Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick tells Los Angeles Dodgers fans sitting behind home plate to change clothes or their seats

When Seinfeld and real life merge.

“It sounds kind of small-minded, but I would think they probably have the legal right to do that, especially if they let people know in advance that that’s the rule,” said Paul Bender, a professor of law at Arizona State.

“I hate to say that. I don’t like them doing that. And it’s conceivable if it’s treated as a city, state or county stadium that the rule would be different. But with what kind of clothes people wear, usually people who run the stadium are thought to have the right do that as long as they say in advance that those are the rules.”

Arizona Diamondbacks add missing pieces - Veteran leaders who keep things loose

“You have no idea how important it was to bring in some of these guys,” closer J.J. Putz said, “especially a guy like Hinske.”

Hinske, 35, has never been a .300 hitter in the major leagues. He’s never belted 25 or more home runs in a season, either. But it’s all the intangibles he offers that makes him just as valuable as a superstar.

“Having those kinds of guys is huge,” Hinske said. “It doesn’t have to be one person. It doesn’t have to be an everyday player. It just needs to be a veteran guy who’s been around, who understands what it takes to win in the game.

“If you don’t have any chemistry together in the clubhouse, you’re not going to win together on the field. If there’s a bunch of guys that really don’t get along, you’re not going to have success on the field, no matter how talented you are. We’ve all seen that quite a bit.”

Can you believe the #### we have to put up with Nick Piecoro has a day off ?

Daily Kos: My Friend Doesn’t Play Major League Baseball Anymore

For those who have known Orlando, it’s not difficult to associate him with his well-worn nickname - The “O-Dog.” He’s gregarious and outspoken. He’s the kind of guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve and his initials embroidered on the outside of his shirt cuff. His on-field persona involves some mix of flair and grit. A second baseman with limited power and decent speed, his calling card for many years was highlight-inducing defense. He speaks quickly and often, and you might catch him hugging an umpire. Some writers were rubbed the wrong way by Orlando, but that’s mostly because he wasn’t aware of any requirement that he tell anything other than the truth.

As someone who knows the O-Dog said to me: “There’s English, there’s Spanish, there’s Japanese and then there’s Orlando Hudson.”

Eric Knott: Surviving Professional Baseball in the Steroid Era

At Hardball Talk, Calcaterra said of this B-Pro guest piece by former journeyman pitcher Eric Knott:

We should spill way less ink about who we think “the real Home Run King” is — as if that matters — and think way harder about those frequent minor league suspensions and what they mean to the people who are faced with the choice to take dangerous drugs or wind up out of baseball.

Against that backdrop is this excellent column from Eric Knott. Knott pitched 11 years in the minors and 24 games in the majors. He is the quintessential borderline guy who, if he had an extra couple of miles per hour on his heater, may have stuck.  But he didn’t get those miles per hour, and he didn’t try PEDs in an effort to do so.

Knott gives a fascinating, clear-eyed and detailed rundown of the environment in baseball during the height of the Steroid Era, as well as what factored into his decisions about whether to use.

It’s an absolute must-read. There’s more useful information in this piece than anything that can be found in the Mitchell Report or the latest bombastic anti-PEDs screen from Johnny Sportswriter.

‘Next Knuckler’ winner Booty off to D-backs camp

Former Major League infielder and Louisiana State quarterback Josh Booty was named the winner of “The Next Knuckler,” MLB Network’s first reality series competition, Thursday evening. The victory earns Booty a non-roster invitation to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Spring Training camp, to which he’ll report Friday.

Diamondbacks Acquire Tony Campana

The Cubs announced that they have traded outfielder Tony Campana to the Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league right-handed pitchers Erick Leal and Jesus Castillo…

Campana, 26, finished 2012 with a slash line of .264/.308/.299 in 192 plate appearances.  The speedster also racked up 30 stolen bases last season, good for ninth in the National League.  The Diamondbacks are already more than set in the outfield, so its not clear what kind of role they have in mind for Campana.

