Wednesday was a weird day for the Diamondbacks. They were scheduled to play two games. They wound up playing less than half of one, as their afternoon game against the San Francisco Giants was rained out entirely and their night game against the Milwaukee Brewers was called in the fourth inning. Despite playing less than four innings of baseball, the Diamondbacks suffered their most troubling day of spring training on the injury front. Geraldo Perdomo, Diego Castillo, Corbin Martin and Mark Melancon were all banged up in some shape or form. While Perdomo and Castillo have already returned to Cactus League action following an infield collision, Martin and Melancon will both miss considerable time with shoulder injuries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJd_ct4N4Bs Melancon is…

If you have attended a baseball game at Chase Field in the past 10 years, chances are you sat down to a scattered crowd of around 20,000 laid-back observers. You likely experienced short concessions lines and a high-five from Baxter, and your hearing was fully intact when you exited the ballpark. The scene on Sunday for Team USA versus Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic was quite different. There were deafening “U-S-A” chants before the first pitch was thrown, many of which were countered with even more deafening “Mé-xi-co” chants from impassioned mobs of green and red. There were spontaneous breakouts of Mexican folk song ‘Cielito Lindo.’ There were noisemaking devices that very well could have been outlawed during…

Thirty-two games into his major-league career, outfielder Corbin Carroll has signed the largest contract extension in Diamondbacks history. According to MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert, the deal is for eight years and $111 million. It also includes a club option for 2031 and performance escalators that could bring the total value of the deal up to nine years and $154 million. Carroll was already under control through 2028, so the deal gives the Diamondbacks cost certainty for 2023-28 and tacks on three additional years of club control from 2029-31. For Carroll, the deal gives certainty of life-changing money and still allows him to enter free agency at age 31. The extension falls in line with a recent trend of MLB teams extending…

With Cactus League play nearing its midway point and the season opener now just three weeks away, the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day roster is coming into focus. Although the team still has 62 players in major-league camp, nailing down that list of 26 players is not as difficult as it might seem. It appears that most of it was set in stone before spring training began. The relative lack of open competitions in spring camp is a good sign for the D-backs. More players are established at their positions, and players who might have been considered for roles in recent years have been forced to depart for other organizations to find those opportunities. The bar has been raised. While there aren’t…

With only 10 Cactus League games in the books, it is too early to declare a winner for the Diamondbacks’ fifth starting rotation spot. But, based on the numbers, two youngsters have already separated themselves: right-handed flamethrower Drey Jameson and top pitching prospect Brandon Pfaadt. In two starts, Jameson has pitched four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk with three strikeouts. Pfaadt has pitched five scoreless innings in his two appearances, allowing just two hits and two walks with six strikeouts. By comparison, fellow rotation candidates Tommy Henry and Ryne Nelson have struggled mightily. https://twitter.com/PHNX_Dbacks/status/1632125401727373313?s=20 Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. Pitchers often throw more than 20 innings in the Cactus League. At the moment, no…

Despite hitting a walk-off, three-run homer to seal the Diamondbacks’ first Cactus League victory on Monday, Emmanuel Rivera might not have been the star of the show. That honor, one could argue, belonged to the pitch clock — the crown jewel of MLB’s latest round of rule changes and the primary reason for Monday’s blistering game time: two hours and four minutes. “It was crazy,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “I’ve never been in a game like that.” There were other factors outside of the pitch clock that shortened the game, of course. The Diamondbacks pitching staff held the Cubs to two hits. The D-backs only had seven, three of which came in the ninth inning. In a world without…

Over the last 11 seasons, the Diamondbacks have played a total of four playoff games. All of them, of course, happened in 2017. Three were losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. The other was a four-hour fracas at Chase Field against the Colorado Rockies, a game that the D-backs ultimately won, 11-8. Some say...

How did you spend your Wednesday? Josh Rojas spent his at a courthouse in Florida, listening to a legal battle over how much money he is worth. No matter how unpleasant, the salary arbitration process is — for now — a necessary part of Major League Baseball’s business operations. When players become arbitration-eligible (typically after three years of service), their salaries are determined by a negotiation with their teams. When the two parties are unable to come to an agreement — as was the case for Rojas — an arbitration hearing results. According to a report from MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the D-backs filed at $2.575 million and Rojas filed at $2.875 million, a difference of $300,000. The arbiter ruled in…

For the first time in three years, pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in mid-February and things are, dare I say, normal. The Diamondbacks are back. https://twitter.com/PHNX_Dbacks/status/1625859994758545409?s=20 No masks, no restrictions, no Zoom interviews. Just baseball, unhindered. Is this heaven? No, it’s Arizona. https://twitter.com/PHNX_Dbacks/status/1625916666394857472?s=20 https://twitter.com/PHNX_Dbacks/status/1626290968659107840?s=20 https://twitter.com/PHNX_Dbacks/status/1625918043124805632?s=20 The D-backs did not make any big splashes in free agency this offseason, but they did make one big trade and sign several free agents. No one will call them the favorites in the NL West, but they have piled up enough young talent to be more interesting than their 74-win 2022 season would have you believe. Without further ado, here are eight storylines to keep an eye on this spring as Opening…