SnakeBytes: Smile, please edition

Players

• [ArizonaSports] Mark Trumbo brings another big arm to outfield - Trumbo featured a fastball that registered as fast as 97 mph as a senior at Villa Park High School in Orange County, Calif... When asked about the outfielder's defensive ability on Tuesday at Cactus League media day, Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto wasted no time in pointing to the arm his organization drafted back in 2004. "One thing I can tell you," he began in reply, "he will throw. You'll be shocked at the arm strength."
• [dbacks.com] Intense daily workout keeps Blanco's career alive at age 42 - "What keeps D-backs catcher Henry Blanco going at the age of 42? Insanity. Not the lose-your-mind kind, but the workout program called "Insanity," which has kept him fit, trim and ready to play at an age when most catchers -- backup or otherwise -- have traded in their shin guards for retirement."
• [ArizonaSports] Gregorius welcomes infield competition - "I really want the position to be mine but it's not in my hands. Last year I didn't do much in spring because I was injured but this year has been going good. I'm just going to go out there and play my game... Competition for me is something natural and normal. It's not something new for me and the competition makes the best of you come out."
• [dbacks.com] Manager Kirk Gibson mum on D-backs' batting order - After numerous questions involving different possible lineup combinations, Gibson had enough. "Yeah, well, you guys shut up about it," Gibson said with a smile. "I don't need to be waking up at 2 thinking about it... I know that there are comments made about me changing my lineups in the past, but there's some really good teams that do it and do it for the right reasons. It makes sense to do it."

Not players

• [AZ Central[ Cactus League managers feel spoiled in Arizona - As Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of standards and on-field operations, Joe Garagiola Jr. probably should remain neutral on the subject. But Garagiola, finds it impossible not to sing the praises of the Cactus League over the Grapefruit League. "For every player who says, ‘I really like training in Florida better,’ I can promise you I will find you 10 who say the opposite," Garagiola said. "The weather, the travel, everything is better out in Arizona."
• [FOX Sports] Pitching guru Dave Duncan works his magic with D-backs - Pitchers threw four times in the first 12 days this spring. Duncan found that a lighter load removed some of the natural achiness pitchers felt in spring, enabling them to get the most out of their throwing sessions while also keeping them fresher for the long season to come. Duncan also has stressed keeping a single-minded approach to each pitch. "It's just one word -- focus," reliever J.J. Putz said. "Focus on every pitch. After you throw that pitch, forget about that pitch and focus on the task at hand and the next pitch."
• [AZ Central] Ken Crenshaw brings science to training methods - "We try to test every player every morning so we have a baseline of where they are at before they do any type of activity," said Crenshaw, beginning his 9th season with the Diamondbacks. "We have a questionnaire on a central server that each guy fills out. It may ask them how many hours they slept the night before? How did you sleep? What did you eat? And other things that a player does that will impact their score."
• [Bleed Cubbie Blue] If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Cactus League Media Day - All of the Cactus League managers and general managers were at Chase Field Tuesday to meet the media. So was Al from BCB, and he offers some alternative careers for those who were present...

Elsewhere in baseball

• [The Week] Has baseball reached peak bobblehead? - "A 2006 study, published in the American Journal of Business, determined that bobbleheads boosted attendance league-wide by an average of nearly 6,700 fans. A more limited, though more recent, analysis by SportsBusiness Journal found that attendance for Dodgers games last year was 18 percent higher on Tuesdays with a bobblehead giveaway than on Tuesdays without one."
• [SI.com] Dusty Baker adjusting to rare experience: life without baseball - Baker, at age 64, is facing only his third baseball season out of uniform since the Braves selected him in the 26th round of the 1967 draft... Only twice before in his professional life has Baker not been in a dugout on a daily basis. In 1987 he worked as a stockbroker. In 2007 he worked as an analyst for ESPN. "I told people I'd take every 20 years off," he said. "I didn't quite make 20 years [this time]."
• [latimes.com] Better baseball batting through brain science - "The brain specialists on the UC Riverside campus might have proved Yogi Berra right: 90% of baseball really is mental, regardless of Yogi’s calculations about "the other half." The Highlanders baseball team can thank the neuroscience department for about 42 more runs and five wins last season, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Current Biology. 19 players took part in an experiment aimed at sharpening the way their visual cortex processes stimuli, improving their visual acuity by an average of 31%."
• And finally, Yasiel Puig is in more tro... No, hang on, it's actually another hot-headed Cuban hitter, swinging for the fences - and coming up empty - during a recent brawl between local clubs Villa Clara and Mantanzas