The Cubs announced that they have traded outfielder Tony Campana to the Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league right-handed pitchers Erick Leal and Jesus Castillo…

Campana, 26, finished 2012 with a slash line of .264/.308/.299 in 192 plate appearances.  The speedster also racked up 30 stolen bases last season, good for ninth in the National League.  The Diamondbacks are already more than set in the outfield, so its not clear what kind of role they have in mind for Campana.

Diamondbacks Knew about Didi Gregorius’s Elbow

the Arizona Diamondbacks knew of Didi Gregorius’ elbow problem, and they had no trouble trading for him even with that knowledge.

There were initial reports that the Diamondbacks did not do a proper physical or proper medical background check on Gregorius.  That is simply not the case.  Kevin Towers, the DBacks GM, said the team knew that Gregorius had hurt his elbow preparing for the World Baseball Classic.  Gregorius was doing so in December when Arizona acquired him.  They knew.

The most bizarre offseason ever just got weirder

Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer responds to his critics … in a rap song

Montero said earlier this week that Bauer, among other things, didn’t listen to Montero when he was his catcher with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bauer has since been traded to the Cleveland Indians. Which leads us to this song ...

“You Don’t Know Me” was posted online on Wednesday. But MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports that Bauer recorded the song in December, which is when he was traded.
Bauer, in not exactly the cleanest of flows, says things such as:

“Its time to get back to all these fans that I’ve been losing due in part to the rumors moving about that that I refuse to listen / So people get this vision of me, no one goes up hitting for me / I swear I’ve never been gifted nothing.”
“Now I’m the bane of society, I’m the villain / millions judge me, even quicker than winning a boxing match by killing / and most of its unjustly given.”

D Backs hope to overachieve and beat Pythag

“Last year, we scored more runs than in the previous year. It’s not all how many runs you score. In 2011, we were very good and efficient at winning close ballgames. Last year, we weren’t. If you look at statistics, high-leverage situations we were not good. Late and close we were not good. Yet we improved ourselves with runners in scoring position. 2007 was the same way, we had a negative run differential (and still won 90 games). That’s what we’re looking for. We’re looking for the net effect.”

*Gibson on last season: “I can say that 81-81 does not sound good to me at all. I took it very personally. I take responsibility for it. You analyze why does that happen. Again, you analyze numbers and reality and in 2011 we overachieved. In 2012 we underachieved. We want to overachieve again regardless (of what people predict).”

Well, at least we know what the plan is now.

CBSSports: Axisa: Dbacks, Hill agree to $35M extension

Hill, 30, was scheduled to earn $5.5 million this year as part of the two-year agreement he signed with the D’Backs last offseason. It’s unclear if the new extension will take effect immediately or be tacked on to his current contract. Arizona signed Martin Prado to a four-year, $40 million extension last week.

I suppose the Dbacks won the Kelly Johnson trade.

Calcaterra: A bunch of ex quarterbacks to compete for a job as a knuckleball pitcher with the Diamondbacks

MLB Network is debuting a new series next week called “The Next Knuckler.” The concept: several former college (and pro) quarterbacks are going to learn to throw a knuckleball under the instruction of Tim Wakefield. The best knuckleballer at the end of the series will get an invite to Arizona Diamondbacks’ spring training. The quarterbacks: John David Booty, Josh Booty, Doug Flutie, David Greene and Ryan Perrilloux…

The show debuts on Wednewday, February 13th at 9PM.

(But may be delayed until Smarch.)

Brandon Webb retires at 33

Players to finish in Top 3 in Cy Young balloting three straight years - Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Fergie Jenkins, Catfish Hunter, Jim Palmer, Steve Carlton, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson…and Brandon Webb.

Brandon Webb, the 2006 National League Cy Young Award winner and one of the most dominant starters in the game during a five-year stretch with the Arizona Diamondbacks, is officially retiring from baseball, according to his agents at Millennium Sports.

Webb, 33, hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2009 because of shoulder problems. He had been pursuing another comeback attempt, but announced his retirement Monday in a statement released by agents Jonathan Maurer and Mike Montana.

