Welcome SnakePit Class of 2017

As is its wont, the circle of life has turned - insert The Lion King soundtrack here - and so we wave goodbye to four SnakePit writers from the Opening Day 2016 roster. They would be John Baragona, piratedan7, preston.salisbury and soco. We thank them for their contributions over the years, and wish them all the best. It’s a parting on amicable terms, being largely a question of family life, work, etc. interfering with duties, so we hope they’ll still be seen around here now and again.

To replace them, we’ve brought on four new faces, but didn’t have to go too far - most of them will be names you’ll recognize, it you’re a regular reader. Rather than introducing them, I invited each writer to submit a bio - short, long, truthful or fictional, entirely up to them - and this is what they provided:

David Castro

David Patrick Castro graduated from the University of Nevada with a B.A. in Journalism. He has had his work published in the Reno-Gazette Journal, Arizona Rubber, IseeRobots.com and Examiner.com. A Santa Rosa, California native he moved to The Valley of the Sun after graduating from the University of Nevada. He currently resides in suburban Phoenix with his wife and son.

kman5000

Relatively new member to the Pit after having lurked for around 2 years. 25 years of age born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Baseball is my escape from the mundane day to day.Favorite seat in the stadium is the bleachers. Favorite food item is the cheeseburger dog. Grew up playing Little League for the Red Sox, so that was the team I was mostly interested in up until 2004. Ironically, it was during the Diamondbacks' worst season ever that my current understanding of the game took shape, and my interest in the hometown team took center stage. I found myself fascinated with a terrible team. Having endured that season truly hardened me for the roller coaster years to come. I have a great appreciation for the members here that tend to delve deeper and answer questions using advanced metrics.

Sean Testerman (formerly known as Moranall)

Sean is one of those actual rare-breed Phoenix natives and has been a Phoenix loyalist since birth. He has dealt with the continual onslaught of transplanted Cubs fans (approx. 4.3 million residing in Phoenix per 2010 census), bandwagon Giants fans (still working out the sources, but reporting numbers in the hundreds of billions), and rational Dodgers fans (3) for as long as he can remember, but now he represents the Diamondbacks in the tropical paradise known as Indianapolis. Sean is 27 and single for any of you ladies that might be reading from the Indianapolis area...

Sean is an aerospace engineer (some might say professional arguer) by trade and you'll rarely see his comments drift away from anything that isn't data-centric. He has a particular passion for modeling systems and statistics, so his love of baseball sabermetrics should not come as any sort of surprise. Sean is a self-proclaimed computer nerd, having been on computers ever since he learned how to load and play games off a floppy at age 4. Don't let his nerdiness fool you, however, as he still regularly plays sports and pretends to be a social butterfly by drinking lots of craft beer.

Sean's other hobbies include traveling, cooking, a video game here or there, and fighting the Leastern Time Zone (and the MLB's blackout rules) to watch as much Diamondbacks baseball as humanly possible. Sean has been posting to forums, chat rooms, and other internet communities for more than a decade now, but this will be his first foray into actually being a "writer."

thunderpumpkin87

Didn’t submit a bio. But for completeness, he will be given one from Wikipedia, found by hitting the “Random page” link repeatedly. That’ll learn him. :)

Was the second wife of 32nd Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz. She was the mother of Şehzade Mahmud Celaleddin Efendi and Emine Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Her marriage served an alliance between the Ottomans and the buffer state. Born in 1845 to the Abkhazian prince Tandal Bey Aredba and his wife Aublaa Hanım. She was taken to the palace by one of the countryman of the palace. She was given private education by Pertevniyal Valide Sultan. She had blue eyes and long brown hair. She was noticed by and her married her in 1861, the year he ascended the throne. The marriage took place at Dolmabahçe Palace. She was also known as Cülus Kadın Efendi.

Welcome to them, one and all! If any other ‘Pitters, old or new, want to introduce themselves in the comments, that might be fun for an off-day?