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Diamondbacks News
As the Three Magic Kings approach, I give you 3 magical Diamondback article links. Complaints can be sent to the Almighty (aka Jim).
[Noroeste] Diamondbacks sign Edgar Arredondo
The 23-year old right handed starting pitcher last pitched in 2019 in Double A in the Texas Rangers minor league system and was released in March 2020. He is currently league leader in the Mexican LMP, a winter league, and thus an important piece for the Tomateros de Culiacán in their play-off race, with a 5-1 W-L, 2.40 ERA and 1.027 WHIP.
Not that we have big news here, but it serves as a nice introduction for the other depth signings I could find thus far, aside claiming Tyler Gilbert in the Rule 5 minor league draft:
- Bradley Roney (signed November 4). 28 year old right handed reliever who last pitched 41.2 innings in A+ and AA in the Atlanta Braves minor league system with a combined 0.984 WHIP. Was sent to the Arizona Fall League that season, probably to showcase him but nobody bit. Assigned to Reno Aces in Triple A.
- Jamie Ritchie (signed November 4). 27 year old catcher who was in the 60 player pool with the Astros in 2020 and last played in 2019 in the PCL for Round Rock, hitting a .784 OPS. Assigned to Reno Aces in Triple A.
- Sam Moll (signed November 17). Left handed reliever who just turned 29 years old yesterday and with league experience for the Oakland A’s in 2017 (6.2 IP, 10.80 ERA, 6.31 FIP, 2.40 WHIP). Pitched 49 innings in AA and AAA in the San Francisco Giants minor league system in 2019. Assigned to Reno Aces in Triple A.
- Drew Weeks (signed November 19). 27 year old right handed outfielder who can play both LF and RF and last played in 2019 in Triple A for the Colorado Rockies, hitting a 0.875 OPS in the PCL. Assigned to Reno Aces in Triple A.
[DBacks.com] 5 questions facing D-backs entering 2021
Steve Gilbert has to write something of course.
[MLB Pipeline] 5 farm systems that improved most in ‘20
Rumour is that Padres and Dodgers are already shitting their pants for what is to come out of Arizona.
Around The MLB
[NBC Sports Chicago] How the Cubs helped break baseball
As the writer pencils down: “Three months after winning a third division title in five years — and just four years after a World Series title — the biggest-market team in the Midwest is slashing payroll, stepping back and “keeping one eye on the future” as it trades one of the best pitchers in the league for Zach Davies and four low-A, high-risk talents that include three teenagers who haven’t played a pro game yet.
The biggest challenge for [Rob Manfred] involves solving the tanking and salary-suppression issues he helped create before he and the owners learn the hard way, again, that players aren’t labor costs on a balance sheet; they’re the product.
And that fans aren’t some endless supply of suckers lining up to pay higher ticket prices and new network surcharges with “one eye on the future” and the other one closed.”
[NBC Sports Bayarea] Kapler details highs, lows of first season as Giants manager
In particular, Kapler is proud of the communication. He was proud of the way the coaching staff prepared relievers and said there was an added emphasis on limiting the number of times a pitcher started warming up.
In the dugout, there wasn’t a team that made better late-game decisions with hitters than the Giants. Their pinch-hitters had a .917 OPS, the highest mark in the majors by more than 100 points. “We did a really nice job of getting our position players and pinch-hitters ready for some of the toughest moments of the game,” Kapler said.
“I think what excites me the most is probably just getting back to work with this coaching staff and knowing that we all have a year under our belt working as a group, knowing that communication is going to improve, knowing that we have all spent a lot of time since the beginning of the summer to hone our coaching capabilities,” Kapler said. “It’s pretty exciting to be able to deploy some of those new skills and new learns.”
Across The Pacific
[South Korea] KBO club exec apologizes for incident, withdraws legal action vs. league
A South Korean baseball club executive under fire for disrespecting his athletes apologized for his action Thursday, while also withdrawing plans to take legal action against the league office for suspending him.
Hur, a millionaire-turned-baseball executive, caused a stir in October when it was belatedly revealed, through a TV news report, that he had forced the Heroes’ minor league players to stay late after their practice in June 2019 so he could play catch and show off his knuckleball in live batting practice.
Ben Hur throws a knuckleball?
Over The Wall
[Dominican Republic] Luis Urueta’s Gigantes marching on
After ending up first (in a tie) in the regular season, the Gigantes del Cibao of Diamondbacks’ bench coach Luis Urueta have taken a 2-0 lead over the Estrellas Orientales (1-0 and 4-3) in a best of 4.
Apparently Diamondbacks’ depth catcher Michael de la Cruz switched from Licey to Estrellas for he made a pinch hitting appearance for the team that incorporated Fernando Tatis Jr. and Robinson Canó for the play-offs and thus relegated Domingo Leyba to the bench.
In the second play-off series Keury Mella and his Toros del Este have also taken a 2-0 lead (9-1 and 2-1), with the Diamondback pitching one clean inning in game 1.