Team news

[Blue Jays Nation] Useless Trade Speculation: Vol. 2 – Arizona Diamondbacks Edition - Toronto need a left-handed CF. "Most desirable is 22-year-old top prospect Corbin Carroll. In the mid-season Top 100 at Baseball America, he was No. 5 overall... The beauty of it is, on the same list where Carroll was No. 5, Gabby Moreno was No. 3. Some of the commentary seems to be cooling on Moreno’s trade value but it’s really unlikely that talent evaluators have lost any faith in him at all. The Diamondbacks need their catcher of the future, the Jays need a long-term CF, both have depth enough to spare – it’s a magical perfect beautiful “good for baseball” challenge trade. Still, my gut and most people’s “hot take” impression is that Arizona wouldn’t do it."

[The Athletic] Will Cody Bellinger sign one-year deal? Plus Brandon Nimmo’s potential and more - The Diamondbacks, whose roster includes four left-handed hitting center fielders, are open to a trade. Corbin Carroll, who had an .830 OPS last season in his first 115 major-league plate appearances, is off-limits, according to sources familiar with the team’s thinking. But three others with the ability to play center — Daulton Varsho, Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy — are in play.

[Cubbies Crib] Chicago Cubs Rumors: Cubs could turn to Diamondbacks for OF help - The article discusses how each of the obvious trade candidates could potentially fit onto the Cubs roster in 2023.

[SI] Noah Syndergaard Would Give Arizona a Veteran Starter - Given that Syndergaard has already taken the one year pillow deal in 2022, it might not be easy to convince him to take another such deal and he may opt to take the first decent multiyear offer he can find on the market. If the market doesn’t offer him such a contract, Arizona could be a nice destination for him to continue to build up his value with a terrific defense behind him and one of the best pitching coaches in the history of the game in Brent Strom.

And, elsewhere...

[MLB] Breaking down every first timer on 2023 HOF ballot - Basically, Carlos Beltran and everyone one else. Just a single former Diamondback is added to the list this time. "Bronson Arroyo (23.4 WAR). For a 10-season stretch from 2004-13, Arroyo was as reliable as anyone, averaging 33 starts and 207 innings, with an above-average ERA+ of 105. He won a World Series with the 2004 Red Sox and was an All-Star for the ‘06 Reds." Arroyo was traded to the Braves with Touki Toussaint, causing much teeth-gnashing. Toussaint was DFA'd by the Angels last week...

[SI] How Banning Infield Shifts Will Change MLB - We have so much data on how shifts changed baseball that it is not difficult to make an educated guess as to what will happen next year without them. My top conclusions: The MLB batting average should increase from .243 last season (the fifth-worst ever, and the worst in 54 years) to .255 (equaling the highest since 2011). Ground balls will go up, and strikeouts will go down, both slightly.

RRR (2022)

Rating: B

Dir: S.S. Rajamouli

Star: N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan Teja, Ray Stevenson, Olivia Morris

Well, this Tollywood movie is certainly… something. Is it, by normal standards, a “good” one? Probably not. It has too many flaws, with plot holes you could drive a battleship through. Sideways. In terms of historical accuracy, this makes Braveheart look like a doctoral thesis, and it’s full of ludicrous concepts, like the Quiver of Infinite Arrows. The running time is over three hours and, yes, they break into song – most implausibly, when the hero is being flogged mercilessly with a barbed whip (can’t help feeling this should have been a Telugu version of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life). It’s basically what you’d expect from a film whose title stands for “Rise, Roar, Revolt.” Yet I cannot deny, it is entertaining, sometimes incredibly so.

Things unfold in 1920’s India, where the vicious British regime under Governor Buxton (Stevenson) is cruelly subjugating the locals. After a young rural girl is abducted and taken to Buxton’s “court”, Komaram Bheem (Rao) heads to Delhi to get her back. There, he becomes close friends with Raju (Charam)… albeit just not close enough to bother asking what Raju does for a living, apparently. If he had, Bheem would have learned his pal is a copper for the British, and has been tasked with bringing Bheem in. Awkward. Needless to say, it turns out that Raju is not the traitor to his country it seems, and the pair eventually end up fighting side-by-side against the colonists.

In percentage terms, the action quota may be bit lower than the trailer makes it seem, a side-effect of the 185-minute running time. After the two leads are introduced, there’s then a good hour with only one set-piece of note. This is where Bheen and Raju meet, in the heroic (and in utter defiance of the laws of physics) rescue of a child. We learn here the Indian flag is apparently made of asbestos, and it kicks off the bromance portion of proceedings, which is either utterly macho or completely gay: possibly both. You’re 85 minutes in, before we reach peak RRR-sanity, with Bheen launching a rescue attempt on Buxton’s compound, his diversion being an entire menagerie of CGI animals. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I mean this in ways both jaw-droppingly good, and what the hell did I just witness?

Finally, I was also amused by the opening disclaimer: “The Producer, The Director or the technicians of the movie have no Intention Whatsoever of Hurting Anyone’s Sentiments or Disrespecting any traditions or maligning the beliefs of Any Individual or group.” They need to have added ‘…except the British’. For, ten minutes into this, I was ready to burn Buckingham Palace to the ground. I now feel too guilty about our child-abducting ways to visit our local curry house, and will be sticking to delivery going forward.