Snake Bytes: 02/06 - Zack is Back

Feb 6, 2023 - 10:00 PM

Diamondbacks News

Diamondbacks Spring Competition: The Final Rotation Spot

The candidate with the best combination of experience, future upside, and present-day value is Drey Jameson. Despite his generously listed 6’0” 165 stature, the 25-year-old prospect presents the best combination of present-day value, future upside, and the intangibles to be a big league starter in the long term.

Diamondbacks Spring Competition: The Bullpen

There are four locks for the bullpen, Melancon, Mantiply, Castro, and McGough. The four favorites to fill the remaining four roles are Nelson, Ginkel, Martin, and Sulser. However they are in competition primarily with Henry, Holton, Familia, and Frias, with Vargas and Martinez nipping at their heels also.

Diamondbacks Sign Yairo Munoz To Minor League Contract

Munoz elected free agency after being outrighted off the Phillies’ 40-man roster following the season. Munoz signed a minors deal with Philadelphia last winter and ended up appearing in 29 games for the NL champions, hitting .211/.250/.404 with three homers over 60 plate appearances.

Diamondbacks Re-Sign Jake Hager To Minor League Deal

Hager spent the majority of the 2022 season with Reno and slashed .261/.342/.391 with five home runs and eight stolen bases in his 303 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He also got into 28 games at the MLB level and batted .240/.345/.280 with zero homers and zero steals across 59 plate appearances with the D-backs.

D-backs, Jandel Gustave Agree To Minor League Deal

The 30-year-old Gustave has spent the past two seasons with the Brewers, turning in solid bottom-line results despite some shakier secondary marks. Gustave carries a 3.69 ERA in 46 1/3 innings over 41 games with Milwaukee dating back to 2021, and he’s averaged a hearty 96.7 mph on his heater during that time. Fielding-independent marks are a bit more skeptical of his efforts, albeit not overwhelmingly so (4.52 FIP, 3.94 SIERA).

MLB Trade Rumors chat with Nick Ahmed

You can read back the chit chat with Nick Ahmed. Nothing noteworthy except for a familiar SnakePitter appearing in the chat.

D-backs High-A manager Ronnie Gajownik tells story of hiring

“I’m standing there for 30 seconds but it felt like five minutes,” Gajownik said when she joined MLB Network’s High Heat on Wednesday during a Play Ball National Girls and Women in Sports Day event.

Evaluators rank D-backs farm system among top in majors

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been prevalent on top prospects lists, and their farm system was ranked near the top of the major leagues by The Athletic’s Keith Law and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

Law placed the D-backs No. 4 and McDaniel ranked them No. 2, as Arizona’s ability to build out a prospect pool continues to receive praise.

A chat with a D-backs Gold Glove winner

This week we talk to Christian Walker, who hit into some tough luck early in the 2022 season. He wound up not only productive at the plate, but also captured the NL Gold Glove at first base.

Chase Field to host 2023 MLB Draft Combine in June

Major League Baseball announced Thursday details for the third annual MLB Draft Combine, which will be held June 20-25 at Chase Field in Phoenix, home of the D-backs.

The top 300 Draft prospects, as determined by MLB teams, will be invited to the Combine, as will up to 50 additional players.

Around The MLB

Zack Is Back: Greinke Returns to Royals

Zack Greinke will likely wind up in the Hall of Fame sooner rather than later, but it won’t be via the 2028 ballot. Greinke checks the boxes as an easy call, particularly if you appreciate the dearth of Hall-caliber starters coming down the pike. Between the quality of his performance, the surmounting of his social anxiety disorder, and the richtrove of stories he’s left behind, no doubt he’ll wind up in the Hall.

Angelos Family Members Drop Lawsuits Against One Another

The original lawsuit, filed by Louis, alleged that John had blocked his mother’s wishes to sell the team and that the two of them had taken control of the 93-year-old Peter Angelos’ assets — both the team and the family law firm — at Louis’ expense.

What’s behind Mets owner Steve Cohen’s record-setting spending

“I didn’t know I was going to have to spend like I did,” Cohen said. “I actually was a little naive in that regard. But once I got comfortable and realized, OK, what’s it going to take to put a great team on the field, I still had made a commitment to the fans, and to baseball, that I was going to come in and turn this thing around. I came in saying I’m all-in. And I keep my word.”

Mets’ Steve Cohen on MLB owners questioning his spending habits: ‘They set the rules down, I’m following them’

The Mets currently have the highest payroll in baseball, and Cohen does not care about how that makes other owners feel.

Mariners Outright J.B. Bukauskas

Reliever J.B. Bukauskas went unclaimed on waivers. He’s been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma and will be in big league camp as a non-roster Spring Training invitee.

Pirates Sign Chris Owings To Minor League Deal

Owings is still just 31 but has appeared in each of the past 10 big league seasons, suiting up for the D-backs, Royals, Red Sox. Rockies and Orioles along the way. He spent the 2022 season with the Yankees and Orioles organizations, getting into 27 big league games with Baltimore but posting just a .104/.254/.143 batting line in 68 trips to the plate. That’s the opposite end of the small-sample spectrum from a similarly brief 2021 run with the Rockies, for whom he slashed a ludicrous .326/.420/.628 in 21 games/50 trips to the plate.

Dodgers, Matt Andriese Agree To Minor League Deal

Andriese, 33, pitched quite well in the 2022 campaign with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, albeit in a relatively limited sample of 44 1/3 innings. The former Rays, D-backs, Angels, Red Sox and Mariners right-hander notched a tidy 2.03 ERA in NPB, fanning 21.3% of his opponents against a very strong 5.6% walk rate.