The Spurs win again. Gambo was the 1st to report that Brent Barry will not join the Suns this season. He’s going to continue his extended leave and re-sign with
Lost in the shuffle of all the Suns news (yet again), was the D-Backs Cactus League opener versus the
And don’t forget tomorrow night: Suns GM Steve Kerr joins Burnsy to discuss who may be coming to the Suns now that Brent Barry is going back to
By the time the contracts that Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes and President Derrick Hall agreed to expire, my oldest child will be in college. Eight years. A deal that runs through 2015.
In the world of professional sports – that’s practically a lifetime contract. Eight years is a long, long time. Comets come around with more frequency. In a world where players, managers, coaches, front office executives, heck owners, come and go - eight years is an eternity.
I’m not going to lie, I’m a little uncomfortable with the eight years, no matter who we’re talking about. But Josh is an exceptionally bright baseball mind. If he’d let me, I’d sit there and talk baseball with him for hours. His work ethic is unmatched. He’s been preparing himself for this moment for his entire adult life. If I were a fan, I would trust him with my baseball team and I wouldn’t want some other team coming after him. I think he’s that good.
For Derrick Hall, I think it’s different. A team president doesn’t put as much of a stamp on a roster as a GM does, so the eight years doesn’t seem as unnatural. He’s awfully good at making himself accessible to the fans.
Thursday was my last day here in
The one thing I took away from watching Thursday’s workout was the power of Max Scherzer. The Diamondbacks’ first round pick in 2006 threw the ball very well Thursday as he was facing live hitters. Granted he wasn’t facing the big boys, but the young hitters he did face had tremendous difficulty squaring up the bat. And believe me, the outing was noteworthy.
Byrnes, Melvin and at least a couple of the owners were watching the session. Afterwards, Melvin compared Scherzer to Micah Owings of a year ago - a guy who came into camp that was expected to be cut early, but instead hung around. In Owings case, he made the roster as the fifth starter.
* On Tuesday, D-backs manager Bob Melvin was watching a catchers drill in which the hand-eye coordination of Chris Snyder was being tested as whiffle balls were thrown in rapid-fire fashion towards him.
“You guys want to try this?” the manager asked, referring to those of us watching. I was half-tempted to do it just so I had something to do.
*Having been here in
Byrnes: Next day or so on Nixon
Byrnes: Trot’s left-handed bat
*This time last year, there were issues galore. Eric Byrnes was entering his last year as a D-back, at least so everybody thought. The keys to the car were being handed over to a whole bunch of kids — Drew, Young, Quentin,
*Now the 25 man roster is virtually set, barring injury. There are likely no position battles that will play out in camp. This Spring Training is all about getting ready for a 162 game season and clearly the motivation is there. The position players weren’t required to be here until Wednesday but almost of all of them have been here since last Friday.
Melvin: Everybody is here practically
*The questions now aren’t about who wins a position battle or who is ready and who isn’t. The questions now are about improvement. This team won 90 games last year, they were four wins away from going to the World Series with an offense that was outscored by 30 runs over the course of the season.
Byrnes: What kind of improvement can you expect?
*Nobody expects that to be the case this year. But where does the improvement come from? That to me is the most pressing question. Bob Melvin has singled out Connor Jackson. GM Josh Byrnes has pointed to Stephen Drew (who as my friend Nick Piecoro from the
Melvin: Chris Young improvements
*Is Brandon Lyon capable of filling Jose Valverde’s shoes? I’m not worried if he’s not. The D-backs have two guys who can close in Pena and Chad Qualls. The bullpen was strong last year….I think it’s still strong this year.
Byrnes: His speech for tomorrow
*We’ll bring you more about what was said tomorrow.
