Our celebration of 2001 may be over, but Fox Sports Arizona will be replaying the 2001 World Series victory parade on Monday - a decade to the day after it happened - at 7:00 pm. That's just the start of the month; if you're pining for the D-backs, they will also be screening their choice of 10 D-backs telecasts we're most thankful forin November, beginning at 5pm on Tuesday. That will be Ian Kennedy's post-fatherhood shutout, and they work up to a Thanksgiving banquet of four games, glazed with a lovely honey-baked coating. Or at least, they will be in Snakepit Towers, anyway...
See the end of the piece for more baseball you can watch!
- [dbacks.com] Roberts finds he has a following in Taiwan - "For people to know my name and to see someone with a Tatman sign was very shocking, to be honest with you. A couple of years ago, I didn't think anyone knew who I was. And all of a sudden, I'm over here and people have a Tatman sign. It was amazing to see."
- [MyNews4.com] Cowgill Named PCL Topps Player of the Year - "Cowgill was one of two Diamondbacks farmhands to earn a Topps Player of the Year honor this season, with Mobile BayBears first baseman Paul Goldschmidt taking home the top prize for the Double-A Southern League."
- [MLB.com] Three Minor League players suspended - "Diamondbacks RHP Amilcar Arauz has received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol. The suspension of Arauz, currently on the roster of the Club's Dominican Summer League affiliate, will begin at the start of next season."
- [Downtown Devil] 10 years after World Series win, Diamondbacks still impact downtown businesses - "The 2001 baseball season and playoffs brought droves of people to downtown Phoenix... Not only in attendance at the games but to the restaurants, hotels, and shops as well. The World Series victory had immediate benefits for the Downtown Phoenix community."
D-backs going elsewhere department
- [SignOnSanDiego.com] Byrnes hires MacDonald, revamps front office - Another ex-Dback goes to San Diego. "[Chad] MacDonald rejoined Byrnes with Arizona in 2006 when Byrnes, as the Diamondbacks general manager, hired MacDonald as the assistant scouting director." He worked in the Mets organization last season.
- [Scout.com] Andy Tracy to manage in Phillies system - 37-year old Tracy hit .288 in 85 games for Reno last season, mostly as a corner-infielder, but also seems to have pitched in one contest.
- [SB Nation Chicago] Chicago Cubs Hire Joe Bohringer As New Pro Scouting Director - "[Bohringer is a] long-time MLB employee with 21-years of experience, and has served as a major league scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks since 2006. In Arizona he served under a former Epstein assistant, GM Josh Byrnes, so it is likely that Esptein has targeted Bohringer for quite a while."
Other stuff
- [Beyond the Box Score] Revisiting the Value of Last Year's Free Agent Signings - "For all the position players in the data set, teams invested $287M and only received a return of $264M in terms of on the field value." The perils of the free-agent marketplace...
- [Hardball Times] Ranking postseasons: 1995-2011 - "Based on the system Chris debuted last week for ranking postseason series, here's a look at ranking the overall quality of postseasons in the wild card era." This year's is 5th overall; 2001 is 8th of 17: basically, great World Series, meh before that.
- [FanGraphs] Odds for 2012 World Series, Converted to Projections - D-backs are 20-1, which seems worth a punt, given the Giants - y'know, the team that was eight games behind us in 2011 - are 16-1.
- [USA Today] Under the radar prospect: Diamondbacks OF Adam Eaton - "I've had a chance to see the Salt River Rafters twice. And each time, I've come away impressed with 22-year-old outfielder Adam Eaton of the Arizona Diamondbacks."
And speaking of the Arizona Fall League, D-backs Charles Brewer and Kevin Munson will be among those taking part in the AFL Rising Stars game. Better yet, it's being televised on the MLB Network, live from Surprise (Surprise!), starting at 5pm tonight. See? Told you there's still baseball...