AGRI Biz

According to my Arizona Diamondbacks wall calendar today is Election Day. Initially I thought they were talking about voting on the Hall of Fame candidates for 2010, but I realized that we were still a month away from that occurring. The Cy Young, Most Valuable Player, and Rookie of the Year voting has already occurred and we will wait until after the conclusion of the World Series before the winners ...

As the alarm clock went off I rolled over noting that the time had changed exactly one minute since the last time that I looked at it and two minutes since I looked at it the time before last. In reality I hadnÆt slept more than 20 minutes in the last three nights. Ever since the nightmare where I dreamt I had missed my appointment for Select-A-Seat , I have ...

When the fans and media talk about the Arizona Diamondbacks 2009 season they typically point to the loss of Brandon Webb on Opening Day as the key reason why the team went from being a contender to a pretender. While losing your staff ace is never a recipe for success, losing a single player should not result in a team completely collapsing like the Diamondbacks did this season. Looking back ...

Since the end of the regular season, there has been a veritable carousel of coaching changes that have occurred around baseball. Now with the offseason just a couple of weeks old, weÆre beginning to hear names associated with various jobs around the league. The Arizona Diamondbacks are heavily involved having placed several coaches on the carousel themselves. I thought it might be interesting to look at what we know ...

What a great day for Opening Day! No I did not find a good price on a used DeLorean and I didnÆt hit my head in the bathroom and awaken with a vision of the plans for a flux capacitor. Major League Baseball Opening Day is still 173 days 3 hours and 25 minutes away. But for residents in Arizona, yesterday was Opening Day for the Arizona ...

When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded Jon Garland to the Los Angeles Dodgers the deal was for the proverbial ôplayer to be named laterö. Within hours of the announced deal, there were rumors that the Diamondbacks would receive infielder Tony Abreu. This would potentially fulfill the Diamondbacks need for a second baseman. Abreu is a highly touted 25-year-old second baseman that has had a lot of success at the minor league ...

I am often asked, "Why do you buy season tickets to the Arizona Diamondbacks?" The questionáusually results in me staring at the askeráwith the same incredulous look that I gave the guy who asked me why I thought it necessary to constantly breathe. I am not suggesting that baseball tickets are as necessary as breathing. Baseball tickets are much more important that that. I've briefly considered having a bumper sticker created that simply states, ...

A day after the Arizona Diamondbacks parted ways with two of their coaches, General Manager Josh Byrnes and manager AJ Hinch met with the media at Chase Field. While the press conference did not unveil anything earth-shattering, it was interesting to hear what areas the team will focus on during this offseason. The underlying theme of the press conference was clearly that the front office was not accepting any excuses ...

Nearly everyone has heard the baseball clichÚ, ôthe season is a marathonö that is used to describe the way teams approach a season. It is usually called out to try and talk the fans or the media off the ledge when a team is not living up to expectations. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that phrase used in connection with the 2009 ...

With the smell of jet fuel still lingering from their trip back from Chicago, Arizona Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch had already set in motion his plans for next season. Shortly after returning on Sunday night, Hinch met with third base coach Chip Hale and first base coach Lorenzo Bundy. Each coach was told he would not be returning for the 2010 season. And so began the rebuilding project that ...