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[Hardball Times] 10th anniversary: Durazo freed
"Ten years ago today, one of the most long-sought and eagerly anticipated trades in sabermetric history occurred. It was on Dec. 15, 2002 that Durazo finally was freed. Arizona took part in a four-team trade that sent Durazo to a team willing to use him, none other than the Oakland A’s themselves, fresh off their 103-win Moneyball season." Chris Jaffe reviews the deal, which he calls "one of the most long-sought and eagerly anticipated trades in sabermetric history." For the record, what we got back was Elmer Dessens, though I do wonder if there may have been other reasons for Arizona dealing him - Durazo's name was linked to PEDs more than once.
[MLB.com] Cahill, McCarthy share profession and friendship
"For Trevor's birthday this year, we got him a bunch of Star Wars stuff," said McCarthy. "When he was with the A's, we tried to get it out there just how into Star Wars he is and then how big of a deal it is that he was throwing on 'Star Wars Night' here. He's always trying to downplay it. He'll say, 'I'm trying to keep up my street cred.' I told him, 'Just tell everyone you love motorcycles and leather, with a Star Wars collection on the side.'" I know certain SnakePitters who just raised Cahill up their ranking of favorites...
[Arizona Sports] GM: Never came close to trading Justin Upton
Speaking on KTAR 620's Doug and Wolf show on Wednesday", Kevin Towers said, "We never came close at all, no closer than the last two years when we went to the winter meetings. We value this kid very highly -- for obvious reasons -- and you know, we said the only way that we would talk about moving Justin is if we got a package back that made us a better ball club in 2013 and beyond, and that didn't happen." But... But.... There is shurely shome mishtake here? For Ken Rosenthal assured me Upton was already a Texas Ranger!
[USA Today] Nightengale: D'backs' Bauer outage all about attitude
"When Bauer threw a fit after being pulled from the Class AAA championship game against Pawtucket, one out short of qualifying for the win in Reno's 10-3 victory, they punished him. Bauer, with Towers in attendance, was forced to apologize to his teammates." I'd missed that little nugget. Nightengale does seem less than entirely convinced Bauer is 'fixable': "Maybe this is the wake-up call he needs. Maybe this will force him to do some soul-searching, realize his fastball has dropped from 95-97 mph to 91-92 mph, and recognize that big-league hitters are a lot more patient than pimple-faced college kids. If not, he'll be nothing more than another overhyped, first-round casualty. The annals of baseball are full of them."
[CBSSports.com] The Wiki-war on Kevin Towers has begun
[Citation needed] It might not have lasted long, but after the trade of Bauer, a spot of vandalism briefly broke out on Wikipedia, as shown below. Hmm, I think I'll pop over there and cross-check the IP address of the user responsible, see if it correlates to NASCAR's Ghost in any way... :)
[dbacks.com] D-backs open public fitness club at Chase Field
"The Arizona Diamondbacks and their fans are flexing their respective muscles thanks to a first-of-its-kind partnership with Mountainside Fitness, the official fitness center of the D-backs. On Wednesday, Mountainside Fitness, the state's largest locally owned health club and a D-backs corporate partner since 2008, unveiled its newest 13,000-square-foot location -- Mountainside Fitness Platinum at Chase Field, marking the first public fitness center housed inside a U.S. sports venue." Trying to figure out where at Chase it is: can't be sure from the pic. I know they were redeveloping Sliders, which closed at the end of last season, but this doesn't look like there.
[SB Nation Dallas] Konrad Schmidt clears waivers
"The Texas Rangers announced Friday that catcher Konrad Schmidt has cleared waivers and has been outrighted to the club's Triple-A affiliate, Round Rock." Guess Arizona didn't want him back... Good luck to Schmidt: his numbers may not merit inclusion in the Diamondbacks Hall of Fame, but his facial hair certainly merits an honorable mention.
[dbacks.com] Fully recovered right-hander Brandon McCarthy opens D-backs chapter
"I was sort of hesitant as to what I could do or what I was capable of, and then once they pushed me through it, I realized actually I think I'm fine," McCarthy said. "Ever since that day, I haven't been restricted by anything. I've felt no symptoms. Really it's become as much of a non-factor as something that major can be. I've resumed full workouts with no limitations. Haven't had even the slightest hint of a setback." That's great to hear. Obviously, what happened was a scary, scary thing: there can't be many cases in the modern era where a major-leaguer has come closer to dying as the result of an in-game incident.