Friday D’back News and Notes

Welcome back, Henry Blanco. Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

After the Big Trade earlier this week, officials from the Arizona Diamondbacks spent the rest of their time in riding Space Mountain at Disney World.  Or so it seemed.  After a couple of days of lots of rumors but no action, Friday has turned out to be a busy day in D’back land. There were no big headlines to grab a hold of but there was enough activity to keep us interested in the team.

As our own Tyler Robertswrote today, pitcher Daniel Hudson has signed a Minor League deal with the team. Huddy is expected to miss all of 2014 and then if completely healed, begin a transition over to the bullpen. He has spent almost all of his time rehabbing with the team’s training staff even after he was not tendered a deal last week. It shows us how much both sides want Hudson’s career to remain intact with the organization.

Ageless catcher Henry Blanco appears close to returning to the D’backs according to Nick Piecoro at azcentral.com. The 42 year old Blanco is expected to sign a Minor League contract with an invite to Spring Training.  He played with Arizona during the 2011 and 2012 seasons, appearing in a total of 58 game with 164 at-bats. The competition for the back up spot behind starter Miguel Montero now includes Blanco, Tuffy Gosewisch and newly acquired Blake Lalli.

A former Diamondback was on the move as Jason Kubel returned to the Minnesota Twins on a Minor League contract per Jon Heyman at cbssports.com. In 2012, Kubel led the D’backs in home runs with 30 and RBI’s with 90 and also banged out 30 doubles. However, injury and ineffectiveness caused the team to designate him for assignment in August before being traded to the Cleveland Indians. Kubel’s best season came in 2009 with the Twin when he hit 28 homers and drove in a career-high 103 run with a line of .300/.369/.539 as Minnesota won the AL Central.

The D’backs picked up three players to complete the Trumbo-Skaggs-Eaton and the Heath Bell trades.  Outfielder Brandon Jacobs was sent by the White Sox out west. The D’backs will be his third organization as he was drafted by the Red Sox in 2009 before being dealt to Chicago last season. He hit 13 home runs and drove in 66 with a line of .244/.320/.407 while splitting time between A and Double A. Pitcher A.J. Schugel comes to the D’backs via the Angels. the 24 year old righty was drafted by the Halos in the 25th round of the 2010 draft and went 4-6 with a 7.05 ERA in 19 starts at Triple A Salt Lake. The Rays sent outfielder Todd Glaesmann to Arizona who was taken by Tampa in the third round of the 2009 draft. At Double A Montgomery in 2013, Glaesmann swatted 11 home runs and drove in 54 runs with a line of .240/.289/.378.

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