* What a difference one year makes. Last year the biggest February NBA trades were:
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Contrast that with this February:
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Tue, |
Dallas signs Keith Van Horn and trades Van Horn, Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, DeSagana Diop, first-round draft choices in 2008 and 2010, and cash considerations to New Jersey for Jason Kidd, Malik Allen and Antoine Wright; waives Nick Fazekas. |
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L.A. Lakers acquire Pau Gasol and a 2010 second-round draft pick from Memphis in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the draft rights to Marc Gasol and first round picks in 2008 and 2010; Lakers sign D.J. Mbenga to second 10-day contract. |
* Burnsy wonders if the NBA is encouraging this sort of free-dealing. It certainly looks that way given the questionable inclusions of semi-retired players like Aaron McKie and Keith Van Horn. Not saying it’s a conspiracy, but the NBA must like the sort of exposure that so many big trades bring. Not to mention the
* Another bad analogy has surfaced in the
* With Shaq’s debut on the horizon, Suns GM Steve Kerr joined Burnsy. Without even stepping on the court, Kerr said the magnetism of Shaq has already won over many of the skeptical Suns fans, which Kerr says “shows you the power of Shaq’s personality.” Kerr got a first-person look at Shaq at Suns practice yesterday, and said he has made “dramatic” strides in one week, and “made several gorgeous passes” in the workout. As for his minutes on Wednesday, Kerr said “20 sounds about right,” adding that he didn’t think Shaq would play “anymore than half the game.” Kerr also spoke about the Kidd to
* The final 30 minutes of the show were D-Backs heavy: Brandon Lyon joined Burnsy to talk about stepping into the closer’s role. D-Backs third baseman Mark Reynolds talked about potentially stepping the role of cleanup hitter for AZ.
Now that Fidel Castro has finally stepped down, the 620 Sportsline was thinking of a few other people who should consider retirement:
1. Luis Gonzalez, the friggin’ Marlins?
2. George Lucas, did you see the Star Wars prequels, and now an Indiana Jones CGI fest
3. John Madden, nothing to talk about if Favre retires
4. Barry Bonds, 3,000 hits still won’t get you into the Hall
5. Rambo, nuff said
6. Curt Schilling, yeah we know you play hurt- enough already
7. Bill Parcells, because he doesn’t know how to
8. Brett Favre, he’s still good, but he’s such a drama queen when it comes to the retirement stuff
9. Al Pacino, he plays the same guy in every movie
10. Indiana Jones, he’s too old and people don’t fight with whips anymore. Wait, I’m not sure they ever did.
11. Bryant Gumbel, blind people listening to the NFL Network still don’t know what the hell happened to Brett Favre in the
12. Tiger Woods, so someone else can win
13. The NHL, because who would notice (besides Gambo and Ash)
14. Hulk Hogan, because he uses “brother” in way too many sentences, but then again so does Henry Lopez.
15. Henry Lopez
16. Lute Olsen, because
17. Dick Vitale, because Burnsy hates him
18. Bill Belichick, because I hate him
19. Julio Franco, because no one should be able to play baseball in their 60’s
20. Joe Paterno, because no one should be able to coach football in their 100’s
21. David Stern, because he’s running out of cities that he can retire in (
22. Isiah Thomas, because nobody should be as bad at what they do and still get paid
23.
24. Russ Ortiz, because the D-Backs are already picking up the check on his grocery bill. (Wait, maybe he shouldn’t retire yet).
25. The brainiac behind that god-awful ESPN show “Pardon the Interruption.” (Wait he should probably die).
26. Dancing with the Stars, because the last time Steve Guttenberg was a “star” I was in elementary school. (What VH1 couldn’t find him a spot in-between the 1980’s has-been block of programming featuring Flavor Flav, the guy from Poison, and Scott Baio?)
Diamondbacks General Manager Josh Byrnes
Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Webb speaks 1-on-1 with Sports 620 KTAR’s Dave Burns on the 620 Sportsline.
Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin speaks 1-on-1 with Sports 620 KTAR’s Dave Burns on the the 620 Sportsline.
Diamondbacks third baseman Chad Tracy speaks 1-on-1 with Sports 620 KTAR’s Dave Burns on the 620 Sportsline.
When it comes to steroids, baseball, Clemens and Congress I have reached a simple conclusion:
I don’t care any more.
There, I said it.
I believe that many of you are in the same position. You’ve run the full gamut of emotions on this issue: Denial, grief, anger. Now all that is left for me is fatigue. And the feeling that I couldn’t consume another morsel of information if I tried.
I’m full. Stuffed.
When do pitchers and catchers report? When can I watch a Cactus League game in peace? When can I have a beer at a game and not worry about the photograph of the beer can next to the dirty gauze pads and used needles?
The problem with this point of view is that there are people in this world who believe - who insist - we should care.
You’re apathetic, they yell. This is important, they scream. This is about our kids, the integrity of the game, hallowed records. You must care about this. Because if you don’t, they insist, our kids will be forever corrupted. You’re just the kind of sucker baseball is counting on to turn the other cheek and look the other way. You must hold baseball accountable. Bud Selig lied, Don Fehr doesn’t care, the players are all juiced and all you want to do is buy a ticket, have a beer and eat a hot dog?
So accused.
Because - and I’ll say it again as it felt so good the first time - I don’t care any more.
The major difference is that today, I don’t feel guilty about it.
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