Just a guy from Section 132 Row 9 Seat 9
This year has been a cornucopia of delights. Despite the Arizona Diamondbacks having a dismal season on the field, it has been a great year to be a fan of the team. So many things have happened this year. But it is nothing compared to what 2011 will be.
Commissioner Bud Selig announced Chase Field as the location of the 2011 All-Star game meaning all eyes will be on Phoenix Arizona when the mid-summer classic takes place.
Since the season ended, the Arizona Diamondbacks have been searching for two candidates that would fill the coaching vacancies on the Major League Baseball staff. Diamondbacks manager AJ Hinch suggested he hoped to fill these spots by the first week in November.
While November 11 is not technically the first week of the month it is fairly close. The Diamondbacks announced today that they had filled these positions and agreed to a 2010 contract with bullpen coach Glenn Sherlock who has been a coach with the organization since the inaugural season in 1998.
Continue reading ‘Diamondbacks Fill Coaching Vacancies with Familiar Faces’ »
The annual Major League Baseball General Manager meetings began Monday with representatives from all 30 franchises meeting at the O’Hare Hilton in Chicago. The Arizona Diamondbacks are represented this year by GM Josh Byrnes with assistants Peter Woodfork, Jerry Dipoto and Bob Gebhard.
Given the season that the Diamondbacks had in 2009, the interest in hiring away the assistant general manager staff from Arizona has mostly evaporated. This group has shown a tendency to focus on objective statistical player evaluation rather than rely on traditional scouting methods.
A year ago the Arizona Diamondbacks began shopping back-up catcher Miguel Montero around the league. They had signed starting catcher Chris Snyder to a three-year contract after he had proven himself as a capable starter who handled the pitching staff very well.
Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks could not find a deal adequate to trade Montero. As they went into Spring Training 2009, Snyder remained the primary catcher. Manager Bob Melvin explained that Snyder would get the bulk of the work behind the plate and Montero’s role would be as a left-handed pinch hitter who would occasionally start behind the plate.
Just three days after the completion of the 2009 World Series and already the changes have begun for the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was to be expected that the team would make some adjustments to their roster given the fact that the team finished in last place some 25 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Arizona wasted no time in getting started. Their first order of business was the 2010 option on Brandon Webb. From the comments coming from General Manager Josh Byrnes and Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick it came as no surprise that Arizona picked up the option ensuring that Webb would begin the season at the top of the Diamondbacks rotation.
Now that the World Series is over, fans across the country begin to settle in for a long off-season before Spring Training arrives in February. For fans fortunate enough to visit the Valley of the Sun in Arizona, there is still baseball to be found.
The Arizona Fall League is now in full speed ahead mode. Games began in early October and teams will continue to play through mid-November. I’ve written before about the Arizona Fall League and what you can expect to see at these games.
With the tenth pitch of the at-bat, Philadelphia Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino hit a slow rolling grounder to New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano. Cano scooped it up and tossed the ball to first baseman Mark Teixeira for the final out of the 2009 World Series.
In the infield of Yankee Stadium players met and began celebrating the culmination of a year-long dream to bring the New York Yankees their 27th World Series Championship. At that exact same moment, somewhere in Arizona a stop watch was started signaling the beginning of a countdown.
“I would say first week of November is my goal as far as any decisions.” These were the words of Arizona Diamondbacks manager AJ Hinch when he was asked for a timeline of when he hoped to fill the two coaching vacancies on his staff.
When the disappointing 2009 season came to an end, so did the tenure of third-base coach Chip Hale and first-base coach Lorenzo Bundy. Their contracts were not renewed for 2010 leaving two openings on the major league coaching staff.
Continue reading ‘Coaching Search Flying Well Under the Radar’ »
Game Six of the World Series. The New York Yankees are just one win away from a world championship. They are sending Andy Pettitte to the mound. Pettitte has been one of the Yankees most clutch post season pitchers in franchise history. Given the Yankees powerful line-up; they are heavy favorites to close out the World Series without getting to a chaotic Game Seven.
That paragraph could very easily have been written to describe the 2009 World Series. Instead, it was part of a paragraph I wrote on November 3, 2001. The Arizona Diamondbacks had left then Bank One Ballpark after Game Two holding a two-game lead over the New York Yankees.
