Diamondbacks make all of the wrong coach firings following frustrating season

The 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks stole the spotlight in the 2023 postseason, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Philadelphia Phillies in October despite winning just 84 regular season games and advancing to the World Series. They'd lose in the Fall Classic to the Texas Rangers, but it was quite the season for a Diamondbacks team that wasn't even expecting to make it to the postseason, let alone go on that deep of a run.

It felt as if the NL champions had only gotten better this past offseason. They acquired Eugenio Suarez, Joc Pederson, and Randal Grichuk to lengthen an already formidable lineup. They signed Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery to fortify their rotation. They'd have to compete with tough teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the NL West, but making the postseason felt like a near lock. Unfortunately, that didn't wind up being the case.

Arizona faltered down the stretch and despite finishing tied with both the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets, they missed out on the postseason. They won five more games than they did in 2023, but still missed out on October.

Despite the regular season improvement, the Diamondbacks weren't shy in shaking things up, firing highly-regarded pitching coach Brent Strom, assistant pitching coach Dan Carlson, and bullpen coach Mike Fetters according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

While it's good to see that the Diamondbacks aren't satisfied with an 89-win season that failed to result in October baseball, it feels as if the moves that they made won't solve anything.

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Diamondbacks coach firings are difficult to understand

By making these moves, the Diamondbacks made one thing very clear. They felt as if pitching was the reason that they didn't make the postseason in 2024. From watching the season play out, it's not hard to understand why the Diamondbacks felt that way.

The Montgomery signing was an unmitigated disaster for Arizona. The Edwardo Rodriguez signing doesn't look quite as bad since he missed much of the season due to injury, but he struggled when healthy. Brandon Pfaadt had an extremely inconsistent first full MLB season. Even Zac Gallen took a step back.

The problem, though, is that while their staff ERA was marginally higher in 2024, their pitching was mostly better this season than last, and that's with several difficult circumstances to navigate.

Their FIP and ERA- were far better in 2024 than in 2023, and their K-BB ratio was practically the same. Sure, their staff ERA rose from 4.48 to 4.63, but the expected stats suggest that their pitching got unlucky. That's with everything that went wrong.

Everyone in their staff, with the exception of Pfaadt, missed some time due to injury. The duo of Merrill Kelly and Rodriguez combined to make a total of 21 starts and struggled when they were on the mound. Montgomery, as mentioned prior, had just a dismal year. Even Paul Sewald, a previously reliable closer, had his worst season in recent memory. Again, just about everything that could've gone wrong with their pitching did.

Despite all of that, their expected statistics as a staff suggested that they were better than last season when they made their push to the World Series. Even their win/loss record suggested that they were better than they were in 2023 even with how they finished.

Had they won 89 games in 2023 they would've been the second Wild Card team in the NL just 1.0 game back of the Philadelphia Phillies who held that top spot. Had they won 89 games in the AL this season, they would've been the second Wild Card team ahead of both the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers who happened to win their series.

Sometimes, teams have unlucky years. Making moves after missing out on the playoffs is understandable, and it's awesome that Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick cares so much about winning that he'd fire people after an 89-win season. However, when the pitching looks better than it did last season when they made a run to the World Series despite all of the injuries and underperforming veterans, is clearing out the pitching coaches really the right move to make?

It feels as if the Diamondbacks made moves for the sake of making moves after a disappointing season. The moves that they made don't seem to be addressing their actual issues.