It's not just the major-leaguers who can file for free-agency at the end of the season. Their minor-league brothers can also do the same, if they meet the criteria: there are twelve such players in the Diamondbacks' farm system this year. Here they are, with a link to their minor-league stats [which opens in a new window], so you can see if there's anyone there we might be interested in hanging onto.
- RHP: Jeff Bajenaru, D.J. Carrasco, Chad Harville, Donald Julio, Mike Schultz
- LHP: Hipolito Guerrero
- Catcher: Mark Johnson
- Third baseman: Mayo Santana
- Shortstops: Matt Erickson, Ronnie Merrill
- Outfielders: Jarred Ball, Rich Thompson
A couple of those names might ring bells for Arizona fans. Bajenaru appeared in one game for the Diamondbacks last year, threw one inning of work - and allowed three homers to Alou, Durham and Feliz, for four earned runs. He did retire Bonds though, which is nice. Since 2005, he has allowed five HR in 5.1 innings of work for us and the White Sox - we got him from them in the Cintron deal. Schultz also got a cup of coffee, and pitched a scoreless inning for us this year, back in April. He was sent down the next day, as we needed a starter for that game: Schultz finished the year with a 3.92 ERA in 55 games for the Sidewinders.