Snake Bytes 3/5: Catching L’s

Diamondbacks News:

MadBum’s ugly 2nd start for D-backs ‘on par’ with past Springs.

“Pretty bad, actually,” the Arizona Diamondbacks lefty said of how his spring training performances usually go. “I would always look at it that way. I like to use it for what it’s for. The main goal is body feeling good, healthy, pitch-count getting up, innings getting up.”

MadBum roughed up in 2nd start for D-backs.

“The main goal right now is my body feeling good and being healthy, the pitch count getting up, the innings, getting up and down quite a few times,” said Bumgarner, who threw 41 pitches on Wednesday. “As long as I can do that by the end of it, I feel like once the season starts everybody is able to lock it in a little bit more.”

Landing Madison Bumgarner gave AZ and ace and mentor.

“He figures out a way to compete even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, and to me that’s invaluable when it comes to a young staff like we have,” said Arizona’s Stephen Vogt, who caught Bumgarner with the Giants last season. “A lot of his numbers were up last year, like his spin rate, and he’ll try whatever it takes to figure out how to get outs. He’s an ultimate competitor.”

“They do not love us.” What projection systems have against the Diamondbacks.

“That’s kind of the story of the projections,” said FanGraphs’ Dan Szymborski, the creator of ZiPS. “It kind of has all aspects of the team around average: average rotation, average bullpen, overall an average offense.”

Nice average 1st name there, DAN.

Kole Calhoun at home in D-backs right field.

‘‘I wanted somebody that wanted to win and wanted me, and it didn’t hurt that it was the hometown team,’’ Calhoun said. ‘’Lived here and grew up loving the Diamondbacks and there was a need in right field, and it came together pretty easily for sure.’’

Around Baseball:

Chris Sale NOT expected to Tommy John surgery.

“We want to make sure that we get everybody’s opinion on this,” Roenicke told MLB.com. “We need to get this right and it’s a very important player and we want to do things the right way and get as many opinions as we can. Don’t read into this that this is the worst-case scenario and that’s why we’re getting these opinions. We want to make sure we’re right in what we do and as many opinions as we can get.”

Despite team rule, White Sox allowing Dallas Keuchel to keep beard.

“I thought, ‘Oh, crap, I’ve got to trim this even more,’” he said.

MLB wants to ban in-game video, union would allow.

“The view that the players have is one that is concerned about where the game is and where it’s going. So everything that we’ve slid across the table in regards to proposals on technology has been a reflection of that,” Clark said. “And that we’ve slid across includes access to technology, certain technology during the course of the game. There’s systems that allow for access to your at-bats, and or your time on the mound. Having access to those videos even with certain criteria in place to protect the integrity of those videos is what has been in the proposals.”

Off Topic Snake Byte:

Snakes on stage - at the Metropolitan Opera

“People always want to know if the snakes love Mozart,” Ziegfeld says. “But since snakes have no ears, it’s very hard to say.”