Team news

[Dbacks.com] Moreno wins 1st, Walker captures 2nd straight NL Gold Glove - It is the first time an Arizona catcher has won a Gold Glove. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, at 23 years, 229 days old at the end of season, Moreno was the 10th-youngest catcher to win a Gold Glove. Moreno helped shut down the opponent's running game by nabbing 48 percent of would-be base-stealers, tops in the Majors. “With Gabi's arm back there, it just kind of takes your mind off of the running game and those teams that try to run,” D-backs ace Zac Gallen said. “He puts a stop to that pretty easily.”

[SI] Previewing the Diamondbacks Offseason Plan - Inside the Diamondbacks writers and analysts will be taking deep dives into potential free agent and trade market targets in the areas that Hazen identified. Those areas are starting pitching, right-handed bats, third base, and bullpen depth. Here is an overview of those areas as outlined by Hazen. It will be challenging. While ownership has indicated they will increase payroll, Hazen will need to be creative with trades and shrewd signings, as whatever the size of the increase, he will not just be able to go out and buy everything he needs.

[Arizona Sports] Arizona Diamondbacks decline mutual contract option with Mark Melancon - The option for the 38-year-old right hander was for $5 million. Instead, Arizona will give him a $2 million buyout. Melancon received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right shoulder after suffering a strain in spring training. He was later placed on the 60-day injured list in April and missed the entire 2023 season. He made 62 appearances in 2022 and posted a 3-10 record and 4.66 ERA with 35 strikeouts and 18 saves in 56.0 innings pitched. He eventually lost his closer’s role late in the 2022 season.

[AZ Central] 2023 Diamondbacks left lasting impression - I won’t forget the roar at Chase Field when Alek Thomas homered off Craig Kimbrel in Game 4 of the NLCS, nor will I forget how quiet it was when the Diamondbacks won Game 7 at Citizens Bank Park, where their celebratory screams on the field were audible from the press box. But more than anything what I will remember is how an 84-win team that was outscored during the regular season, a club that seemed inferior in terms of talent, somehow felt like the best team on the field for all but a few games during the postseason.

[SI] How to Interpret Ken Kendrick's Payroll Comments - It's reasonable to assume General Manager Mike Hazen has at least $20 million to work with, bringing payroll up to $120M, which would be a modest $5M increase over 2023 opening day payroll. That might not seem "substantial" to many. Based on his past track record, it seems possible Kendrick may go as high as 2018's peak of $131M, giving Hazen $30M to work with. In an absolute best case scenario, payroll cold top out at $140M, but it would be wise not to set that high an expectation.

[Arizona Sports] Mike Hazen: Diamondbacks’ bullpen sets up favorably for 2024 - When looking at the 2023 season as a whole, general manager Mike Hazen is evaluating the Diamondbacks as the 84-win team they were during the regular season. But he explained the bullpen’s season-long production is a misrepresentation of the group that closed the year. “The bullpen is now completely different with controllable players who are coming back who can pitch on the back end with a closer,” Hazen said during exit interviews on Thursday. “We didn’t have that the entirety of the season. We all lived the first five months before the deadline, we kicked quite a few games in the eighth or ninth inning."

[AZ Central] After DBacks loss, Phoenix Zoo pays up - The Fort Worth Zoo had wagered naming a diamondback of their own after the DBacks player of the Phoenix Zoo's choosing."Congrats to the Texas Rangers and Fort Worth Zoo on the World Series win! It is now time for us to make good on our bet... so without further ado, meet Ranger, the Western diamondback," read a Facebook post from Thursday. "Thanks for the great run Arizona Diamondbacks, we can't wait to bring the chaos next year!" "By the way, I'll have him in the mail first thing in the morning," Phoenix Zoo CEO Bert Castro said jokingly in an accompanying Facebook video.

And, elsewhere...

[ESPN] Best fits for the top 2023 MLB free agents - The day after the Texas Rangers won their first World Series title in franchise history, 130 players became free agents as baseball's offseason season began. While this year's free-agent class doesn't have as many big names as last year's -- when players such as Aaron Judge, Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson were on the market -- one of the best, and most coveted, players in the game, Shohei Ohtani, headlines this year's group.

[MLB.com] 5 stories to watch at this week's GM Meetings - Unlike the Winter Meetings, which are a time for clubs and agents to get down to the nitty gritty of roster-building for the following season and beyond, the annual General Managers Meetings are a time for the league’s top baseball executives to gather to discuss the game in general. Executives will be in meetings for most of their time in Scottsdale, Ariz., where this year’s event will take place beginning Tuesday. Among the topics expected to be on the docket are reviewing the rule changes from the 2023 season, discussing the postseason format and a number of other issues surrounding the game. Here’s a primer on what to expect this week during the GM Meetings.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Rating: B

Dir: Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement

Star: Taika Waititi, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Rhys Darby, Ben Fransham

Almost a decade after this came out, Waititi is now one of the mainstays of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There hasn’t been such a meteoric rise for a New Zealand director since Peter Jackson – who is, coincidentally, about the first person thanked in the credits here – went from splatstick and puppet sex to the Oscars. Yet, as with Jackson, I can’t help feeling a little heart has, probably inevitably, been lost in Waititi’s product, when his budgets balloon to $250 million for Thor: Love and Thunder. This is about 150 times the cost here, and I’m not convinced the trade-off for polish and spectacle is worth it. The effects here are generally good enough for the purpose, and frankly, it’s a better story. Certainly one more worth telling.

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