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The wrapper on the Flor de Camaguey “Figurado #?” was so dark and beautiful that I was compelled me to buy it.

The following Diamondbacks are eligible for free-agency:

• Miguel Batista (age 35)
• Craig Counsell (36)
• Damion Easley (36)
• Luis Gonzalez (39) [already declared]
• Jason Grimsley (39)
• Terry Mulholland (43)

It’s a short list, even including the “not in a million years” name of Grimsley, included here only because he’s technically a free agent, who last played for AZ. It contains nobody who will be significantly missed, except perhaps Miguel Batista, and I don’t expect any of them to re-sign with the Diamondbacks. Again, Batista is the only one I have any interest in taking back, and in a seller’s market for starting pitching, he’ll get better offers from elsewhere. But it seems true to say that free agency has little or no potential to hurt our team significantly this year. That’s not necessarily the case for all our rivals in the NL West…

Colorado Rockies. Things are looking pretty stable in Denver too, with Vinny Castilla their sole position player eligible - he only played 15 games after signing in August. Like us, they have one starting pitcher eligible, in Byung-Hung Kim, though he may be re-signed. Part of me wouldn’t mind us taking a flyer on Kim, but his ERA+ was 86, and he hasn’t even been league average since the year we traded him to Boston. While the $1.25m he got paid this season makes him pretty cheap, I’ll pass. The Rockies will have some reconstruction to do in their bullpen though, with Ray King, Tom Martin and Joe Table all potential free-agents.

Los Angeles Dodgers. Two big holes need to be filled in LA: Kenny Lofton, who hit over .300 playing CF, and perhaps even more crucial, they need to decide what to do about Nomar Garciaparra. He certainly proved himself back to full strength with a 20 HR, .303 season, and will likely get a number of long-term offers, even after missing a quarter of the season. Starters Greg Maddux and Aaron Sele are eligible to file, but the biggest question-mark on the pitching side is likely Eric Gagne. Will he come back from injury, and how effective will he be? Which team will roll the dice there?

San Diego Padres. Significant changes could be in the pipeline at Petco, with three everyday players who could become free agents: as well as catcher Mike Piazza, Mike Cameron (CF) and Dave Roberts (LF) may be leaving. They could also be hurting at third-base, where Castilla started most games. He has gone, as noted in the Rockies section, and Mark Bellhorn, Geoff Blum, Russell Branyan and Todd Walker, who all played 140+ innings there, are also eligible to depart. The front of their rotation looks set as Peavy, Young, Hensley, but at the back end, potential candidates Woody Williams and Chan Ho Park made 45 starts between them, and reliever Alan Embree can become a free-agent.

San Francisco Giants. Alphabetical order conveniently saves the best for last, where no less than eleven of the Giants’ current 25-man roster are free agents. In what could be a disaster in the making, we’re not talking minor members either: they include team leaders in RBI (Pedro Feliz), HR (Barry Bonds and Ray Durham), and ERA, IP + K (Jason Schmidt). It seems almost certain Bonds will file, and I expect Schmidt will be equally keen to test the water, as one of the best - read, “highest-priced” - pitchers available. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg, since between them, the eligible seven position players appeared in 785 games, while the four pitchers threw 444.1 innings for the Giants. New manager Bruce Bochy could be playing a radically different hand come Opening Day 2007.

At Ben’s suggestion, I’m gonna kick off a little prediction contest, in which you can see if you can spot the eventual destination of some of the top (or Arizona!) free agents. Expect that to crop up in the diaries section tomorrow; no prizes, just the respect and admiration of your peers here.

Arizona announced that the new hitting coach will be Kevin Seitzer, a 12-year player who finished second in the 1986 Rookie of the Year balloting, behind some guy called McGwire. Interestingly, he has no experience of coaching in either the minor or major leagues (that sound you hear is Mark Grace gnashing his teeth!), but is running a private baseball academy with former team-mate, Mike McFarlane. To help Mr. Seltzer, here’s a list of some important things he needs to work on:

• End Tracy’s strikeout tendencies. 2004: 8.02 AB/K. 2005: 6.45 AB/K. 2006: 4.63. His AB/BB numbers have remained fairly steady (10.69 in 2004, up to 14.37 last year, but back to 11.06 in 2006). If our new hitting coach can reverse the trend and send Tracy back to the levels of production seen in 2005, a shrine to Seltzer will need to be built. Of course, Tracy’s defensive issues will remain, but if he hits .300 with 25 HR again, will anyone notice?

