Snake Bytes, 10/5: Home-field advantage

Team news

[dbacks.com] Diamondbacks FAQs for 2018-19 offseason - The D-backs could decide to try and contend, but not go all in if that means trading away top prospects and pushing the payroll beyond what's reasonable. The other thing to keep in mind is that the team is still in the process of sorting through what happened in 2018; not until they have concluded their meetings and feel like they have some answers will they have a better idea on a direction for '19. That could run into early November while the team assesses the free agent and trade markets, and that could also impact which direction they go.

[The Athletic] Back on track: Diamondbacks’ Robbie Ray improved down the stretch - It’s hard to ignore that he looked both healthy and effective late in the season following the early-season injury interruption. That’s a positive sign for the Diamondbacks with so much uncertainty in the rotation heading into 2019. It should provide some confidence should they choose to carry Ray going forward or presumably helps his trade value should they choose to deal him. He looked more like the Robbie Ray of old late in the season, and after all of the early-season struggles, that should serve as a welcomed development.

[The Athletic] Being Trevor Bauer: From wanting to quit baseball to wanting a mantel full of Cy Young awards - His relationship with the Diamondbacks rapidly disintegrated in the year and a half after the franchise selected him with the third overall pick in the 2011 amateur draft. During Class AAA Reno’s playoff run in 2012, Bauer’s manager requested a meeting in his hotel room, which he deemed to be an atypical demand. After consulting with his agent, Bauer declined. That about sealed his fate. “It was so toxic there,” Bauer said. Bauer noted there was “fault on both sides... I don’t want to ever portray that I’m completely in the right,” he said. “I recognize that I’ve done things wrong as well.”

[Visalia Times Delta] Visalia Rawhide owner announces he’s selling team, club on strong ground - Wanna buy a Diamondbacsk’ minor-league affiliate? Visalia Rawhide owner Tom Seidler announced Wednesday he was putting the team he has owned for 17 years up for sale. Seidler expects to hand over the team at the end of the 2019 season, he said. A valuation will be done soon and team officials will be working with the city to tie up a long-term lease of the stadium at Recreation Park.

And, elsewhere...

[MLB] Crew shrugs off Rox rally, walks off on Moose hit - Christian Yelich worked a walk from Colorado right-hander Adam Ottavino to start the bottom of the 10th and advanced on a wild pitch, giving the Brewers chances like the ones they had squandered in consecutive innings in the seventh and eighth. With two on and two outs, they were one out away from doing the same in the 10th, but Moustakas, acquired from the Royals before the non-waiver Trade Deadline in July, pulled a fastball into right field to win it.

[MLB] Stellar Ryu backed by HRs as LA takes Game 1 - Ryu dominated, allowing four singles in seven scoreless innings and striking out eight with no walks, while sluggers Joc Pederson, Max Muncy and Enrique Hernandez homered in a 6-0 victory over the Braves. The decision to start Ryu was a surprise, but his shackling of Atlanta hitters just continued the late-season stinginess that got him the start in the first place. In five September starts he had a 1.50 ERA with 30 strikeouts and three walks. His regular season was interrupted by a three-month hiatus for a badly strained groin muscle, but before and after he was good enough to compile a 7-3 record and 1.97 ERA.

[SI] Exclusive: The Evidence That Persuaded U.S. Department of Justice to Investigate MLB Recruitment of Foreign Players - The dossier also appears to describe efforts to circumvent federal laws and MLB rules requiring Cuban players.. The dossier includes a transcript of a Nov. 21, 2015, text message conversation between two Dodgers executives in which they discuss the need to “shred” a contract signed with a player before MLB allowed the team to begin talks with him. There are also indications that dates on other official documents were doctored before they were forwarded to the MLB office.