THE TRUTH-Don’t Blame Chip Hale for ALL of this Mess

There are benchmarks during a Major League Baseball season. Memorial Day is the first one, so it’s time to take stock in what’s going on with the hometown nine. They stink.

Eight games below .500, closer to last than first, sparse attendance. It all adds up to the Diamondbacks being one of the most disappointing teams in the game. As usual, the manager (Chip Hale in this case) is the one taking the beating for all of this mess.

Fire Chip, wave a magic wand and suddenly Yasmany Tomas ($68.5 million dollar contract) isn’t going to be swinging at pitches in the 520 or 928 area code? Fire Chip and Shelby Miller gets batters out? Fire Chip and A.J. Pollock comes walking through the door? Fire Chip and the two big guns, Goldschmidt and Greinke would suddenly be putting up all-star numbers?
This organization has had a problem finding and keeping managers.

In my book, Bob Melvin should still be here rather than having great success in Oakland. A.J. Hinch has become pretty smart in Houston with a great roster, although I felt he wasn’t ready to be a big league manager when the Diamondbacks gave him the shot. Point is, Chip Hale hasn’t even had two full seasons under him and fans want change. I’d say look above Hale and toss some arrows, too. The Tomas contract looks bloated, he hasn’t given them the CONSISTENT production that they should get out of a corner outfielder. The Shelby Miller deal today looks like one of the worst in the history of the franchise (we could argue the Troy Glaus contract,  using 3rd overall pick on Trevor Bauer or Richie Sexson trade). There is no way to sugar coat the Miller deal.

I am not in the clubhouse everyday, but when a team underperforms, you have to look at the makeup of the players. I was in the clubhouse everyday for the 2001 World Series winning team. They had strong personalities and were talented enough to pick up each other when things weren’t going well. Are Goldschmidt and Greinke the types of leaders in the clubhouse to address and lead through the mess? Does the team play poorly at home because ownership isn’t a fan of the facility?

IF Archie Bradley can string together some strong starts, Greinke builds on his strong May, and the Diamondbacks can find another bat, I think they can start to turn this around. You don’t have to get it all back by July 4th, but there needs to be a push by the team in the next 30 days to not let the season slip away. Finding more pop behind Goldschmidt has to be a priority. I am not saying Carlos Beltran is the answer, but the Yankees are scuffling, he’s in the final year of his deal and leads the team in homers and RBIs. A ‘rent-a-player’ like that for 2016 can get you through until Pollock returns in 2017. To me that makes more sense than playing your backup catcher in the outfield.

Firing Chip isn’t the answer.