“With retirement, Brandon looks forward to focusing on more time with his family,’’ the statement said. “He would like to thank all the countless coaches, players and friends for their support during his career.’‘

Webb, a University of Kentucky product, made three All-Star teams and averaged 227 innings a season with the Diamondbacks from 2004 through 2008. He won the NL Cy Young Award with a 16-8 record and a 3.10 ERA in 2006.

ESPN: Diamondbacks Sign Prado for 4/40

The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a $40 million, four-year contract with Martin Prado just a week after acquiring the former All-Star infielder in a trade that sent Justin Upton to Atlanta.

This strikes me as a rather large overpay for a good but not great player.

AZ Republic: Mark Grace pleads guilty to Scottsdale DUI

Mark Grace, in court Thursday, pleaded guilty to endangerment and DUI, avoiding what could have been a lengthy prison sentence.

Instead, a judge imposed a sentence that includes work-release jail time as well as three years of supervised probation. Additionally, an Interlock device must be installed in his vehicle for six months and he will need permission to travel out of state.

His work-release sentence begins Feb. 10.

Grace, a former Diamondbacks player and broadcaster, was charged with four counts of aggravated DUI that could have resulted in a three-year prison sentence.

Piecoro: Arizona Diamondbacks didn’t get enough from Atlanta Braves for Justin Upton

My opinion on the deal is right in line with the general consensus: The Diamondbacks didn’t get enough. Which, in so many ways, is incredible to me. After close to 2 1/2 years of on-again/off-again trade discussions involving Upton, this is the deal they settle on? After saying time and again that they’re only going to trade Upton if/when the right package comes along, this is the one they deem the right one?

*This whole off-season seems like a huge overreaction, something Towers said in early December he didn’t feel any pressure to do. This is from a story I wrote just before the winter meetings:

“Even though last year was a disappointing year,” Towers said, “I still think that same ball club, given maybe a different year and a different set of circumstances and doing some of the little things that are hard to measure better and smarter, that we can be a much better ball club.

“I know everybody thinks you have to tweak it here and tweak it there and there are some years you have to, but I still look at my club and am a little dumbfounded (at the results). I think we were a better ball club.”

He mentioned the number of highly regarded prospects in his farm system. He brought up the fact that the organization has no bad contracts. He said his roster has flexibility.

“I really like the state we’re in,” Towers said, “and I don’t want to do something drastic just because we finished .500 last year.”

It seems he’s done exactly that.

Keri: D-backs GM Kevin Towers Talks Upton Trade

• Asked if the Diamondbacks preferred grinding, gritty players

Towers replied, “That’s accurate. That’s the way [manager Kirk Gibson] played the game. That’s how we won in 2011, and Justin was part of that club.” Towers lauded Martin Prado as having that kind of mentality, grinding out at-bats and not striking out. He added, “Justin played hard every single day,” and “he cared, he’s a competitor.” But because he had a bit of a “swagger,” and because of his general body language, people might have perceived him differently.

Passan: Snakebitten? D’backs make peculiar decision to trade Justin Upton’s ‘superstar’ talent

As much as any baseball team in recent memory, the Diamondbacks on Thursday publicly embraced the idea of grittiness and guts, of the inherent and unquantifiable. And in doing so, they finished a two-trade whammy over the last six weeks that has seen them ship out their two most talented players in an effort to better embody this belief.

First went Trevor Bauer, the super-talented and cerebral pitching prospect who rubbed manager Kirk Gibson and some teammates the wrong way. And now [Justin] Upton, the super-talented and underproductive outfielder who was extremely well-liked by teammates but did not embody the dirt-on-the-uniform, all-out, get-concussed-or-go-home sort of player [manager Kirk] Gibson wants, because, in a flare of vanity, Gibson wants guys who play like he did, football in a baseball uniform…

The result is a fascinating experiment: a team stressing culture over talent. The Diamondbacks might say otherwise – [Martin] Prado is an All-Star and in both deals they got young and talented shortstops, one of the toughest things to find – but a consensus of scouts and sabermetric wonks agree: In both trades, Arizona sacrificed one for the other.

