SnakeBytes: Happy Mondays edition

Pitchers

• [FoxSports] Cahill seeking mechanical consistency, bounceback year - "Last season, Cahill said, he struggled to maintain a consistent arm slot. "Usually it just kind of fluctuates a lot. It makes it hard to be consistent. Most of the time, I don't really notice. Usually (catcher Miguel Montero) or somebody will point it out. It's kind of something they pay attention to, because during games I don't usually notice." Presuming Cahill does find the right arm slot this spring, the challenge will then be repeating it consistently. Part of that, Cahill says, is battling the urge to tinker when something doesn't go right."
• [ArizonaSports] Bradley throws first live batting practice of spring training - "It's still very early in spring, but it felt good to get out there; throw to some hitters, have a game-like atmosphere—really get to throw your pitches, see where you are at so far in the spring. The first guy I faced today was Trumbo. I've watched him hit home runs for three or four years now. I'm still a little kid and a baseball fan. I step in and I see Mark Trumbo and just get excited, get nervous; everything that I love about this game (rolled) into one. It's fun to compete and see where your stuff is."
• [NineMSN] Diamondback Corbin an MLB underdog - "You never know how long you're going to be around the game. You've got to be smart around your money and if the day comes when you get a long-term deal or a contract, maybe you could spend more. But for now it's all about baseball for me and getting my job done. I could tell by coming to Australia (last year) they are hard working people and root for the underdog it seems. They don't take anything for granted and I just feel like that's the Australian way."

Position players

• [AZ Central] Parra says waiting for Diamondbacks to have confidence in him was hard - "It was hard," he said. "The only thing was, I was waiting for my time. Right now, it's my time. I’m happy for that. I’ve worked the last three years for that opportunity. I’ve only thought about trying to play my baseball, play hard and play for the team."
• [Fox Sports] D-backs' young shortstops not fearing competition - "I hate relaxing. It's just the way I am," Gregorius said. "Everyone wants to sit down or do this or that. I just want to keep going. I never want to stop. I always wanted to stay in drive; I never want to lose it. It was just awesome to get to the big leagues. Every year it is something different. For me, last year is last year. This year, I'm going go to forward. Every year is a competition. You are always competing, so for me it is nothing different -- just go out there and play the game. If you want to get better, you have to do something, right?"
• [AZ Central] Trumbo intent on improving OF skills - Trumbo is determined not to be a liability in the outfield, and thinks his lumbering reputation is a bit unfair. "It’s not like I’m totally inexperienced out there, that’s the thing," Trumbo said. "I think some people think I’ve never played outfield before, when in fact I’ve played a decent amount, and at the big-league level." He arrived in Arizona about a week before position players reported, and has been working with new first-base coach Dave McKay one-on-one to hone his mechanics.

Other stuff

• [dbacks.com] Arizona Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall discusses state of franchise - On the new jersey program. "I got a note from someone saying their grandson got a green D-backs jersey, what's with the green? I wrote back that in the lower leagues where there are so many kids and so many different teams we had to use as many different colors as we could, other than blue and orange. He wrote back and said, "Oh, I get it, no Dodgers, no Giants.""
• [AL.com] Which players in the Diamondbacks' spring-training camp could wind up in Mobile? - While most of us are looking toward the 25-man roster, a local site covering our Double-A affiliate is wondering who might end up further down the organizational chart.
• [AZ Central] Diamondbacks preparing for physical, mental toll of Sydney trip - Brandon McCarthy: "You’re there, your adrenaline is up, you’re playing two games — that’s all good. And then you come back and you’re jet-lagged and beaten down physically — and then you’re playing pretend games. The first two weeks of the season are kind of a crawl to get through because of that. Two or three days, maybe, and then it’s just a unique wrinkle in your travel schedule. The coming back and having a whole other week is too much, I think."
• [dbacks.com] Petrick's story continues to inspire - Ben Petrick, current special advisor to the our Class A affiliate in Hillsboro, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2000 at the age of 23 and retired as a player three years later. "It's hard for me to see myself as an inspirational person because I'm just a regular guy who just happened to play baseball with a disease, who didn't want to quit with the disease and just kept going. I try to live life and if that's inspiring to others, then great. If I can help others with my story, cool."

Around baseball

• [Boston Globe] Annual baseball manager rankings - Gibson is ranked 19th of the 20 returning managers [first-timers automatically go to the bottom of the list].
• College baseball is under way, Arizona took the series against Kent State, despite allowing 11 runs in an opening frame on Saturday, an inning which required three pitchers and took 55 minutes. They held the opposition to five runs over the other 26 innings. ASU also won their opening set, taking two of three from Baylor, scoring nine runs in the sixth inning on Sunday, to blow open the rubber game.
• [Washington Post] The Nationals have a drone - I know new broom Matt Williams is changing things up in Washington, but, really? Oh: hang on... "Team photographers were gathering material to be shown on the video board at Nationals Park, and the drone enabled them to film from a different perspective."