If the Diamondbacks are going to make any impression in the National League West this year, it's going to begin with their starting pitching. And the winter's acquisitions in that department were all in action at Salt River Fields today. Shelby Miller, picked up in a blockbuster trade with the Atlanta Braves, strapped on his Arizona cleats for the first time, and the team's biggest free-agent acquisition - Zack Greinke, naturally - was also wearing a Diamondbacks shirt, for more than merely promotional purposes. Behind them, the newest of the new guys, Tyler Clippard, signed to strengthen the bullpen, took the mound too.
But it wasn't all the new kids on the block. Patrick Corbin and Robbie Ray will be little if any less important in the team's championship hopes, and so it was good to see them also in action. Is it just me, or were the red-bottomed pants a little less obvious today? Or maybe I'm simply getting used to them! Oh, well: just ten days left until the first (albeit meaningless!) game of the pre-season...
[Footage courtesy of Arizona Diamondbacks]