Team news

[AZ Central] DBacks still looking for roster upgrades as spring nears – To hear general manager Mike Hazen explain it, this is not for lack of trying — and it likely is only a matter of time until additions are made. Hazen still wants to add a late-inning option to his bullpen — preferably a closer — and a right-handed bat to his position-player group. “I still feel fairly confident we’re going to figure out how to do those things,” Hazen said. “I just don’t know exactly when that’s going to take place.”… Though the club projects a payroll in the $194 million range, per FanGraphs’ Roster Resource tracker, Hazen said he still has room to work. (His answer, when asked if he still has money to spend: “I still am in a position to add to the team, yes.”

[Arizona Sports] Prospect rankings: Jordan Lawlar still considered top-end, Demetrio Crisantes gaining national hype – Shortstop Jordan Lawlar is still considered a top-shelf prospect by analysts, and second baseman Demetrio Crisantes is quickly gaining national notoriety. MLB Pipeline ranked Lawlar 11th, down from ninth in 2024 and the only Diamondbacks prospect in the top 100. Baseball America placed him 13th, while Baseball Prospectus dropped him down to 29th after an injury-riddled season. Pipeline omitted Crisantes, but the other two sites ranked him 84th after an eye-opening season. Baseball Prospectus also placed infielder and 2023 first-round pick Tommy Troy among the top 101 prospects at No. 96.

[SI] Pavin Smith is Primed for a Breakout with the Diamondbacks – Smith had a fantastic 2024 season and managed to show off some exciting parts of his game. In return, he will likely find himself in a much larger role in 2025, which will increase his workload significantly. There he will not only get more consistent at-bats and be able to find a rhythm, but pitchers will more thoroughly game plan against the lefty, and he will find himself far more exposed. This is a big step in Smith’s journey to proving himself as a big leaguer, and success next season will take him a long way.

[Arizona Sports] MLB to test ABS challenge system in spring training – Diamondbacks fans will watch more games with players challenging balls and strikes than any other fanbase, as The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reported on Friday that a league-leading 29 of Arizona’s spring training games will feature ABS. The challenge system uses Hawk-Eye cameras to track each pitch. Umpires still make all the calls, but teams will get two challenges for balls and strikes this spring training, according to Drellich. Clubs keep their challenge if successful. Half of the 10 Cactus League parks will feature ABS.

And, elsewhere…

[Reddit] A proposal to build a field at the Four Corners – There have been games in novel locations the past few years, such as the Field of Dreams game and the Little League Classic. MLB’s next foray should be to the Four Corners of the Southwest United States. I believe a baseball field is uniquely suited for this geographical oddity, since you can place a base in each state, and since liberties can be taken in outfield design. Here, the exact Four Corners point is on the pitcher’s mound, and the field is oriented so the sunset won’t get in the batter’s eyes. The right field foul pole is on the New Mexico/Colorado border, and the part of left field that is in Utah is called “The Butte” a wall similar to the Green Monster, but sandstone colored.

[Baseball America] Astros Trade Ryan Pressly To Cubs For 20-Year-Old Pitching Prospect – After days of negotiations, the Astros traded former closer Ryan Pressly to the Cubs for righthanded pitching prospect Juan Bello on Sunday. The Astros also sent money to the Cubs to cover a portion of Pressly’s salary. Pressly signed a two year extension prior to the 2023 season that paid him $30 million over the length of the contract, and the Astros picked up his vesting option for 2025 at $14 million before the season. With the deal, the Cubs add an experienced reliever to their much-maligned bullpen. The Cubs had the 20th-rated bullpen in 2024 per fWAR with 26 blown saves.

[MLB Trade Rumors] NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars To Sign Trevor Bauer – It will mark Bauer’s second season in NPB and second with the BayStars, after posting a 2.76 ERA over 130 2/3 innings with Yokohama in 2023. In between his two stints in Japan, Bauer pitched with Diablos Rojos del Mexico in 2024, delivering a 2.48 ERA over 83 1/3 frames. He signed with the Mexican League club after first exploring the possibility of a return to the majors, as his representatives spoke with some unnamed MLB teams in November 2023.

Speedtrap (1977)

Rating: B-

Dir: Earl Bellamy

Star: Joe Don Baker, Tyne Daly, Richard Jaeckel, Robert Loggia

To be honest, this grade is dependent on being a Phoenix resident. Because a significant part of why I enjoyed this was because it’s a time capsule of the city in the mid-seventies. Arizona was a very different place at that point, the population of Phoenix being just a quarter of what it is now. There have been feature films shot here for over a century (1916’s The Yaqui, now lost, perhaps being the first), but not many contain so much exterior footage as this. Kinda of a necessity, because you can’t really shoot a car-chase film in a studio. And it’s perhaps the other main appeal of the movie: seeing now-vintage cars, whizzing through the local streets.

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