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Diamondbacks news
- [dbacks.com] D-backs Winter Classic big hit with children - Some great pics from tone of the team's long-standing charity events. Paul Goldschmidt was among those who got involved in the Herpetological Society petting zoo. Herpetological? Let Goldie clarify. "It's not like if I see a snake in my backyard, I'm going to go up and start petting it... But I couldn't back down because there were cameras over there." Both snake and slugger survived the encounter.
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The Diamondbacks are among many teams that will not consider giving up a draft pick to sign either Ervin Santana or Ubaldo Jimenez.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 20, 2013 - [AZ Central] Trumbo eager to prove doubters wrong - “I think you’ve got to have something that motivates you,” he said. “There’s no shortage of things that people seem to pick out that I do or don’t do. I think it’s good to play with a chip on your shoulder. To the guys out there that have those things to say, you can keep it up and we’ll turn it into something positive.”
- [NHL.com] Goldschmidt drops first puck at Coyotes' game - "I got a lot of text messages from family and friends. A lot of them said 'Don't fall.' Keep your fingers crossed. Hopefully I'll be all right." While he would likely possess a good slap shot, Goldschmidt has no designs on changing sports. "I'm paid to get out of the way of the [ball]. They are trying to get in the way," he said of blocking shots. "I like getting out of the way better"
- [dbacks.com] Former hurler Rodrigo Lopez to join D-backs' Spanish broadcast - "Former D-backs pitcher Rodrigo Lopez will serve as the team's Spanish radio color analyst starting in 2014, with a slate that includes all 162 regular-season games and two Spring Training games on KSUN Radio Fiesta 1400 AM."
Somewhat D-backsish
- [FOX Sports[ Pitchers could wear protective headgear next year - "They're coming," Brandon McCarthy said. "From everything I know they'll be available this year. I don't believe they're going to be mandatory.... It should be strong enough and capable enough that literally if I got hit by the same exact ball, I would have been able to keep pitching in that game." The only problem with the headgear? "It looks ridiculous."
- [AZ Central] Derrick Hall on a mission to stop hunger in Valley - Main contribution: trading Heath Bell to the Rays. Sorry, couldn't resist.
- [Backing the Pack] NC State Picks Up Linebacker Ty Linton - if that name sounds familiar, it's because Linton spent the last four seasons in the D-backs farm system, though never got above Low-A ball. With a .651 minor-league OPS, this is probably for the best. He got a $1.25 million signing bonus from us in 2010.
- [YouTube] Best of MLB 2013 bench-clearing fights - or, given, the time of year, perhaps we can call this "Decks and brawls"...
Not very D-backs at all
- [Chicago Tribune] Cubs' Castro has $3.6 million seized in legal dispute - So you think YOU had a bad day. "Castro had $3.6 million seized from his bank accounts Wednesday for refusing to pay 3 percent of his contract to a baseball school in the Dominican Republic, according to published reports."
- [Sportsnet.ca] When the game is gone: Freel's final days - Ryan Freel's family recently revealed that the former MLB outfielder was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy at the time of his death. A really sad tale.
- [AP] MLB average salary up 5.4 percent to $3.39 million - "According to the annual report released Wednesday by the Major League Baseball Players Association, the increase was the steepest since 2006. The Yankees had the highest average for the 15th consecutive season at $8.17 million... Houston's average of $549,603 was the smallest since the 1999 Kansas City Royals."
- [LIFE.com] When Chickens Play Baseball, Everybody Wins - "The geometric perfection of human baseball might be missing. But dramatic tension? It's got that in spades." From 1953, a gallery of... well, baseball as played by chickens.