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Team news
The Diamondbacks could be heading back into Mexico next spring training.
#DBacks still discussing possibility of playing a spring training game in Hermosillo, Mexico, in 2015, source says. @FOXSports1
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 22, 2014
It's a little odd, as the spring training calendar for the team has already been announced. But it's also nothing new, as the Diamondbacks have played south of the border before. Indeed, it used to be something of an annual tradition - I think the last time was 2010, and I guess it made more sense when we had spring training in Tucson,
[MLB.com] Stewart's journey to GM has been years in the making - Is rolling open the blueprint of the team with the Majors' worst record a big enough challenge? Enough kindling for the fire? "Our goal is to win a championship," Stewart said, then glanced at club president Derrick Hall sitting to his right. "Maybe not this season, it may take two, but we'll get there." "See how Stew bought himself some time?" Hall said, grinning. "He's smart and has good survival instincts."
[Arizona Sports] Arizona Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart lives in former GM's house - Hmm, maybe this explains the Hellickson trade. Did he change the locks? "As the D-backs pushed Stewart to move out of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Phoenix, Towers offered to share his home.The two lived together for about a week, before Towers decided to join the Cincinnati Reds' front office. Once Towers took that job, Stewart stayed in the house, paying rent and making sure to occasionally start up his friend's motorcycle to keep it clean. Stewart said he is a great house guest, except for a few pieces of toilet paper in the bathroom trashcan."
[Houston Chronicle] Remembering a busy Christmas Eve in 2005 for the Hinch family - Hinch was helping to recruit outfielder Eric Byrnes in the 2005-06 offseason. On Dec. 24, 2005, Hinch and Erin were in church in Phoenix, where she grew up. No deal was done, but Hinch had been pressing Byrnes to sign. "We were in church on Christmas eve. Church lasts one hour," Erin said. "He gets up in the middle, he gets a phone call." Hinch says he has to take it. It's Byrnes, of course. "It's my parents, it's my grandparents, my sisters there all in church and he gets up and leaves in the middle of church," Erin said. "I was like, are you kidding me? In church?"
#DBacks release ex-football player Brandon Jacobs, a LF who slugged 16 HR at High-A Visalia in 2014 but hit just .210/.291/.410 overall.
— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) December 24, 2014
Jacobs was the player to be named later, who was received by the Diamondbacks from the White Sox to complete the Adam Eaton trade. 16 home-runs in 310 AB is decent, but not so much, when coupled with a .210 batting average. At 23, he wasn't exactly young for the level either, and John didn't regard him as worth a spot on the top 60 prospects list, earlier this month,
And, elsewhere...
[Washington Times] Rochester team made baseball history in Cuba. - News that President Barack Obama is moving to normalize relations with Cuba has some baseball fans remembering a time when Cuban baseball was big, and the night in 1960 when the Rochester Red Wings fled Havana while explosions rocked the city. They were the last American team to play a regular game in Cuba before the U.S. embargo went into effect.
[WSJ] In Uganda, Out of Nowhere, There Is Baseball - After landing in Uganda, I went through an Ebola screening, paid my $50 visa fee and walked out into the bright East African sun to meet a tall, broad-shouldered man. This guy, I thought, looks like a baseball coach. George drove me to the Catholic vocational center where he learned baseball. Uganda's roads are swirling sunbaked chaos, parades of storefronts selling cellphones, chickens, bananas and, this time of the year, fried grasshoppers. Kids were everywhere, playing, running, begging. "I came from the slums, and learned carpentry here," George told me when we arrived at the school. "Carpentry and baseball."
[SI] SI's 10 favorite things in baseball from this year - Or "More reasons why 2014 pretty much sucked."
[Sporting News] What is life on the road like for professional baseball players? - "It's typically a pretty boring bus ride. The biggest drama is typically who gets their own seat. Most teams do it by furthest level reached. That way, if a guy has been in the MLB or AAA, they get their own seat. You wouldn't believe how complicated this system can get though, with players trumpeting a AAA spot start as a reason they should have their own seat. The easiest part is to get on the bus early, put your stuff down and let the younger players figure out who they can or cannot "double up" with."