• Help the young guys handle breaking balls. Quentin, Drew and Young all appeared to have problems dealing with any kind of pitch that showed movement. And this led to them seeing a steady flow of them - Quentin, in particular, hardly saw any fast-balls after smacking four homers in his first sixteen at-bats. It may just be a lack of experience of quality breaking pitches in the minors, but overcoming this will be a huge factor in deciding whether they have RotY-caliber seasons, or merely “okay” ones.

• Assisting Chris Snyder even out his splits. With Estrada likely gone, Snyder will become the de facto #1 catcher, getting the majority of starts. It’s hard to be sure what this’ll mean. His overall career splits:
  Right: .222/.304/.343 = .646 OPS
  Left: .253/.351/.414 = .765 OPS
  skew towards lefties, but over 2006, Snyder hit righties 48 points better (.294 vs. .246), and that’s largely what accounted for his boost in overall stats. Seltzer should look to see if this was a statistical quirk - Snyder only had 3 ABs vs. LHP in July - or a genuine tend.

• Keep an eye on Eric, looking for Byrnes-out. Before the All-Star break, Byrnes hit .292; after, only .243, and a mere .226 in September. He also had just ten walks in 288 at-bats following the break. Interestingly, Byrnes didn’t find much comfort at hitter-friendly Chase Field either, batting .248, compared to .285 away from Phoenix - and those home stats collapsed late on too (.212 at Chase from August on); Seltzer should look into why. Byrnes’ll also be coping with a different, albeit perhaps less-taxing, defensive position, so may need some careful handling next season. If he’s still around, of course…

Finally, looks like everyone will be moving up the ladder in the minor-league managerial list. Bill Plummer, late of Double-A Tennessee, will take over the reins in Tucson from Chip Hale, while Brent Butler rises from Class A Lancaster to Mobile, who are replacing Tennessee as our Double-A affiliate next season.

The fifth installment of I Used to Love H.E.R., a series in which artists/bloggers/writers discuss their most essential hip-hop albums (read intro), is a thought-provoking and entertaining piece from The Gray Kid, who released what’s shaping up to be o…

I finally got a shot of the wild ‘keets socializing in our tree. Apparently the rest of the world calls them budgies.

Yesterday Lynn, DJ, the baby, and I went to Schnepf Farms for their Pumpkin & Chili Party.

Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals, the 2006 World Series Champions. You’d have made good money for picking that before the playoffs started. Indeed, you’d have got fairly decent odds on that before the World Series started, especially in as quickly as five games. The Tigers had a full week of rest after sweeping the A’s, while the Cardinals limped in with their ace not available until game three. But the layoff seemed to affect Detroit badly, judging by their mistake-strewn performance.

They made at least one error every night - eight in total. Nate Silver points out that during the regular season, “Tigers pitchers had a respectable .939 fielding percentage. During the World Series, Tigers pitchers made five errors in 17 chances. The odds of that happening based on chance alone are 355-to-1 against. During the regular season, Detroit’s leadoff hitters got on base 33 percent of the time. During the World Series, their leadoff men reached base five times in 44 plate appearances. The odds of that happening based on chance alone are 843-to-1 against.”

For even more crucially, the Tigers were limited to just eleven runs in five games, and you won’t take many series that way. Looking in more depth, at individual performance, their outfield trio of Granderson, Monroe and Ordonez went a combined .117 (7-for-60) against St. Louis, and Polanco was worse yet, going hitless in 17 at-bats. Even Pudge managed only 3-for-19, meaning that those five, everyday starters for Detroit batted like pitchers (.104 overall, 10-for-96) in the series. That proved way too much of a handicap for the Tigers to overcome, even with Sean Casey going 9-for-17, while Guillen and Inge both hit better than .350.

But it’s true to say that the Cardinals won this, every bit as much as the Tigers lost it. While their hitting in October was nothing to write home about (they scored only 4.0 runs per game), World Series MVP David Eckstein - that’s a phrase I never thought I’d see! - hit .364 and Scott Rolen .421. But it was their pitching that really blossomed in the post-season, with a miniscule 2.68 ERA over the sixteen contests, and a great K:BB ratio of 107:48. If they had an overall MVP, it would probably be Jeff Weaver, who had a 2.43 ERA in five starts - that completes an amazing turnaround in his career.

