Opening Day! [Just Not For Arizona...]

It's finally here: the opening day of the 2011 baseball season. And, yet, it isn't, with half the teams, including us, sitting idle today. It just doesn't seem right somehow, and takes away from the appeal of the spectacle. To draw a parallel, it's as if half the children get to open their presents on Christmas Day, while the others can only watch, and have to wait until December 26th before pulling off the bow. I'll certainly be following the action - and feel free to use this as a de facto discussion thread - but still, it's like the difference between bedding Penelope Cruz, and watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona. On broadcast TV. Before the watershed.

After the jump, an advance peek at what the SnakePit will be bringing you this year.

Firstly, we welcome two new writers to the team, in blue bulldog and Zavada's Moustache. Both have shown themselves capable of producing smart, well-written work, and it's great to have them contributing to the site on a more formal footing. But we are still looking to expand the roster of writers further, and to this end, next week, we'll be running a FanPost contest - yes, with actual prizes, in the shape of Amazon gift-cards! - to see what untapped talent might be out there. As their main priorities, ZM will be posting previews of each series as we go through the season, and bb will be teaming up with IHSB to bring us enhanced and more regular coverage of our farm system.

They'll also be providing plenty of in-depth coverage of the June draft, which is shaping up to be the most important in team history - both before, scouting those we might picks, and after, as we negotiate terms. and those we chose start their pro careers. Also to this end, once our minor-league teams get under way, I'll be bringing you a morning recap of all the results from the previous night, up and down our system. That'll highlight outstanding performances and keep you informed of progress by the likes of Jarrod Parker. Given the way this season is shaping up, our prospects may be the best source of comfort for Diamondbacks fans in 2011...

At the major-league level, Sprankton will bring us a 'Trending' report, telling up who's up and who's down on the 25-man roster. Wailord is in charge of the week;y SnakePit contest: this will expand on the caption competition run last year, but will also include other categories of fun and games. The off-season round tables we did seemed to be popular, so we'll be extending those into the regular season. We'll pose the questions of the day to our team of editors, writers and authors, who will answer them with their usual mix of informative wit, sarcasm and nerd jokes.

I've updated the 'Useful Links' section on the side, to weed out some links that are no longer...well, useful [don't make me re-open the Off-Topic Chatroom!], and include some others, such as our recent series introducing baseball statistics. Since the original is now three years old, there will be a fresh 'Hello, my name is...' post going up tomorrow, so posters old and new can get to know each other better. That's particularly important, since we are perpetually reminded that this is a community, and it's everyone who takes part who make it that.

Win or lose, we'll be here, every day of the 2011 season, bringing you the latest news and opinions on our Diamondbacks. So spread the word. Follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, do whatever the verb is on Reddit, to help the site grow and keep us the #1 independent site about the team. And with that said...

Play ball!

[Just not for Arizona... Sigh...]