February 3, 2012
When Derrick Hall took over as President of the Arizona Diamondbacks he began to hold monthly online chats with the fans to allow them to ask questions of the front office. This has become a widely popular outlet where fans are able to gain some insight into the inter-workings of the team and provide feedback to those leading the team.
It is not always Hall who conducts these web chats. In the past the manager or the general manager has been put on the spot of answering questions from the fan base. This month’s chat featured General Manager Kevin Towers who took time out of his preparations for Spring Training to sit down for 30 minutes and field questions.
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February 2, 2012
One of my favorite non-baseball movies of all time is Groundhog Day. I know what you are thinking; yes I do sometimes watch something that is not baseball related. In most of those cases I am either in route to an emergency room or am suffering from some kind of disease that requires massive amounts of prescription medication to overcome but there are those rare occasions when something non-baseball disrupts my life.
It is traditional in our house to celebrate Groundhog Day in a very traditional sense. I try not to go outside for fear of seeing my shadow, I attempt to hibernate under my covers for at least six more weeks, and I have a meal consisting of ground hog meat. It is important to note that I wrote “ground” and “hog” separately. You miss just one little space between those words and you find yourself eating road kill. The evening ends with the family curled up on the couch watching the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray (who incidentally is a huge baseball fan and a minor league baseball owner to boot).
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February 1, 2012
The last time the Arizona Diamondbacks went to the post season in 2007 they did so with a lot of help from rookie starting pitcher Micah Owings who was an important part of the team not just with his throwing arm but also with his bat. That season the Diamondbacks slugging pitcher won a Silver Slugger award and found himself with pinch hitting opportunities those days when he wasn’t pitching.
The next year there were big expectations for Owings who struggled a little in 2008 with his control and found himself shipped off to Cincinnati as part of the deal that brought Adam Dunn to the desert for a late season surge to make the playoffs. That of course didn’t happen and the Diamondbacks slid behind the Los Angeles Dodgers finishing out of the post season.
Continue reading ‘Micah Owings, San Diego Is Your Padre’ »
January 26, 2012
Last year the Arizona Diamondbacks moved into their new Spring Training home Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. This state-of-the-art facility was the talk of the Cactus League bringing first class fan experience to the Phoenix valley after 12 years in Tucson.
Continue reading ‘Season Ticket Holder Spring Training Event’ »
January 19, 2012
Earlier this week the Arizona Diamondbacks announced plans for a unique event. The Most Valuable Partner event. For the first time in franchise history they are going to recognize the efforts of the team’s corporate partners.
I’m not sure what surprised me more, the fact that the Diamondbacks were creating this event to try and bring to the forefront how important corporate partnerships are to the success of a Major League Baseball team or the fact that no one had thought to do this before now.
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January 18, 2012
Ever have one of those days that you feel like you are completely in touch with your psychic powers and that you are a pair of tights and a cape away from declaring yourself as a super hero? That’s kind of how I was feeling after yesterday.
In the morning I sat down and penned a blog entry where I talked about the Arizona Diamondbacks interest in adding another veteran starting pitcher to the rotation. I briefly went over the various candidates that could fulfill the Diamondbacks needs. Among those candidates were previous Diamondbacks starter Joe Saunders.
Continue reading ‘Diamondbacks Finalize Rotation’ »
January 17, 2012
Over the weekend the Arizona Diamondbacks were linked to right-handed starting pitcher Bartolo Colon. After making the trade on December 9th bringing left-handed relief pitcher Craig Breslow and right-handed starting pitcher Trevor Cahill there were many who thought the Diamondbacks were done.
Arizona has been stockpiling young pitchers in their minor league system with several seemingly ready to compete for a big league roster spot. If that is the case, why would Arizona be looking to add another pitcher to their staff? The simple answer is, window of opportunity.
Continue reading ‘Diamondbacks Still in Market for Starting Pitching’ »
January 10, 2012
With the countdown to Spring Training now fully underway the dominos are beginning to fall into place. The Diamondbacks have begun holding organizational meetings with the managers, coaches, and representatives from the player development arm to assess each player under club control and how they may fit into the 2012 plans.
Salt River Fields at Talking Stick is being groomed with practice fields and stadium playing surfaces looking immaculate as ever. The grass is lush and green and the landscape around the Spring Training facility is coming alive with the first signs of spring.
Continue reading ‘Spring Training Single Ticket Pre-Sale’ »
January 9, 2012
The Baseball Writers of America have cast their votes and after tabulation the Hall of Fame class for 2012 had just one winner and it was well deserved. Barry Larkin, captain of the Cincinnati Reds and perhaps the most well rounded athlete to play that position during the 1980’s heard his name called in just his third year on the ballot.
Larkin received 495 votes giving him 86.4 percent well over the 75 percent necessary for enshrinement into Cooperstown. Last year Larkin received just over 62 percent falling behind Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven but a year later he saw his stock raise over 22 percent to solidify his spot among the game’s best.
Continue reading ‘Hall of Fame Class of 2012’ »