“Different clubs like to look for certain intangibles,” Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers said. “We like that gritty, grinder type. Hard-nosed. I’m not saying Justin isn’t that type of guy.”

Actually, he sort of was saying that. While Towers made sure to praise Upton, to say the Diamondbacks “never had to kick him in the rear to play,” he brought up body language. Towers is an old scout, and it is an old scouting trope – that slumping shoulders can tell all he needs to know about a player. Fluidity can be mistaken for bad body language, too, and the ease with which the game comes to Upton and other such gifted players can be mistaken for not caring. When the seed of that idea is already planted, it doesn’t take much for someone to germinate it.

“Sometimes people’s mannerisms and the way they carry themselves – they might not perceive him as the grinder type,” Towers said, and he used that word again. Grinder. It’s a baseball catch-all for players who make up for a lack of physical gifts with hard work and a willingness to do anything. It is also a word that baseball people almost never attach to black players. Maybe it’s because they see most black players as physically gifted to begin with. Perhaps it’s a subconscious bias borne of historic stereotyping. The Diamondbacks certainly don’t traffic in racism – they wouldn’t have built ad campaigns around Upton otherwise – but in outlining their philosophy for this team, they severely limit the sort of player who fits the system…

Towers has gone all-in shaping this team in the mold of his manager instead of forcing his manager to be malleable to the talent. Diamondbacks players love Gibson – not necessarily his obsessive detail as much as how much he hates losing, how he’ll come into a clubhouse and rant about the attitude or whatever else is on his mind and punctuate it with a simple pick-me-up: “Let’s go get ‘em today.”

Gibson, at the same time, is not Tony La Russa, the sort of manager with the cachet and gravitas to hand-select his roster. Gibson won a division title in his first full year. Then he went 81-81. And that is his résumé. Gibson may well end up being the best manager of his generation. Towers wants to do everything he can to make sure that’s the case.

Trading talent with perceived personal flaws rarely leads to such success. This does not make Gibson a bad guy for wanting a certain type of player. This does not make Towers stupid, not after a career of showing that he is indeed one of the game’s savvier GMs, the sort who has made what seemed like ill-conceived plans in the past work with aplomb. Because they contradict current convention does not fit them for a dunce cap.

It simply leaves them prone. The Diamondbacks dumped a player with superstar potential when they didn’t have to. They scoffed at the roads offered and cleared a new one with Grit Avenue and Guts Boulevard and Grind Parkway as side streets. They can only hope the ride is not as bumpy as it looks.

Bowman: Braves get Justin Upton

Kevin Towers gave up more talent to acquire Didi Gregorius than he received in return for Justin Upton.

Source: Braves get Justin Upton and Chris Johnson from D-backs for Prado, Delgado, Ahmed and Spruill.

Likelihood of Upton brothers playing together in Atlanta increases | braves.com: News

The Diamondbacks have really painted themselves in to a corner on this one.

Now the D-backs are looking to strengthen their pitching staff with a deal similar to the one they had agreed to with the Mariners. Had Upton not exercised his right to veto the trade, Arizona was going to receive a strong package that included shortstop Nick Franklin and pitchers Taijuan Walker, Stephen Pryor and Charlie Furbush.

This package would have included three of Seattle’s top six prospects, as rated by MLB.com, plus a veteran reliever in Furbush, who compiled a 2.72 ERA and recorded 53 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings with the Mariners this past season.

Walker is rated as the game’s fourth-best overall prospect and Franklin ranks 29th on this elite list. Pryor is rated as Seattle’s sixth-best prospect.

If the Braves were to present a comparable package, it would include Julio Teheran or Randall Delgado, Eric O’Flaherty or Jonny Venters, shortstop Nick Ahmed and likely either J.R. Graham or Zeke Spruill.

Sources: The Diamondbacks are either close or in agreement on a trade that would send Justin Upton to the Seattle Mariners - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN

Phoenix or Seattle? I’d go with Seattle.

