Former Silver Hawks Star Traded

Well, we knew the Diamondbacks would be active at the Winter Meetings, and it took all of half a day for them to make a splash.

Today, former Silver Hawks infielder Mark Reynolds was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for a couple of prospects. Before you ask, the answer is no, neither of the prospects will appear in South Bend because they both already have MLB experience.

Arizona also signed Melvin Mora to a contract. Mora is 38 years old, but it's a low-risk signing for GM Kevin Towers to fill the vacated third base hole left by Mark Reynolds.

I'm not qualified to analyze deals that the Diamondbacks make, but Steve Gilbert of mlb.com and Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic certainly have more experience in that area. Click the links to view their blogs.

Rumors, Rumors, Rumors

One of my favorite offseason websites is MLBTradeRumors.com, because it gives a lot of information in a concise manner (with links to take you to the full stories). Over the last 24 hours, they've had a lot of Diamondbacks talk. The easiest way is to just sort by team, so if you go to this link, you can read all about Mark Reynolds trade rumors, Adam LaRoche strikeout problems, and Brandon Webb throwing only 81 mph in instructs.

Former Hawks with Arizona (Updated)

From time to time, I'll need to switch something up on the blog from the usual posts, and I'll put up information on former Silver Hawks at the various levels throughout the Diamondbacks system. Today, we start with former Hawks playing with the big league club (includes only players that are currently with the club...as of last night's games):

Miguel Montero: 6-for-12, but on the disabled list currently with a right knee strain.

Gerardo Parra: .265, 0 HR, 7 RBI

Mark Reynolds: .242, 9 HR, 24 RBI

Justin Upton: .218, 5 HR, 15 RBI

Daniel Stange: 0-0, 9.00 ERA in two games.

Cesar Valdez: 1-0, 1.80 ERA. Got the win in his only start so far this season (his MLB debut).

Esmerling Vasquez: 0-0, 3.12 ERA in six games. I forgot him on the first post, so thanks to Pete for the comment below to remind me about him.

As best I can tell, those are the only former Silver Hawks with Arizona as of today. Let me know if I missed anyone (other than Brandon Webb, who is on the DL and hasn't pitched at all this season).

Poll Results and a New Question

Of the former South Bend infielders/catchers in the pros already, most of you think that Mark Reynolds will end up having the best MLB career. He got 10 votes to lead the way, followed by Dan Uggla with six votes. Nobody else got more than two.

A new question is up on the right asking you to predict what happens over the next 50 games leading up to the all-star break. Basically, where do you think this team will finish the first half.

701 and Counting

As I went to post this entry, I noticed that I had previously posted 700 blog entries. I started this blog on March 14th, 2009, and have posted 700 times in 370 days. This is entry number 701. So if you've been reading this blog since the start, imagine how much useless information you've read about in the last year.

A few tidbits for you today:

-Mark Reynolds has signed a contract extension with the Diamondbacks. He's a former Silver Hawks infielder, a great power hitter, but really needs to cut down on the strikeouts.

-This post by Nick Piecoro talks about Jordan Norberto battling Clay Zavada for a bullpen spot, and about Eric Smith looking good in a minor league game (Smith pitched for the Silver Hawks at the end of 2009).

-Mark Haley has another blog entry up, and they actually played a game yesterday. Click here for the report, including a potential Silver Hawks player getting injured.

News from the Desert -- Monday, March 8th

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Let's catch up on some stories involving the Diamondbacks from this past weekend.

First, the Brandon Webb saga continues. On Friday, it was news that he might start the season on the DL. Then yesterday, he played catch and felt fine afterwards. This could get interesting.

Next, Mark Reynolds wants a new contract. But predictably, the contract talks are now a distraction.

Again, Mark Haley should be in Arizona now. He'll be blogging for the South Bend Tribune, and you can read it here.

I'll be back after lunch with a picture of the field (no snow!?!?!?!), and why I am a good guy, yet will be the first to go "in any apocalyptic scenario." Come back to find out what that means.

News from The Boston Globe

I realize that newspapers are a dying breed, but it's nice when a newspaper has an excellent grasp of covering all the top stories of baseball. Since it's the offseason for most teams, that means writing about potential free agents and player movement from across the country.

The Boston Globe does a good job of not just writing about the Red Sox, but branching out to report the top stories everywhere. Click this link to read about a bunch of different stories in baseball, but I've pulled out two interesting Diamondbacks notes and published them below.

Here's the first D'Backs note about Stephen Drew:

"2. Stephen Drew, SS, Diamondbacks - He is expected to be shopped by the Diamondbacks, and there should be discussions with the Red Sox. Stephen is not the OPS machine that big brother J.D. is (.748 this season) but his other numbers weren’t bad for a shortstop: .261, 12 homers, 65 RBIs (only three fewer than J.D.). He also made only 11 errors. Who knows if hitting in a more patient lineup will help his OPS?"

And then a little bit on Mark Reynolds:

"4. Mark Reynolds, 3B, Diamondbacks - The cutoff for the “Super 2’s’’ is 141 days of service time (last year it was 140). Reynolds has 138 days because he was brought up in mid-May of 2007. Instead of something close to a $5 million salary, Reynolds will get about a 10 percent raise to $425,000. Great bargain for the only guy in the majors who hit 40 homers, had 100 RBIs, and stole 20 bases this year."

The first note is interesting because I'm not sure a lot of people are expecting Drew to get traded. The second one is a huge deal financially for the Diamondbacks, when you consider it saves them 4.5 million dollars this season.

The Record Nobody Wants

Nobody wants to strike out more than any other player, but someone has to hold the record. And that someone is former South Bend Silver Hawks infielder Mark Reynolds, who is now playing with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Reynolds struck out a few times last night to break the previous record for most strikeouts in a season held by...Mark Reynolds.

Not that I'm wanting to make Mark Reynolds look bad, but let's compare Mark Reynolds over the last two seasons to a notable baseball Hall-of-Famer.

Mark Reynolds (2008-2009*)
Games: 297 (*through September 22nd)
Strikeouts: 410

Joe DiMaggio (1936-1951)
Games: 1,736
Strikeouts: 369

A Bunch of Former Hawks in One Game

Obviously, the Diamondbacks have a handful of former Silver Hawks on the team, but Florida has a couple of them as well, and a lot of them performed well tonight. Here's the rundown, or click here for the box score.

For Arizona:

-Clay Zavada gets the win for Arizona in his major league debut. One inning, two strikeouts, no hits, no walks. Nice work by Zavada.

-Mark Reynolds with a two run home run and 3 total RBI

-Justin Upton with a walk and a run scored

For Florida:

-Emilio Bonifacio with two hits and a run scored

-Dan Uggla with a solo home run

Always good to see the alumni doing well. Full D'Backs system report tomorrow (Friday) along with pictures from Community Field in Burlington