From the Republic: "Diamondbacks General Manager Josh Byrnes and President Derrick Hall are being rewarded with contract extensions, each receiving an eight-year deal that will run through 2015." Wow. I'm thinking this is pretty much unprecedented. I can't think of any other GMs, in particular, who have been locked in by their teams for so long. But I'm glad to hear it; there were rumblings a couple of months ago that Byrnes had been approached by another team [no-one's saying which franchise, but the Cardinals seem a possible guess]. He's done such a brilliant job in his time here, that losing him would likely be akin to losing Webb.

Good to see Derrick Hall will be sticking around too, and committing long-term to the future. He has proven to be very approachable and 'out there', along with the fans in the trenches. Most regular attendees have seen him, or have a story of meeting him; mine is when he showed up, unannounced, at a DBBP get-together before a game, and just hung out with us for a bit. Can't really imagine Garigiola or Colangelo doing that. Kinda smart too, to keep on the right side of the die-hards who bleed Sedona Red. :-)