The Diamondbacks were in agreement on a trade that would have sent Upton to the Seattle Mariners, but the two-time All-Star rejected the proposed deal, major-league sources say.

Robothal: Source: [Justin] Upton trade talks still on

Kevin Towers’ mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.

Justin Upton for Chase Headley?

The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres have held on-and-off discussions about a trade involving those players since July, but the talks have failed to progress, according to major-league sources.

The Diamondbacks, however, continue to discuss Upton with other clubs, including the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners…

The Rangers want to acquire Upton without giving up either shortstop Elvis Andrus or infielder Jurickson Profar. Their preference is to build a package around third baseman Mike Olt, and the team is willing to add a top pitching prospect and third quality piece to the package, sources say…

The problem for the D-Backs in trading with the Mariners is that the M’s are on Upton’s four-team no-trade list, and sources say that he is not inclined to approve a deal to Seattle…

The Atlanta Braves also have made “strong overtures” for Upton, sources say, and other teams also might be involved in the discussions…

Headley, 28, broke out in 2012, finishing fifth in the voting for National League MVP after batting .286 with an .875 OPS, 31 home runs and a NL-high 115 RBI, all while playing his home games at pitcher-friendly Petco Park.

The Padres likely would need to add to Headley to complete a trade for Upton, who was fourth in the NL MVP voting in 2011. Upton, 25, is younger than Headley, has a longer track record, and is under club control for one more year…

The Rangers have been persistent — and relentless — in their pursuit of Upton. Team officials thought a deal was close at the end of the winter meetings last month, but the talks collapsed, only to recently revive…

Olt, one of the game’s top hitting prospects and a strong defender, is described by one rival executive as, “Joe Crede at worst, Matt Williams light at best.” ...

Left-hander Martin Perez and right-hander Justin Grimm and Cody Buckel are the Rangers’ most highly regarded pitching prospects.

Olt played third base, first base and right field during his brief callup with the Rangers last season. He would not fill an obvious need for the D-Backs, who are waiting on another third-base prospect, Matt Davidson, and are set at first base and the corner-outfield positions. But Olt’s ability to play multiple spots would give the team options.

AZ Snakepit, McLennan: How have the Diamondbacks done under Kevin Towers

But as we saw in reactions to the Bauer trade, a GM’s reputation is the absolute epitome of, as Janet Jackson (or Eddie Murphy, depending on taste) put it: “What have you done for me lately?” That the Diamondbacks came within a squib of the National League Championship Series last year, while spending only more than the Pirates and Padres in the league, has apparently all been forgotten. Instead, Towers has often been dismissed as “lucky” at best, and incompetent by many. Let’s see if the past two seasons have provided anything to back up those assertions, focusing for data on the simplest input and output: budget and team record.

To do so, we’ll introduce the concepts of Marginal Wins and Marginal Payroll, which was originally developed by the late Doug Pappas, for Baseball Prospectus in 2003.

Sources: Cody Ross to D-backs

The Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to terms Saturday with free-agent outfielder Cody Ross on a three-year contract, according to sources. ESPN’s Jim Bowden reports the deal is worth $26 million and includes a club option with a $1 million buyout.

Well, they say Ross has discount prices, but the last time this team got an outfielder around that price they got Byrned.

MLBTR: Reds acquire Shin-Soo Choo in three-team deal

Gregorius… yeah… Sipp, Anderson, hey I remember Anderson… WHUHUH??

The Diamondbacks announced that they have acquired shortstop Didi Gregorius, left-handed pitcher Tony Sipp, and first baseman Lars Anderson from the Indians in exchange for right-handed pitchers Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw.  The Reds are receiving Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald in the swap.

Texas Rangers have their hands full this offseason - MLB News | FOX Sports on MSN

The Rangers confuse him.

Every offseason, I get a headache trying to figure out what the Texas Rangers are doing. This offseason, that headache is approaching a migraine — one that probably is afflicting club officials, too.