Off-Field Headlines Are Good for the D’backs

Paul Goldschmidt’s MVP chase kept the D’backs in the news for three weeks. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been pretty quiet since the regular season ended, at least as it relates to their roster. Though the team has been mentioned as a trading partner because of depth in certain places within the organization, nothing formal has been presented outside of some trades proposed in blog land. However, two events have taken place that have given the organization something it doesn’t receive very often: lots of press from the baseball and national sports media. Since no crimes were committed, this has to be good news for a team that has to fight all the time for some kind of recognition.

The first shot of ink came in the form of the National League MVP vote. Paul Goldschmidt was one of the three finalists and in the weeks leading up to the vote, the D’backs were mentioned in every single story. Even though Goldy lost out to Andrew McCutchen, the vote results kept the team in the news for a couple of days. Goldy did not receive a single first place vote, not even from D’backs’ beat writer Nick Piecoro. That left many D’back fans upset, particularly John McCain who expressed his frustration publicly. For the record, I support Piecoro’s vote and you should read his explanation here. To me, placing Goldy fifth and sixth like two writers did is a true outrage.

The second bit of offseason headlines came as a result of Jhonny Peralta‘s free agent deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. D’backs’ reliever Brad Ziegler made waves with his tweets on the matter, basically telling baseball’s owners that if you cheat, you still can get paid. Whether or not you agree with Ziegler’s take, it certainly was pretty bold of him, an active player calling out another active player over PED’s. You wonder how that could affect the organization’s ability to attract free agents. However, working in their favor is that Ziegler is the team’s player rep for the union which means he had to be elected by his teammates. Perhaps this is an indication that there are far more players who want stricter testing than not.

It is only a matter of time before the D’backs get involved in some player transactions. In the meantime, perhaps these two stories will help get baseball in Phoenix a little more recognition and show the rest of the world the D’backs are a quality organizations that houses one of the best players in the game.

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