He was designated for assignment by Anaheim on June 30, in part because brother Jered had been so effective since his promotion from the minors. The Cardinals worked out a trade, getting Jeff for a minor-league outfielder and $2.5m in cash - they needed an arm to replace Mark Mulder, out because of shoulder problems. [Fun to speculate on “what if” injuries to Mulder and their closer, Isringhausen, hadn’t happened…] But they got rather more than that in Weaver: not that you’d know it from his regular-season outings, where he had an ERA of over five, as the Cardinals sputtered towards the playoffs. But once they reached them, he was impeccable, and in less than four months, has gone from being DFA’d, to being the winner of the clinching game in the World Series. Quite the Cinderella story.

Indeed, much the same could be said of the Cardinals as a whole, whom nobody gave a chance at the start of the post-season. They had the worst record by five games, and even those 83 wins were in undeniably the worst division, of probably the lesser league. They were fourteen worse than the Mets - the only National League team anyone thought stood a chance. But it all came together at the right time, and after a couple of World Series where the American League has steam-rollered us, it was nice to see the boot being placed on the other foot. That was the best result for an NL team in the World Series since the Reds swept the A’s back in 1990. Now, if only we can win the All-Star game and get home-field advantage…

Needless to say Viva El Birdos are somewhat happy this morning: “My hat’s off to Duncan and La Russa — they had the right guys on the mound in the right situations, and they they had beautiful game plans for the opposition.” Bless You Boys is, equally naturally, a bit disappointed, but want to look forward, rather than what might have been: “There are several positive building blocks we as fans can look forward to for the future. Perhaps getting these chances for titles may become somewhat of a trend?” Certainly, the Tigers do not look like a “one and done” champion; the core of their team, not least their phenomenal pitching, should be back next year.

And with that, we can draw a line under the 2006 major-league season, though we still have the various awards to be handed out as we move into November. The first marker on the road to next year’s Spring Training takes place immediately: as npineda noted in the diaries, we now get to see who files for free agency. They have 15 days to do so, I believe, and during this time, their current club has exclusive negotiating rights, though I believe players can have “general discussions” with other clubs, but since they can’t discuss contract details, it seems somewhat pointless. “Hey, how ya doing, Yankees? Nice weather for the time of year, isn’t it. What about them Cardinals, eh? Oh, sorry - my mistake, George…” Will take a look at the NL West free agents tomorrow, comparing the various clubs to see how the changes stack up.

The AFL All-Star Game was won by the East Rising Stars, who beat the West Rising Stars 3-1, in a surprisingly low-scoring game. Three AZ prospects took part: Danny Richar and Mark Reynolds made the starting lineup for the East, at 2B and LF respectively, while James D’Antona came into the game during the sixth inning at first-base. Neither of the first two managed a hit, but D’Antona doubled in the seventh, driving in the go-ahead tally on a hit-and-run play, then coming round to score himself. 2,373 was the officially-announced attendance, and I think it’ll become a regular feature of the AFL. Just hopefully somewhere a little closer.

And I think that will do for the moment. I’ll quietly shuffle off the stage and let the Cardinals bask in their biggest moment since 1982…

Found at my desk yesterday morning. It’s easy to see the high esteem and respect with which my fellow workers (Kathy in this case) regard me!

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Barsuk Records is giving away a pair of tickets for each show on Death Cab for Cutie’s upcoming tour, which includes a Dec. 2 stop in Arizona at Mesa Amphitheatre with Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins.According to Barsuk, winners will be randomly chose…

Parts of lunch at 32nd St. Cafe were very good so I guess it was good I accidentally ordered the wrong thing.

As promised, the latest AFL update, since they’re off playing the All-Star game tonight, in front of what will undoubtedly be a packed house in Surprise this evening. An extra slice of sarcasm? Oh, don’t mind if I do…] Actually, they’re claiming 2,000 tickets have already been sold, though I wonder how many will turn up, given World Series Game 5 is now playing opposite it - and I imagine the cost of the tickets would hardly be a huge financial loss. Still, must say, two thousand is far more than I expected, given the average AFL attendance this year is just 235, and can be a lot lower, as we’ll see shortly. If the World Series isn’t up to much, you can listen to the AFL All-Star game here, starting 7pm AZ time.

