SnakeBytes, 6/24: Day off edition

[dbacks.com] D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt widens lead in All-Star voting - Goldschmidt has 1,962,386 votes to Gonzalez's 1,239,509, a lead of 722,877 votes. Last week, Goldschmidt overtook Gonzalez for first place, but led by just 241,880. "When he goes up for an at-bat, regardless of what he does in his previous at-bat, he's got a game plan and he'll stick with it. He doesn't get too excited when things go good; matter of fact, he makes sure that he doesn't. When things go bad, he doesn't get down too much. He's just a very steady, consistent personality and attitude about it. He just believes that if he continues to be that way that things will work out for us."

[AZCentral] For Diamondbacks, future quickly has become the present - Maybe the team and its fans can hang their hats on the youth movement that's been taking place for the past several weeks. Injuries and inconsistencies have forced the Diamondbacks' hand and made them bring up a host of younger players that normally, wouldn't get a sniff of the majors this early. But here they are — Chase Anderson, Ender Inciarte, David Peralta, Evan Marshall, Matt Stites, Roger Kieshnick, Bolsinger. Yep, it's Baby Backs time once again. Hey, what else does this team have to lose?

[ArizonaSports] D-backs pitcher Brandon McCarthy: 'I don't know what the hell I'm doing wrong' - McCarthy said, "I truly don't other than the results are poor. I don't know what in my routine, what in my work, what I'm doing in games is wrong. It just doesn't seem to be coming together. The frustrating thing is that I don't have any more answers this week than I did last week or the week before. I don't know where this ranks but it's pretty close to the bottom."

[FOX Sports] Baseball's Venezuelan growth apparent in D-backs clubhouse - "Definitely Venezuela has started producing a lot more players than, say, 10 years ago," D-backs vice president of Latin operations Junior Noboa said. "Of all the players that we sign in Latin America -- except for the Cubans, because they're older and come from a different system -- if we compare Venezuelans and Dominicans or Nicaraguans or Panamanians, the Venezuelan players are the ones that move quicker than the other players. They take less time now to play in the majors."

[AZ Central] La Russa still learning job as change waits on deck - An unnamed executive from an AL team told ESPN.com that the Diamondbacks' current situation made trade talks confusing. Between Towers and La Russa, the executive said, it's hard to tell who's calling the shots. La Russa understands the sentiment, saying the "delineation of responsibilities" is not "crystal clear here or beyond here. But if they're interested in talking to the Diamondbacks, they can call either one of us and we're going to talk to each other," La Russa said. "As a matter of fact, there was one gentleman who called and left a message for both of us, which I think is the smartest thing."

[dbacks.com] D-backs pitcher Wade Miley hosts baseball camp, raises cancer awareness - D-backs pitcher Wade Miley hosted the Wade Miley Charity Celebrity Baseball Camp at Salt River Field at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Monday morning and led the 5-to-17-year-old participants through a series of drills. The proceeds from the camp will be donated to the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which is a charity funding research to help find cures for children with cancer. "Thought I'd start doing some things for cancer awareness, and my agent came up with this idea," Miley said. "It's good to do, gets some kids out here and it was a pretty good turnout. Had a good time."

[TomahawkTake] Braves and Diamondbacks Trade Options - Looking at the Atlanta Braves needs and the potential trade candidates of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Apparently, we would seem to be giving away just about every player on our roster, going by these suggested deals,. but it might be an indication of who could be on the way out of the desert.

And, elsewhere...

[ESPN New York] Chris Young may be cut Thursday - A team insider acknowledged Chris Young's "days are numbered" with the organization, which is prepared to eat the remainder of this year's $7.25 million salary. The internal debate at this point centers on whether to pull the trigger this week, and it's definitely being seriously weighed. Since the trade from Arizona, Young had hit exactly at the Uecker Line, and been worth -0.3 bWAR. I think he counts as a "sell high" transaction.

[SFGate] Baseball likely won't ban chewing tobacco anytime soon - All that's left is for the Major League Baseball Players Association to get on board, and guess what? The union's executive director was a fan of Gwynn. Grew up in San Diego idolizing Gwynn. Played at the same college as Gwynn, San Diego State. Certainly, Tony Clark ought to be on board. Friday, I reached Clark, who said, "At this point in time, player education continues to be a focus of ours."

[Hardball Times] A Physics Comparison of Great Throws From Years Past - A couple of weeks ago, the baseball world was set ablaze by an incredible throw by Yoenis Cespedes in the eighth inning of a game against the Angels. His impressive throw from the left field corner to home plate was seen by many and ignited comparisons between his arm and many other powerful outfield arms from the past. Most of these debates, however, were based on qualitative and word-of-mouth arguments. What if we could quantify just how good Cespedes’ throw was and compare the qualities of his throw to those of other throws?

[SBNation.com] Watch a 17-year-old pitcher cook the Rays with her knuckleball - Female baseball players are cool. Knuckleballers are cool. Combine the two? Very cool.

[EW] 'Battered Bastards': Kurt Russell and the misfits that rocked baseball - Directors Chapman and Maclain Way turn back the clock to 1973, when their grandfather, Hollywood actor Bing Russell (Bonanza), purchased the Class A Portland franchise and held open tryouts to recruit cast-offs who were looking for second—or last—chances to make it the big leagues. "It was just a wild-ass ball club of wild-ass guys," says Russell’s son, Kurt, the famous actor. "They were very serious about playing and they wanted to have the opportunity to show those clubs that had let them go that they had made a mistake." Here's the trailer.