Diamondbacks Spring Training Round-Up: And Contracts For All

Post-game quotes

• "It didn't go great. I felt good though so I was kind of happy about that. Just getting back out there facing some hitters again, felt like the ball was coming out of my hand good. I wasn't locating the fastball; breaking stuff was okay. It's something to build off, definitely. "
  -- Wade Miley
• "It’s disappointing. I was really looking forward to pitching with Mexico, but it is definitely a great honor to pitch for the USA. It’s where I was born and raised. It was a great honor either way... I was definitely looking forward to pitching against Team USA, because they have a talented roster. I’m just glad these guys are on my side now. Hopefully we can win it. That’s the ultimate goal."
  -- David Hernandez

...and YOU get a contract! EVERYONE gets a contract!

In another bit of bad news for Miley on Saturday,. the D-backs announced they had renewed his contract for 2013, as opposed to the other 20 pre-arbitration players, with whom they "agreed to terms." For such players, there really isn't much negotiating, as the team can, effectively, pay them whatever they want. But the unilateral renewing of the contract by the Diamondbacks does suggest Miley was looking for a bit more. Still, one doubts we'll quite see the same thing as happened with Mike Trout, whose agent publicly ripped the Angels for renewing Trout's contract at a paltry $510,000 rate for this year.

Didi's playing catch

Shortstop prospect Didi Gregorius played catch on Saturday for the first time since being shutdown due to an elbow issue which has sidelined him for the entirety of spring training, and cost him any shot at challenging Cliff Pennington for an Opening Day job as the position. Said Kirk Gibson, "We've tried to take that out of the equation and take a chance to get to know him. He's worked out a ton, worked on his running. In the end we're being overly cautious because we don't want to take any chances with it. Everything has been outstanding to this point." The report says he'll be playing catch for the next week or so, and then re-evaluated.

Around baseball

• Jose Quintana threw three perfect innings as the White Sox tossed a four-hit shutout of the Reds, winning 4-0 at Camelback. Meanwhile, the Padres fell behind 6-0 to the Indians after one, but got all that back, and more, in a seven-run third which featured Logan Forsythe hitting two triples. Ubaldo Jimenez allowed five runs in two-plus innings, as Cleveland lost 11-8 to San Diego at Goodyear,
• Commissioner Bud Selig said on Saturday at Salt River Fields that he wants tougher penalties for drug cheats."I have been interested in stiffer penalties for some time We've made meaningful adjustments to our testing, and it is time to make meaningful adjustments to our penalties... For a very small percentage of people it hasn't served for as much of a deterrent as I think it should."
• The Republic reports, "Mesa has reached a final agreement for the Oakland Athletics to return their spring training operations to the city beginning in 2015." They'll be taking the Cubs' cast-off facility at Hohokam. and Mesa will cover the first $15 million of improvements there, with the next $5m split between the team and city; anything beyond that will be on the A's. Their lease of Phoenix Muni expires next year, with the park expected to become ASU baseball's home.