A promising young lineup and deep rotation have the Diamondbacks set up to contend in the NL West, but Jim thinks their season could come down to containing an old division foe.

TUCK! toons goodness every week!

I lied, THIS is my last post. Rob Neyer suckers you with that polite Midwestern charm of his, but he’s capable of firing missles when he feels the need: One of baseball’s dirty little secrets is that umpiring is not that hard. Oh, it would be exceptionally difficult for you or me or your mailman. […]

There’s a fun, albeit somewhat uncomfortable conversation going on among some political blogs I read, and it’s about how much blogging is too much. It started with this: I’m privileged to have a job that I really enjoy. But at the same time, I would prefer to write somewhat less—this pace is stressful and doesn’t […]

Courtesy of Buster, two of the more unlikely guys in the game are about to break camp with their big clubs. First in Milwaukee: After toiling 11 years in the minors before finally getting his chance to pitch in the big leagues, Mark DiFelice isn’t about to start taking things for granted. “I’ll believe I’ve […]

Via Jason, news that nobility, appropriately enough, is joining the Royals rotation: It doesn’t matter, it seems, that veteran right-hander Sidney Ponson gave up seven runs in five innings Tuesday in a 7-2 loss to the Oakland A’s. The Royals seem ready, regardless, to anoint him as the fourth member of their rotation — albeit […]

The Tigers have handed the fifth starter’s job to Rick Porcello: The Tigers told rookie right-handed pitcher Rick Porcello on Wednesday that he has earned a spot in the starting rotation. The news follows an impressive outing Tuesday by Porcello, 20, who allowed two hits over five innings in a 7-2 loss to Washington. By […]

I like the way Aubrey Huff thinks: Huff did very little over the winter to get ready for the 2009 season, but that wasn’t necessarily because he was tending to [his newborn] Jayce. Actually, Huff was following an offseason regimen he stumbled upon a year ago after undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia. “Last […]

. . . hello Zone Evaluation: Major League Baseball had been using QuesTec since 2001 to try to standardize the functional size of the strike zone, which often varies from umpire to umpire, despite the rulebook definition. But QuesTec cameras were installed in only about a third of major league stadiums, raising the suspicion among […]

Ron Rollins — writer of the most excellent Baseball Over Here — has found a whale of a pitching line from the Italian leagues. Even better: a Melvin Mora sighting! UPDATE: OK, that may not be Melvin Mora. At least unless he has rented a decommissioned Concorde jet and is moonlighting. My guess: Marco Mora. […]