All three AZ position players got selected, Mark Reynolds as a late injury replacement. Danny Richar and James D’Antona were also chosen; at first, that’s surprised me, until I discovered it appears how you performed in the AFL is irrelevant. The rosters were chosen from “players that were either selected in the first round of the First-Year Player Draft or made their respective league All-Star teams this past season.” That includes none of our hurlers, though the AFL is such a hitter-oriented setup, I can’t say I’m too concerned. If you’re pitching in the Arizona Fall League, there’s usually something “wrong” with you: you’re rehabbing after injury, need to work on something mechanical, etc.

Got four games worth of action to catch up on, so without further ado. Monday saw the Scottsdale Scorpions go down, 5-3, to the Peoria Saguaros. Richar got the day off, but Reynolds and D’Antona were both hitless. In a forgettable day for AZ prospects, none of our pitchers even got to take the mound. Things were more eventful on Tuesday, with the Peoria Javelinas visiting Scottsdale, but being dispatched by a healthy margin, the final score being 12-6. The Scorpions pounded out 17 hits; Richar went 1-for-6, while D’Antona, who came in batting just .107, was 2-for-5 with a double. Matt Elliott pitched a scoreless seventh, but Chris Kinsey’s scoreless streak came to an abrupt end in the eighth, as he allowed three runs on four hits, including a homer, and a wild pitch. As Scottdale had an 11-2 lead at the time, however, the damage was minimal. The crowd for that game numbered the princely total of 169; that was actually the best AFL attendance of the day, with the other two games being seen by 111 and 85 people…

Wednesday saw the Scorpion post another win, this time 7-5 in Mesa, against the Solar Sox. However, this was, once again, a disappointing set of performances: Richar was dropped to the #2 spot and went 0-for-5, while Reynolds played first-base, and went 0-for-3, though did get a walk and scored a run. Steven Jackson got the start, and disappointed on the mound: he pitched three innings, but allowed runs in all of them. He gave up a total of four runs on four hits and two walks - three of those hits went for extra-bases, including a two-run homer. He definitely seems to be a work in progress, rather than the proto-Webb we hoped for.

Finally, the Scorpions extended their undefeated streak to three games on Thursday, fighting their way to a 6-6 tie versus the Grand Canyon River Rafters. Scottsdale scored two runs in the eighth, the tying run being driven in by Reynolds, and the sides exchanged zeroes for the next three innings after that, before the contest was called off after eleven frames, as laid down in AFL rules. Each team had used seven relievers by that point, so the benches were getting pretty thin. Lots of action for AZ, though Richar was hitless in six at-bats. D’Antona (1-for-5) drove in two runs with a single, and Reynolds fell a homer short of the cycle, going 4-for-6 to boost his average back up to .340. Schultz, Elliott and Kinsey each pitched a scoreless inning, with Elliott fanning the side, around a hit and a walk.

Something I didn’t realise, is that the Diamondbacks also have prospects playing in the Hawaii Winter League. Okay, let’s be honest: how many of you even knew there was a Hawaii Winter League? Well, you do now. Pitcher Kyler Newby, catcher Josh Ford, and outfielder Chris Rahl are working on their skills there, in between strumming their ukeleles and eating roast pig, I imagine.

World Series Game 5 is now under way, with the Cardinals looking to clinch. Viva El Birdos points out that the series is actually much closer than the 3-1 score suggests: the Cardinals have only outscored the Tigers 12-9 in earned runs, but have outwalked their opponents by the rather larger margin of 19-6 over the first four games. Larry says, “The Cardinals came into this tournament with nothing to lose, and they haven’t played a single scared inning all month.” Meanwhile, Mark at Bless You Boys says his team are “desperate for wins, desperate for hits, desperate for good fielding and overall desperate for some sort of consistent success at something.”

100 mph heater or not, Zumaya’s stock has fallen sharply after his last couple of appearances; his error led to two crucial runs in Game 3, and he then took the loss in Game 4. While no denying his raw stuff, we’ll see if these setbacks, at the worst time imaginable, have any lasting impact. I think he’ll bounce back: it’s far from the worst performance by a young pitcher in the World Series, as Diamondbacks fans doubtless remember - the pessimist in me, however, mutters that the difference is, we won… Still, I expect Zumaya to return next year, better than ever. Good job he’s in the American League, that’s all I can say!