Snake Bytes, 12/4: "Uniforms or uninformed?" edition

Sharp-dressed men... Or not?

[ESPN] Arizona Diamondbacks go rogue with bizarro new uniforms - Most of the unusual design elements feel more contrived than innovative. Still, sometimes it's good for a team to shake things up and remind us that there's more than one way to get from here to there. In that regard, the Diamondbacks have performed a public service, even if these particular designs don't turn out to be all that successful.

[Sports360AZ] Dbacks Shed Skin, Unveil New Look - It’s the first change for the team since 2007 when Arizona temporarily said goodbye to their original purple and teal look for Sedona Red and Sonoran Sand. Last season the club did wear the original uniforms for "Throwback Thursday" at all home games. Now they’ll be wearing both as players took the makeshift runway in the center of the infield before more than a thousand fans to model all eight of the new looks which will debut starting in three months at spring training.

[Big League Stew] Nothing wrong with Arizona's new uniforms unless you're a traditionalist - The Arizona Diamondbacks could wear a different uniform every day of the week if they wanted to next season and still have a fresh one hanging in their lockers after unveiling eight new designs this week. While the volume of choices is a little much (just call them the Oregon Ducks of MLB), the designs and themes work well. We especially like the dark gray road look.

[FOX Sports] Diamondbacks leave tradition behind with seven edgy new uniforms - "With this franchise being around for less than 20 years, a lot of people aren't married to any uniform," pitcher Josh Collmenter said, "so we can do something like this and try to appeal to a new audience." Players gave their input throughout the redesign process. The darker shade of gray on the road uniforms was the players' idea. "When the players saw them, everyone was just really excited," Pollock said. "There is no team in the league that has jerseys like this."

Other team news

[AZ Central] Hall: A.J. Pollock ‘almost untouchable’ - "It’s clear that every team knows that Goldy is off limits," Hall said, "It’s almost time to send a message that A.J. is off limits... He had a career year and we think that’s the kind of player he is. It’s no surprise that he’s the first name that comes up, really in every conversation we have. It’s like Goldy two or three years ago. He came up in every conversation."

[Brew Crew Ball] Brewers Trade Rumors: Diamondbacks Linked to Wily Peralta - According to a Tweet from Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro, young Milwaukee pitcher Peralta is "also on Dbacks radar". He says Lackey and Leake are "still in play" as well. Our colleagues at BCB run the scope over Peralta for us.

[FanGraphs] Making a Contender Out of the Diamondbacks - The Diamondbacks may not be the most exciting sleeper, but they’ve already proven they can at least hang around .500, and we’ve seen the value of that in recent years. The fact that they play in the same division as the Dodgers makes a Wild Card their best bet, and the NL Central complicates that a bit, but they don’t need to add an unreasonable number of wins from last year’s total of 79 to potentially put themselves in the race.

[The Web Gem] Interview with Derrick Hall - How can the Diamondbacks improve over the offseason? What is Yasmany Tomás doing to get to the next level? What does it mean to have iconic baseball figures like Tony La Russa and Randy Johnson in the organization?

[Clubhouse Corner] Will Locante is Arizona Bound - "Playing in the Minor Leagues is definitely tough. People call it a grind all the time and that’s a pretty good word to describe it. I think one of the things that I would never trade for anything is the road trips with a guy that you spend 6, 7, 8 months out of the year with. The relationships that you develop with your teammates is something that I would never give up. "

And also... The team announced the hiring of Mike Ferrin as the pre- and postgame show host on the team's radio broadcasts on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and the Arizona Diamondbacks Radio Network. Ferrin will also serve as the secondary play-by-play announcer to longtime D-backs broadcaster Greg Schulte and alongside veteran analyst Tom Candiotti.For the past eight seasons, Ferrin has broadcast for the Sirius/XM MLB Network Radio, serving as the host of "Power Alley." He has been the play-by-play broadcaster for the Arizona Fall League and Sirius/XM All-Star Futures Game for the past six seasons.

And, elsewhere...

[New York Times] A Pitch Is Framed by Diplomacy in Cuba - A minibus of Americans rumbled through a city in transformation, past the run-down housing and round-the-clock construction, the sparsely stocked bodegas and chic new restaurants, to a reception at the residence of the American chargés d’affaires. But the business of these men arriving by bus, all in dark suits or blazers, was of a different order: to have a major league team’s minor league affiliate based in Havana, perhaps as early as 2017.

[Hardball Times] "Kelly Now Catching": King Kelly and Baseball’s Substitution Rules - Throughout his career, Kelly bent (or straight-up broke) the rules, by, for example, using his revolutionary "hook slide," or skipping bases on his way home when the umpire wasn’t looking. But then there’s this one oft-repeated Kelly tale, a fanciful display of cleverness and quick thinking that could exist only in the pre-modern era of baseball; one which, supposedly, changed the rules of the game forever. The story is fascinating, but what parts of it–if any–are true?