MLB arizona Diamondbacks

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

Since the moment they were swept out of the 2007 NLCS, the Diamondbacks have been waiting. Waiting on their impressive collection of young talent. Waiting on their dynamic rotation duo of Dan Haren and Brandon Webb to deliver a playoff spot. Waiting for everything to come together.

It hasn't happened yet. Arizona was passed by the Dodgers in late 2008 after holding the NL West lead for much of the season. Then, this past year -- one filled with calamity, including a major shoulder injury to Webb that limited him to one start -- saw the Diamondbacks dip all the way to last place.

Arizona is still waiting. There is still promising young talent on hand, including the terrific Justin Upton. There is still hope. It's just tempered by all the work that needs to be done to get the Diamondbacks back in contention.

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The champagne is barely dry in the Yankees clubhouse, but the business of 2010 is already well under way. Three trades are in the books, a number of players have already filed for free agency and Bobby Abreu has a new deal with the Angels.

In that vein, three clubs made decisions on contract options Friday as they held on to star players for next year. The Phillies and Diamondbacks both picked up the options they held on ace pitchers Cliff Lee and Brandon Webb, respectively, while the White Sox bought out right fielder Jermaine Dye.

Chicago's World Series MVP in 2005, Dye, who will turn 36 in January, was due to make $12 million in 2010. He'll instead receive $950,000 from the White Sox and hit the open market.

While the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies are busy battling for the meaningless title of World Series champion Arizona reliever Clay Zavada was in St. Louis to receive some real hardware. Yes, after much debate throughout the country and campaigns that cost American taxpayers millions of dollars, Zavada was named the "Mustached American of the Year" by the American Mustache Institute on Sunday night.

We shall all now bow to the power of Zavada's Rollie Fingers-esque mustache, and hope that through the will of being too lazy to shave, we too can one day achieve such greatness for ourselves.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Johan Santana had never seen the Metrodome before the Twins took him from Single-A in the Rule 5 draft.

"When I first got there," Santana told FanHouse, "my first impression was, 'How can you play baseball in a place like this?'

"I came from Single-A and from Venezuela, and we don't have any of that stuff. ... I couldn't figure it out. How could this thing [the roof] be up in the air? And then it feels like you're in a bubble. And then you play baseball."

One of the big stories of the early offseason in 2009 is going to be Brandon Webb's 2010 option. The Diamondbacks hold a team option on their ailing ace worth $8.5 million and they're understandably a little hesitant to pay such a steep price for a pitcher coming off of a shoulder injury, even if that pitcher is Brandon Webb.

In that vein, the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday that the D'backs are planning on approaching Webb about restructuring his contract. Of course, in the same story it was reported that Webb has absolutely no interest in any sort of contract restructuring of his deal. That means the D'backs have until shortly after the World Series to figure out what they're going to do with their ace.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Pittsburgh Pirates keep finding new lows.

Apparently a North American professional sports record 17th straight losing season wasn't enough of an indignity, so the 2009 Bucs went out and put together the second-worst 24-game stretch in the franchise's 123-year history.

The Pirates lost for the 21st time in their last 24 games Tuesday night, a 10-4 defeat suffered at the hands of the Reds.

"It's no fun, that's for sure," Pirates manager John Russell said. "It bothers every player in that clubhouse and everyone on our coaching staff. All we can do, though, is come back tomorrow and prepare ourselves to come back out and try to win a game."

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Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Bobby Abreu's influence has its limitations.

Vladimir Guerrero is still going to swing at everything.

But besides his fine season -- 89 runs scored, 96 RBI, .823 OPS -- Abreu seems to have passed on his patience at the plate to the rest of his Angels teammates.

"He's got the younger players understanding patience isn't a bad thing," Chone Figgins told FanHouse. "It's not about not being aggressive, but being patient, getting a pitch to hit. There's nothing wrong with being 1-1 and hitting, or 1-2, or 2-2.

"It's not something simple to do, but I think we did a good job of it in spring training and have tried to bring it into the season and have so far done a good job."

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Cody Ross blames his mom.

"My dad was a really good athlete (Kenny Ross, who played safety at New Mexico in the late 1960s)," said Ross, the Marlins' right fielder. "My dad was all right[-handed]. My mom's a lefty, so maybe I got that gene from her."

Ross and St. Louis' Ryan Ludwick are the only two active position players who throw left and bat right. Just 14 such players in baseball history have gotten as many as 1,000 at-bats -- and that list now includes a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson.

"He kind of put us on the map," Ross said.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Ahhh, the National League -- where pitchers can play out their golden years without a care in the world.

Think of the NL as baseball's rest home.

Just in the past few weeks, Brad Penny and John Smoltz have reached the legendary fountain of youth that Ponce de Sabathia discovered last year in the wilds of Wisconsin.

"In reality, it's a little tougher to pitch in the American League than it is the National League," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who formerly managed in Seattle and Tampa Bay.

At least he admits it.

There's a bit of a storm brewing between the Diamondbacks and Dodgers in the wake of last week's trade of Jon Garland from Arizona to Los Angeles.

The Diamondbacks, who were expecting to get infielder Tony Abreu from the Dodgers as the player to be named for Garland, now believe that the Dodgers, presumably GM Ned Colletti, may not have negotiated the deal in good faith, sources told the Arizona Republic.

The issue stems from a grievance Abreu filed over a situation in 2007. The Dodgers sent him to the minors when he believed he should have been on the major league disabled list with an injury. Apparently that grievance is about to be settled by awarding Abreu extra service time, perhaps as much as the entire 47 days he was in Triple-A.