Well, that's it. The 2011 season is in the books, with the St. Louis Cardinals picking up their second World Series in five years. Go, National League. Not bad, considering how far back they were in late August, and more proof that it's solely how you play in October that determines who wins, not the regular-season. Got to feel for Texas fans though: twice, one strike away from the title, and denied the team's first ever championship. Oh, well. There's always next year.
But what of the Arizona Diamondbacks? Time to get that hot-stove fired up...
Diamondbacks
- [dbacks.com] Aaron Hill key to D-backs' offseason free-agent plan - "We don't have a lot of needs," Towers said. "I think our pitching is in good shape, really, I think it's more position-player focused than pitching focused."
- [Venom Strikes] 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks Recap - The Offense - "How did the team score more runs in 2011 with lower OBP and SLG?"
- [dbacks.com] D-backs promote Junior Noboa to Vice President, Latin Operations - "Noboa will continue to oversee the D-backs' baseball academy in Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic and serve as the team's liaison to its Latin American prospects."
- [azcentral.com] Dipoto's departure; Super 2 news; & other stuff - Ryan Roberts will be a Super 2, eligible for arbitration. Gerardo Parra, not so much.
Diamondbacks (more)
- [BaseballAmerica.com] Eaton Stands Tall In Fall League - "I've never been the flashiest player, I've never been the most polished player, but just going out and playing hard and giving my all day in and day out is all I can do."
- [MiLB.com] Goldschmidt powers way to MiLBY - Paul Goldschmidt earned the MiLBY Award as Double-A Hitter of the Year in a season that included Major League postseason heroics.
- [Joilet Herald News] Quigley getting shot with Diamondbacks - "The Joliet Slammers announced Thursday they sold [Ryan] Quigley’s contract to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He impressed Arizona’s front office during multiple Slammers games with a fastball reaching 96 mph and a nasty slider... He saved a league-record 28 games in the regular season and five more in the playoffs...striking out 72 in 42 2/3 innings."
- [Bloguin[ End of Season Post-Mortem: The 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks - "Not only a great base for this past season, but with some players coming up in the minor league system, a great core for the future."
Diamondbacks (less)
- [MLB Network] Games in November on MLB Network - Jonesing for baseball? MLB Network will televise all five games of the 2011 Taiwan All-Star Series between MLB players, including Ryan Roberts, and the Chinese Taipei national team from November 1-6.
- [Hardball Times] The top ten postseason series of all-time - Chris Jaffe makes an attempt to come up with a formula to rank the quality and drama of postseason series. Where does 2001 rank? And, after Game 6, where does 2011 rank?
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[BlockShopper] Former baseball pitcher selling Paradise Valley 6BD for $4M - Mike Hampton is selling his home. It's very nice:
- [FanGraphs] Top 15 Prospects Lists… Another Teaser - Marc Hulet looks at Adam Eaton, among other (non-AZ) prospects and provides a quote from a scout about another, for a game of 'Guess the Prospect'
- [onmilwaukee.com] Doug Russell's Blogs: The envelope please... (Part 2) - A Milwaukee writer explains why he'd vote for Ian Kennedy as CY winner.
- [MLB.com] MLB Fan Cave 2012 Dream Job - The MLB Fan Cave Dream Job experience is back for a second season...Of course, it's still in New York, which pretty much removes it from the "dream job" category, as far as I'm concerned...