Daniel Hudson

[jkadagio]

Targeted him this year, and was happy to see Bod had him ranked around SP20-ish. Didn't get him in any leagues though.

I haven't had a chance to see him pitch this year. Anyone who has seen him or following him have any thoughts?

From the box scores I like to see that the K's are still there (26 k's in 24+ innings). He has faced tome stronger teams too (CIN X2 and SF). Chalk his ERA & WHIP up to early season rust and tough teams, or is there more to it?

[Todd Zola]

With the caveat that no one KNOWS what is happening, all we can do is speculate and/or interpret the numbers....

His K/9, HR/9 and H/9 are all fine.

His BB/9 is high and his LOB% is very high.

The tea leaves suggest to me that everything is fine (save the high walk rate) and the high ERA is a result of the baserunners he has allowed scoring at a higher than normal rate, meaning the hits have been more clustered as opposed to being more spread out. This should normalize and the ERA will drop.

The number to monitor is the walks. If they don't come down, the ERA correction won't be down to the levels we expected coming into the season.

[Captain Hook]

Agree 100% with Todd......BUT please remember that he plays with a terrible defense and very poor offense, so the W are just not going to be as easy to get - unless he gets locked into a groove like he was last year

[Bodhizefa]

Agree 100% with Todd......BUT please remember that he plays with a terrible defense and very poor offense, so the W are just not going to be as easy to get - unless he gets locked into a groove like he was last year

I actually think the Diamondbacks' defense is pretty good. I profiled them going into the season as probably having a positive effect on their pitchers' ERA's. Other than Nady, who is a defensive cripple, there isn't a single really bad defender amongst their team. And he's not exactly a starter for them. Kelly Johnson is probably just a tick below average at second, but I like the rest of the team. Drew has underperformed drastically thus far defensively, and I expect he'll regress sooner than later. And their outfield defense is pretty darned good.

As for their offense, I've been pleasantly surprised thus far by their production. They're 7th in the NL and 12th overall in the big leagues, and I don't think they're in line for too much regression. I think they can play as an average offense given the talents on their team.

[jkadagio]

Looks like last night was a move in the right direction...no walks!

[Captain Hook]

Agree 100% with Todd......BUT please remember that he plays with a terrible defense and very poor offense, so the W are just not going to be as easy to get - unless he gets locked into a groove like he was last year

I actually think the Diamondbacks' defense is pretty good. I profiled them going into the season as probably having a positive effect on their pitchers' ERA's. Other than Nady, who is a defensive cripple, there isn't a single really bad defender amongst their team. And he's not exactly a starter for them. Kelly Johnson is probably just a tick below average at second, but I like the rest of the team. Drew has underperformed drastically thus far defensively, and I expect he'll regress sooner than later. And their outfield defense is pretty darned good.

As for their offense, I've been pleasantly surprised thus far by their production. They're 7th in the NL and 12th overall in the big leagues, and I don't think they're in line for too much regression. I think they can play as an average offense given the talents on their team.

I don't really want to argue this....BUT all the first baseman are below average; only one of the outfielders is really above average (all the way around). On the hitting side there is tons of Potential......the classic definition of potential being what you haven't done yet - or in this case can't do consistently. There are plenty of games where Young or Upton impress and several where they are no shows. Again the first basemen can knock a 400 ft home runs just not as often as they strike out. Roberts has been really good so far - but I have the dread they will put Mora back at third when he can play.