Excerpts of online chat with Derrick Hall
D'Backs President Derrick Hall held this inline chat on Nov. 1 2007. The full transcript is here.
cnaylor62: Just read the Q&A regarding Tony Clark. Can we be optimistic by saying the D-backs will re-sign him for two more years?
Hall: Tony is wonderful and he is our leader. I certainly hope we come to an agreement with him. We have been working on it. We have to keep "Anybody. Anytime," alive -- he's the author.
D-BACXRULE: When you say that we just need to tweak our pitching staff, how are you planing on doing that?
Hall: By adding an arm or two. Our staff was fantastic, and we have only lost Livan Hernandez. Dustin Nippert continues to strengthen, and we have options from Triple-A. It is always a luxury to have extra arms for the bullpen, so perhaps a deal or two will work to our advantage in landing a reliever.
odogfan1: Can you give us an update on Randy Johnson?
Hall: Randy had successful surgery near the end of the season and began rehab in September. We are expecting him to be back and ready to go for Spring Training. He was so valuable to us for that five-game stretch before his season-ending injury.
cherw: Is there any chance that Orlando Hudson will be returning?
Hall: He is a D-back. His surgery went real well and he will back. He had a great season for us and was a major reason for our success. It was unfortunate that he could not play in the postseason.
admin1013: What kind of improvements can fans expect at Chase Field next year?
Hall: We will have our new video board up by Opening Day, which will be the largest and nicest in all of baseball. We also hope to have Baxter's Den and the Peter Piper Playhouse moved up to our new kids' section, and a museum built out in center field where those two are now. We may also be introducing a new candy shop in the ballpark with D-backs branded candies.
krodversion2: What is the status of Chad Tracy and will third base present a problem when he's healthy?
Hall: Chad is still recovering from his knee surgery and we look forward to his return. When he does, he can play either first or third, which is a luxury. With Mark Reynolds at third and Conor Jackson and possibly Tony at first, we again have some great options. It is always nice to have his left-handed bat and lifetime .300 average in the lineup.
The next chat is Dec 6.
ByrnesBlogger1
Thanks for posting this, Kellia. That man can use more words to say so little than anyone I've ever listened to except people who are running for office. :-) Do you think he misunderstood the Orlando Hudson question or was he just avoiding it?
Tracy
CDTLB
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Avoiding it. We are nowadays seeing a change in baseball contract signings. Whereas teams often wanted to trade soon-to-be free agents the couldn't or didn't want to afford in order to get something more for them than compensatory draft picks, we are now starting to see players near the end of their arbitration years becoming trade bait because the team doesn't want to give the raise the arbitrators would give. With O-Dog batting .294 when he was hurt and having won his third consecutive Gold Glove, you know that he will win his arbitration hearing if things get that far.
Hall doesn't want to let on that the D'Backs are quite willing to listen to offers for the popular and productive second baseman.
My personal opinion is that if the right starting pitcher becomes available, Hudson gets moved. The D'Backs have Ojeda, Callaspo and Bonifacio to play second base. Frankly, I like Ojeda. Not as much as I like Hudson, but I can see the D'Backs F.O. being comfortable with letting Hudson go in a deal for a starter (Erik Bedard?)with Ojeda on the team.
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