Diamondbacks Spring Training Round-Up: Eve of the Eve of the War

Quotes of the day

• "I honestly didn't really think of it too much. Whatever their decision is, I feel like I'll be up here at some point during the year. I was just able to go out there, be myself, compete and just work on some stuff to get ready for the regular season."
  -- Patrick Corbin
• "He threw the ball really good. He was very comfortable on the mound and in the whole environment. 92 pitches, threw six in his last inning. He was real efficient and he was hitting both sides of the plate. Slider was very good tonight, very sharp and his change up, the few that he threw, was also very effective with that."
  -- Kirk Gibson
• "Waivers are still going on, and we don’t have to finalize things until tomorrow after the game. Every day new guys come on, so to me it's just the process is you wait until the last minute when you have to make a decision, just to find out if players are designated. The last thing you want to do is tell a player he's on a ball club and then all of a sudden somebody pops up."
  -- Kevin Towers

Cody Loss

In probably one of the less unexpected announcements, Cody Ross will start the season on the DL. It's not certain yet when he may return to the team; he can more or less do so at any time, because of how long he was out of game action in spring training, since March 3. He has been hitting in minor-league games, which don't count for that purpose: it's running that remains the issue. Said Ross, "We felt like we hadn't gotten far enough in the running to where I could just run out there on Opening Day and not risk injury. It's a tough one to swallow, but at the end of the year we'll hopefully look back and say that was the right move."

Bo Knows Baseball

Minor-league pitcher Bo Schultz wrote a really interesting article on his time in the Cactus League. Definitely worth a read, I was particularly struck by this. "Every morning I arrive at the field between 6:30 and 6:45. And, every morning I see millionaires already working their asses off in the gym or in the training room getting the treatment they need to perform. Do they have to be in the gym that early? No. Do they need to be in the clubhouse early to impress the coaches? Absolutely not. Do they know what they have to do to be the best in the world and to stay ahead of guys like me itching to take their spots? You bet. And that’s the beauty of this game at the highest level."

Around baseball

• Rather overshadowing the announcement of Paul Goldschmidt's contract were a pair of honkingly massive deals also signed yesterday. The divisional rival Giants will be paying Buster Posey $167 million over the next eight seasons, a record for the franchise and for a player with less then three years of service time [Joe Mauer's $184m deal remains the catcher's record]. And Justin Verlander got a huge payday from the Tigers, which will keep him in stripes through at least 2019 - he'll earn $28 million per year from 2015, making him the highest-paid pitcher ever.
• Razzball asked me to answer some questions for their fantasy baseball preview. I feel I should point out it was written before Adam Eaton hit the DL, or my enthusiasm for him would likely have been slightly more muted!
• As we head toward Opening Day, National Geographic magazine takes a look at ten times baseball was spoiled by nature. I particularly liked the picture at the top of the piece, showing a face we now know rather well, warming up in a much colder climate!