Snake Bytes, 1/20: No news is... uh, no news.

Team news

[The Athletic] Diamondbacks fan survey results: Little blame for Torey Lovullo, but ambivalence about the team - The fans have spoken. Three hundred and sixty-two of you filled out our 2022 Diamondbacks fan survey, and in one loud and clear voice you have said: “Meh.” You ache over past mistakes (for some, trading Paul Goldschmidt; for others, signing Madison Bumgarner), but you feel optimistic about the future. General manager Mike Hazen and his front office may have misjudged its moment prior to the 2020 season, but his handling of the farm system won your nearly unanimous praise.

[FanGraphs] Arizona Diamondbacks Top 46 Prospects - So exceptional is [#1 prospect Corbin] Carroll’s hand-eye coordination and barrel accuracy, especially for his age, that he now has among the best hit tool projections in the minors. It’s a skillset very similar to Brett Gardner‘s, except Carroll can play center field. There are players this age with a higher ceiling because of their potential power production, but Carroll is a very high-floor prospect who we expect will produce at an All-Star level for much of his career assuming a return to full strength.

[Pinstripe Alley] Mariano Rivera, the 2001 World Series, and a number of life lessons - I still haven’t come close to matching the level of excitement I felt after the Yankees won three straight titles to close out the ‘90s and ring in the new millennium. Prior to 2001, the only thing I knew about professional sports was the joy I felt every time the Yankees won. Was it spoiled? Of course, but those are just the facts. And then the 2001 World Series happened and I quickly came to the startling realization that sports can induce a second, equally important emotional response: heartbreak.

[BizJournals.com] D-backs affiliate Hillsboro Hops seek bids for transformative $40M-plus stadium expansion - The Hillsboro Hops believe that expanding the capacity and other aspects of Ron Tonkin Field will bolster the facility’s ability to attract major economic activity to the western suburb. As such, the outlay — initially $40 million, but Hops President and General Manager K.L. Wombacher believes the project costs could feasibly land between the $60 million and $100 million mark — might help attract major outdoor concerts and other significant events to Hillsboro throughout the year.

[Fangraphs] A Conversation With Arizona Diamondbacks Prospect Ryne Nelson - Originally a two-way player before becoming a closer at Oregon, the 6-foot-3, 180 pound Henderson, Nevada native transitioned into a starting role upon entering pro ball. Nelson — No. 5 on our newly-released Diamondbacks Top Prospects list — discussed his development, as well as his 2020 eye surgery, via phone earlier this week.

And, elsewhere...

[ESPN] Tampa Bay Rays say split-season plan with Montreal rejected by MLB - The Tampa Bay Rays' proposed plan to split the season between Florida and Montreal has been rejected by Major League Baseball. Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg announced the news on Thursday. "Today's news is flat-out deflating," Sternberg said. The idea of playing in both the Tampa Bay area and Montreal has been discussed over the past several years after attempts to build a new full-time ballpark locally failed.

[Axios] Robot umpires inch closer to calling MLB games - The independent Atlantic League — which has partnered with MLB since 2019 — last week announced it was doing away with robo-umps after testing them for the past season-and-a-half. That wasn't because the experiment failed; on the contrary, the league explained that its own assessment of ABS was complete and that an MLB affiliate league would continue testing it. Simple sleuthing all but confirms that ABS is coming to Triple-A in 2022: this job posting is recruiting ABS techs in 11 Triple-A markets.

[CBSSports.com] Predicting each MLB team's next Hall of Fame inductee - Diamondbacks. The answer here is going to be Curt Schilling. I'll say the Today's Era Committee puts him in relatively soon. Though he played nine years with the Phillies and four each for the Red Sox and D-Backs, he had so much value and fame in those latter two stops that he's surely going in with a blank cap. Speaking of, Zack Greinke could end up counting here, too (see the Royals entry for more), but I'll guess Schilling.