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Diamondbacks sign Rickie Weeks to Minor League Contract
I'm sure we're all thrilled to have our fourth least-favorite of the 2011 Brewers join our third least-favorite member of the 2011 Brewers in big league camp. (I do have my rankings correct, right? Braun is the most hated, followed closely by Fielder, with Greinke and Weeks following? That's how I remember it being, although I was only a lurker in those days.) What does the media say about it?
Rickie Weeks Signs Minor League Deal with Arizona Diamondbacks
A simple "just the facts" article that, despite being posted about six hours after Chip Hale said that Weeks would primarily see time in the outfield, gets the facts wrong and says he'll be competing for playing time at second base. It's kind of like those people (*cough Dave Cameron *cough) who slammed the D-backs for trading for Segura because he was at best a lateral move at shortstop. Granted, the D-backs haven't said Segura will compete for the second base job, but they have said he's "in the middle infield mix" which is pretty much the same thing.
D-backs Sign Rickie Weeks to Minor League Deal
There really isn't a lot of reaction to what was a non-needle-moving deal. It is interesting that he was doing a good job at getting on base in 2014, leading to at least room for hope that he could do decently at the plate in 2016.
This Week's Preview
This isn't the norm for a SnakeBytes piece, I know (Jim, correct me and tell me to stick to links if you want, but generating content isn't exactly a breeze on the last weekend in February) but I want to look ahead to what is coming up in baseball this week.
Today marks the first official spring training game, with the Spartans of the University of Tampa taking on the Phillies in Clearwater. More college exhibitions follow tomorrow, all in Florida (for the MLB sanctioned ones.) A non-MLB sanctioned exhibition will take place tomorrow at SRF, with the Diamondbacks taking on West Virginia University. This article indicates it will be the first game against an MLB team in Mountaineer history, which makes it kind of a big deal for them.
MLB-sanctioned exhibitions get underway for the Diamondbacks on March 1st, against the Arizona Wildcats. The first game against a fellow MLB team is on Wednesday, against the Rockies at SRF. I believe the first televised game will be Saturday against the Dodgers. This will provide our first look at whether Tomas and Owings are going to do a better job taking pitches or not. (May as well throw Jean Segura into that group as well.)
Will we be doing Gameday Threads for this week's games? I'll try to listen to the games as I can, although I don't think tomorrow's game is on the radio. If it is, please let me know where I can hear it.