There’ll be baseball this month! Sorta…
Team News
[Dbacks.com] Roof repairs mean fan-favorite Chase Field ritual is back for 2025 – “Obviously the opening of the roof has always been a ceremonial part of our pregame,” D-backs team president and CEO Derrick Hall said. “It’s important to be able to open it up in the summertime on a Friday night for fireworks, which we have not been able to do. We haven’t been able to make last-minute decisions about opening or closing the roof based on weather conditions, either. For so many reasons, we need it to be operational, and we just haven’t been able to utilize it like we have as part of the game experience. This year, we’ll be able to.”
[FanGraphs] There’s Something I Ought To Tell You About Ketel Marte – He’s two different hitters every single game. As a righty, he’s a fearsome slugger. And batting lefty, well, he’s not quite that… After [Aaron Judge], Marte might be the preeminent right-vs.-left hitter in all of baseball. He has the best slugging percentage against lefties this side of Judge, and he hits home runs like a slugger and strikes out like a contact king. He has a .334 batting average despite a BABIP that’s hardly outrageous – .345, for the record. Contact quality metrics back it up… Marte is generating extra power batting right-handed because he swings a lot harder. And that’s underselling it. From the right side, Marte turns into Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
[Venom Strikes] 4 impact bats Diamondbacks can still trade for to upgrade 2025 roster – The Diamondbacks still have one more pressing need to bolster their lineup: adding a right-handed impact bat to their mix. It could be as simple as someone completing the platoon with Pavin Smith at the designated hitter spot, or it could be someone hitting there every day. That need was iterated again by Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen when speaking to The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro on Sunday. Randal Grichuk is unlikely to be that bat for Arizona… Still, Arizona must fill the void, and there are plenty of options remaining.
[SI] Diamondbacks Have Incentive to Put Jordan Lawlar on Opening Day Roster – Putting Lawlar on the major league roster to start the year is not actually a high risk proposition. It’s very conceivable that he could receive at least three starts per week. When the team faces a lefty they could utilize Ketel Marte at DH as a way to keep his legs fresh, thus opening up some second base reps for Lawlar. On top of that Lawlar can spell Geraldo Perdomo one game a week at shortstop, and perhaps even Eugenio Suarez can take some more frequent days off to keep his 33 year old legs fresh. Add to that a few pinch hit opportunities, and it’s easy to see Lawlar getting at least 15-20 plate appearances per week. And then of course you have the inevitable injuries that crop up that could open additional playing time for Lawlar.
[Just Baseball] Do the Diamondbacks Have Any Weaknesses? – Is this Diamondbacks squad as glaringly stacked as teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Philadelphia Phillies or the Atlanta Braves? No. That being said though, they’re a team that is built to do everything to a well-above-average degree… They may fly under the radar, but this D-backs group should not be trifled with, as they could be a prime dark horse candidate to do some real damage in 2025.
And, elsewhere…
[ESPN] Former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent dies at 86 – “Fay Vincent played a vital role in ensuring that the 1989 Bay Area World Series resumed responsibly following the earthquake prior to Game 3,” Manfred said in his statement. Turmoil followed Vincent during the remainder of his three-plus-year reign. He had a string of what he called “three-cigar days,” angering owners by becoming the first management official to admit the collusion among teams against free agents following the 1985, ’86 and ’87 seasons. In 1990, baseball endured a 32-day work stoppage as owners and the union battled over free agency, arbitration and revenue sharing. Vincent ultimately announced a basic accord on the CBA, but the lockout wiped out most of spring training and postponed the start of the regular season by a week.
[Mike’s Hardball Talk] My thoughts on the Dodgers and what is “Bad for Baseball” – The Los Angeles Dodgers are the model franchise, especially for a big market club, as they’ve been able to assemble quite a roster and won the 2024 World Series. They’ve done so with every part of team building: trades, free agent signings, and internal development. They’re constantly near the top of payroll figures and farm system rankings every year. However, the fan sentiment across all of baseball seems to be the Dodgers are the problem when in fact they’re not.
[Forbes] A Guide To The 2025 Caribbean Series – The 2025 Caribbean Series baseball tournament (Serie Del Caribe) is underway in Mexicali, Mexico, bringing together the top teams from Latin America’s winter leagues in a battle for regional supremacy. This year’s tournament carries added intrigue with the presence of Albert Pujols, not as a feared slugger, but as the manager of the Leones del Escogido… The Caribbean Series games will be broadcast in both English and Spanish this week. The English broadcast will be featured on MLB Network, while the Spanish broadcast will be carried on ESPN+.
[AP] Baseball greats, executives, family, fans and friends remember late Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson – Henderson died Dec. 20 at age 65 shortly before his Christmas birthday and was celebrated by former teammates, executives, friends and fans Saturday at the arena next door to the Oakland Coliseum where he played for so many years and, later, had a field named for him. From Dusty Baker, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre to ex-teammates Jose Canseco, Carney Lansford, Dennis Eckersley, Dave Stewart and Dave Winfield, Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Frank Thomas and home run king Barry Bonds, nearly 3,000 people made their way through steady Bay Area rain to honor the one-of-a-kind Hall of Famer.
Star Trek: Section 31
★★½
Dir: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Star: Michelle Yeoh, Omari Hardwick, Sam Richardson, Robert Kazinsky
This is the first feature in the Trek-verse not to be released theatrically. Good thing too. For if I had seen it there, rather than at home, without specifically paying for it, I would have been more disappointed. It’s not bad, just painfully ordinary. The moral limitations of Trek may prevent it from truly being able to explore the darkness of Georgiou. Outside of an opening sequence, where we learn what she did to become Empress, and discovering she likes eyeballs in her martini like chewy olives, it feels more like Yeoh is cosplaying evil, rather than being it. Which is still fun to watch, although the shaky camerawork is clearly there to try and hide the fact that Yeoh is now in her sixties.