after looking like a star on the rise the year prior, slashing .315/.367/.498 with 20 homers, 76 RBI and 39 steals. Fellow outfielder David Peralta played only 48 games due to wrist and back issues, after breaking out to the tune of an .893 OPS in 2015.

Next: The Future