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Notes from Arizona

By Jeff Zimmerman Updated

Overview - It was a great few days of baseball and sunshine. The conversation got a little nerdy at times, but at least my roommate did not snore too bad.

Day One

Game 1. Kansas City at Oakland

  • I met with an Oakland staff official. Not much information that I can repeat, but they definitely plan on being competitive in the AL West this year.
  • Wil(l) Myers is short. He is listed at 6'3" and is shorter than me (5'11"). I saw him later a minor league game and it was verified.
  • Billy Butler is thinner, but my 4 year old could still beat him in a race to 1B.

Game 2. Flames vs Coyotes

  • Live hockey is the greatest. The best hit of the game was when two teammates collided for the hit of the game.

Day Two

Tamales in the breakfast bar. Yea !!!

Game 1. Mariners at Cleveland

  • Saw a panel of Chris Antonetti (General Manager and Executive Vice President of the Cleveland Indians ), Mike Chernoff (Director of Baseball Operations, Indians)and Joe Bohringer (Arizona Diamondbacks
  • Professional Scout). It was a little tough to hear everything because the catering staff and public address systems were blasting out noise constantly.
  • Chris Antonetti mentioned that the Indians were operating under a process a couple of times. Mr. Klaassen could barely keep himself contained with laughter.
  • I completely over ate in our all you can eat seats.
  • Highly touted prospect Michael Pineda of Seattle throws a rocket fastball with no break. He reminds me a lot of Farnsworth.
  • First time I met Jonah Keri and I got him to sign for me a copy of his book.
  • Johermyn Chavez of the Mariners has a cannon for an arm.

Game 2. Giants at Padres

  • Giant fans made up 90% of the fans. I usually don't worry about tickets in ST, but add the Giants to the list of teams to get tickets way ahead of time (Cubs and D-Backs).
  • Lincecum vs Latos - Latos got rocked and Timmy was Timmy. 
  • Pablo Sandoval looks to have lost 40 lbs since the World Series. He is still heavier than Butler.

Back at hotel - Several of the Fangraphs crew started a draft around 6 that evening and didn't get it done by 2 that night. Klaassen has a pretty much all Royals prospect team. I took a beer and headed to bed.

Day 3
No tamales for breakfast. Dammit.

Game 1 - Rangers at White Sox

  • Adam Dunn had a double and a triple. The triple was injury aided, but it seemed to be a ton of jogging for Adam.
  • The Rangers had a MI of ex-Royals German and Blanco. Teahen was holding down 3B for the Sox.
  • The White Sox played their starters the entire game and got smoked by the Rangers.

Evening meet and greet with Rick Hahn (Chicago White Sox Assistant GM), Tony Blengino (Seattle Mariners Assistant GM), and Joe Bohringer (Arizona Diamondbacks Professional Scout).

  • Extremely informative.
  • I asked about what it means if a player is projectable. Joe Bohringer said that it means one or more of the following.
  1. The player is thin and will put on some muscle as they get older
  2. The player has a hitch/problem in their mechanics and once the problem is corrected, the player should get better
  3. The players results are bad, but could be corrected (a pitcher could lower their walk rate).
  • After hearing these, I improvable would be a better term to use in my opinion
  • Joe was also in love with Eric Hosmer.
  • Rick Hahn had a great sense of humor and dropped a few f-bombs throughout this panel.

Day 4
No tamales for breakfast. Double dammit.

Game 1 - Giants at Rangers

  • I got a media pass to get into the game.
  • Josh Boyd (Direct or of Pro Scouting) and Thad Levine (Assistant General Manager) of the Rangers met with us and answered some question. Levine mentioned that they have to paddle G.M. Jon Daniels to keep him inline every once and while
  • Saw Aaron Rowland's pre-pitch warmup (not viewable for women, children and most men).
  • Willie Wilson and Gaylord Perry were signing autographs for charity.
  • Left the Rangers game to watch a Royals minor league scrimmage. Not many players I knew were playing. Eibner was playing, but looked lost at the plate.

Day 5
Tamales for breakfast. There was much rejoicing

Virus attacks computer at Phoenix airport. I decided it may be best to wait to post the "Bullpen Gospel" article I had ready to go. Commenced to writing review of the past week.

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