Diary of a Diehard

In just a few short hours Major League Baseball will announce the Baseball Hall of Fame 2012 class. One name is already known that being Ron Santos who was posthumously elected by the veteran’s committee. It is unfortunate that Santos was not elected earlier to enjoy this richly deserved honor for a lifetime of work in baseball. Sometimes it seems that tragedy is the catalyst for change.

For the most part this year’s Hall of Fame class is lacking a big name first ballot persona. Those who will be listed for the first time on the ballot include: Bernie Williams, Vinny Castilla, Javy Lopez, Ruben Sierra, Jeromy Burnitz, Tim Salmon, Tony Womack, Phil Nevin, Brian Jordan, Erick Young, Bill Mueller, Terry Mulholland, and Brad Radke.

Continue reading ‘Hall of Fame Eve’ »

After the Arizona Diamondbacks announced their spring training reporting dates it officially signaled the beginning of the end of the off-season. Shortly after the announcement Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall held his monthly Internet chat with fans and talked about the team’s organizational meetings that were held this week at Salt River Fields.

Attending the meetings were General Manager Kevin Towers, manager Kirk Gibson, the Major League Baseball coaching staff, and members of the Diamondbacks player development organization. During these meetings they discussed the state of the Major League roster as well as all of the players in the minor league system. They also talked at length about how the organization will maintain their edge a season after surprising everyone to go from worst to first winning the NL West.

Continue reading ‘The Postman Never Rings Once Let Alone Twice’ »

Today the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that Spring Training would officially begin in 44 days 19 hours 31 minutes and 22 seconds. Well technically they announced that pitchers and catchers would report to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on February 20th but I am sure that was just a rounding error and they really meant to say 44 days 19 hours 30 minutes and 16 seconds (time never stands still so you have to take into consideration that it took me 1 minute and 6 seconds to type this paragraph).

It feels like a decade ago instead of 90 days 21 hours 45 minutes and 37 seconds that the final out was recorded in Miller Park in Milwaukee ending the Arizona Diamondbacks 2011 season. But finally there is an end to the long, dark tunnel that is the off-season.

Continue reading ‘The Countdown Begins’ »

At least twice a year I find myself in a rather heated argument with my wife. No we are not arguing over the invalidity of the Designated Hitter and how it should be abolished immediately. If it were as simple a disagreement as that we could resolve our differences and be done. No, this argument is much more sinister than that.

Continue reading ‘Fight for Your Right to Bobble’ »

I will be the last to admit it but I am a procrastinator. I usually wear that badge with pride. While I may be the last one to finally get started doing things, I like to think that gives me an opportunity to evaluate the environment and learn from others mistakes rather than make them on my own. I briefly considered making it one of my New Year’s resolutions to stop procrastinating but after careful consideration I decided that would be a subject best left for next year.

My wife continually reprimands me for putting things off. You would think that constant reminding would motivate me to change but I always think that tomorrow looks much better to start the change than today. Despite my lackadaisical philosophy of life it hasn’t gotten me into too many problems.

Continue reading ‘I Need a Date’ »

When Josh Byrnes became the General Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, he brought with him a new philosophy. Players were evaluated based on rigid statistics and SABRmetrics were all the rage. Everyone in the minor league system and major league rosters were defined by a set of numbers. To some it seemed very impersonal and cold but to others it would take the guesswork out of who the Diamondbacks should retain and what kind of team they would become.

One of the first areas that Byrnes would have to address would be the outfield. In left was the face of the franchise and World Series hero Luis Gonzalez. According to Byrnes and his statistics Gonzalez was past his prime. With Jeff Moorad in tow the two had breakfast with Gonzo where they told him he was not wanted by the team regardless of the price.

Continue reading ‘Constant Reminders of Past Mistakes’ »

Have you ever gone to a restaurant or a party and in walks a beautiful woman and the guy next to her looks like he is one brain cell away from being the missing link? And you think to yourself, “How in the world did that guy ever get her to go out with him?” That in a nutshell describes my confusion around the “Winter Classic”.

Each New Years Day the National Hockey League holds an outdoor hockey game at a dormant Major League Baseball Stadium. Normally the teams involved have some long-standing rivalry or features some of the games brightest young stars.

Continue reading ‘The Winter Classic’ »

New Years is one of those really weird holidays. I’m not exactly sure why we make such a big deal over making a calendar obsolete. If I didn’t know any better I would guess this is one of those made up Hallmark holidays that appear on the calendar as an excuse to sell more greeting cards or in this case more calendars.

Regardless of whether you are a fan of New Years Eve and by extension New Years in general I find this time of year is especially appropriate for not just looking forward but also to reflect on the past 365 days. For whatever reason, each year I sit down with a piece of paper and begin to write down resolutions or suggest changes that I somehow feel my life needs. Last year I went through a similar exercise and I thought it might be fun to see how close I came to actually accomplishing any of the resolutions.

Continue reading ‘How Did I Do?’ »

Stop me if you have heard this before. The Arizona Diamondbacks minor league system is becoming one of the best in baseball especially from a pitching perspective. The starting rotation in Double-A in particular is getting a lot of well-deserved press. Each member feeds off the others bringing everyone’s game to a new level.

Comparisons are being made between this group and the Atlanta Braves rotation in the 1990’s. Everywhere you look experts are touting this as a very special set of players that are destined to keep Arizona near the top of the National League Western Division for a long period of time.

Continue reading ‘Deja Vu – Diamondbacks Deal for Pitching’ »