2014 SnakePit roster announced: Writers and editors report!

To start with the departures, as usual, we've seen something called "real life" take its toll on the regular contributors. I'm not quite sure what that is, but it sounds awful, and I hope there's some kind of vaccination available.. Less facetiously: school, work and other stuff means a few have had to step down from their positions, though in the vast majority of cases, should still be present on the site in one form or another, as time permits. Therefore, a moment of silence, please, for our fallen comrades, in alphabetical order: BattleMoses, Jared Jorde, snakecharmer, Wailord and Zavada's Moustache. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten.

Firstly, these departures meant promotions from within. Firstly, blank_38 and TolkienBard have taken over as editors, which means they now get to drop the ban-hammer. I would thus recommend against pissing them off. Also, moving from the bullpen and into the regular rotation, we have imstillhungry85 and Turambar. Both were stalwarts in Fang Food last season, and as well as continuing that feature, will be adding regularly scheduled recaps to their roles. You should pretty much be aware of who they are, so no particular formal introductions will be required there.

To the new recruits. Not entirely new in the case of DeadmanG, as you've probably been aware of his NL West round-ups and position players review Fanposts in the past couple of months. Let's turn the mic over to him for an introduction.

Hey Snakepitters! I'm DeadmanG. (Don't ask where I came up with that name.) I'm one of the newest additions to the Snakepit site. I will be helping out with John on the minor league coverage, and minor league topics in general this coming season. I was born in AZ on August 10th, 1987. When I was younger, I always wondered why we had a football, basketball, and hockey team, but no baseball team.

When my old man told me Arizona was getting a team, I was all aboard. I moved to St. Louis in 2012, but will be moving back to az this summer. So if you ever want to see what it's like to be a Dbacks fan in STL, I'm the guy to talk to! My other hobbies are Hells Kitchen, Pro Wrestling, making food recipes (imstillhungry, I hope you have some good recipes this year), and hating on the Dodgers. I hope to have a fun year with you all!

A couple of entirely fresh faces are also present. The first of these is Ross Dunham, who actually applied last year - unfortunately, just after we'd announced the 2013 crop of writers. Patience paid off, as he was top of the pile for 2014 and, fortunately, was still interested. Ross is a junior at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU. He played baseball for over half his life and had the opportunity to play at the collegiate level but decided to pursue a career in sports writing instead. Born and raised in Mesa, AZ, Ross has always been a fan of the Diamondbacks and Arizona Sports teams in general. He'll be recapping Saturday games.

Last, but not least, is Tyler Pollard, who came through a referral from Ryan Morrison, at Beyond the Box Score. He will be following in ZM's footsteps, and taking over the series previews, but like all the newcomers, may well be seen anywhere on the 'Pit, as ideas arise. Here's perhaps a good place to mention, for those of you who are on the Twitter, that you can follow him @tpollard3, and Ross @Dunhaaam. Don't think DeadmanG is on Twitter. Or if he is, he's not following me, so as far as I'm concerned, he's dead to me. :) Anyway, why don't you introduce yourself, Tyler?

I am an eighteen year old senior in high school getting ready to go on to ASU, where I plan to get my degree in Business with a focus in Legal Studies. My goals include one day being able to work in a baseball front office or just work around the sport because I am such a big fan of it. Speaking of fandom, I am a life long Arizona sports fan, name an Arizona Sports team and odds are I tune in every night to watch them play.

I also love to write, which leads to me being a big sports journalism junkie as well. In the past I have been blessed with the opportunity to write to for the Tucson Citizen covering Arizona State football. I am really excited to be able to be added to the AZ Snake Pit team as a contributor and couldn't be anymore excited for the 2014 season.

Just as in sport, so in running a site like this: new blood, with the freshness and original opinions and ideas it brings, is essential. I'm looking forward to seeing what all our rookies bring - and knowing that the veteran writers (including myself!) will have to step up their game to match. Join me in welcoming them to the team, and to mark this happy occasion,. I will permit them one (1) small glass of water to celebrate, before chaining them back to their desks...