ng? I wouldn’t know http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-justin-verlander-jersey , because he has blocked me."Team news[AZ Central] Starting? Closing? Searching for meaning in Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley’s tweets - Will Archie Bradley be a starting pitcher next season or a closer? Well, if you follow the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher on Twitter, you might have noticed some possible references to his role in the 2019 season in posts the past couple of days. Or is the pitcher just tweeting out a playlist?[Prospects365.com] A Bahamian Breakout: 2019 is the Year of Kristian Robinson - Other than unfortunate and unforeseen injuries in the future, the hit tool might be the only thing that keeps Robinson from reaching superstardom. The 18-year-old is well-aware that contact rate is a skill that needs continued development, though, and it’s something he hopes to continue to develop in 2019. “Barrel accuracy,” Robinson answered when asked what he wants to improve this season. “And a smart approach both offensively and defensively.”[Rum Bunter] Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Nick Ahmed Becoming Possible? - During the Winter Meetings it was reported by several people that the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Pittsburgh Pirates had discussions about Gold Glove shortstop Nick Ahmed... Essentially the Diamondbacks have multiple players who can play shortstop now in Escobar, Locastro, and Ketel Marte, who played 28 games at shortstop last season.With all the additions of infielders, it seems like the Diamondbacks could be setting themselves up to trade one away, like Nick Ahmed.[The Athletic] Diamondbacks chasing Dodgers: Positional depth a challenge in trying to avoid ‘the middle’ - To their credit, the Diamondbacks have a good enough team to give 2019 a go, see where they stand come June and July, then re-assess. If they’re in good standing, they can add. If they’ve fallen behind, they can sell. This sort of high-variance team-building has become popular among small- and medium-market clubs as it provides general managers with a variety of avenues to explore. With some bounce-back seasons, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Diamondbacks competitive. Swap those out for injuries and inconsistencies and they could be selling by mid-June. Neither outcome seems far-fetched.[Prospects1500] Arizona Diamondbacks 2019 Top 50 Prospects - What a difference a year makes. Coming into 2018 the system was solidly in the bottom five of the league. Remarkably the 2018 Diamondbacks managed to both make a playoff push and revitalize their minor league system. So much so, I think the system is in the upper third in all of MLB... 2019 will prove a pivotal year as the system’s top bats make the big jump from hitter friendly A+ California League to AA. Also, GM Mike Hazen will have 8 of the top 100 picks in next June’s draft making this a fun system to write up for years to come.[azcentral] Diamondbacks reporter Nick Piecoro named Arizona Sportswriter of the Year - Nick Piecoro, the Arizona Diamondbacks beat reporter for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, has been named the Arizona Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Piecoro will be honored with other state winners, national winners and Hall of Fame inductees at the 60th annual NSMA awards ceremony June 24 in Winston-Salem, N.C... Jeff Munn Lance McCullers Jersey , who calls Arizona State women's basketball games, was named Arizona Sportscaster of the Year for the second time.And, elsewhere...[SI.com] MLB, Rob Manfred may soon implement a pitch clock for 2019 | - No proposed rules change would improve baseball’s pace of action issue more than a pitch clock, which is why Major League Baseball officials prioritized getting a pitch clock for the 2019 season at a meeting with Players Association officials Monday. The union, which has been cool to the idea, said it would continue to discuss the issue with its players along with “smaller items” related to proposed rules changes that were presented Monday. MLB officials did not press for any rules changes regarding defensive shifts, which means shifts are likely to remain unchanged for 2019.[MLB Trade Rumors] Mystery Teams Reportedly Pursuing Manny Machado - The presence or absence of so-called “mystery teams” — unidentified but active pursuers of a given player — has long been a subplot of the market for Manny Machado this winter. With the Phillies, White Sox, and (to a lesser extent) Yankees known to be involved in the hunt, the question is whether other organizations would quietly help drive the bidding.[CheckSwings] The CheckSwings 2019 Mock Expansion Draft, Part 1 - You might remember, a while ago, we had a little exercise here where you were asked what players the team would protect in the event of an expansion draft. The results were funneled over to CheckSwings, who carried out such a draft, using the lists provided by sites such as this, and acting as the GMs of the expansion teams. Here are the results, with commentary on each pick, which makes for interesting reading.[TampaBay.coml] Quinton McCracken rejoins Rays as Triple-A coach - "My family and I are extremely excited about this homecoming of sorts.'' [former Diamondback] McCracken said via text message. "The opportunity to rejoin the Rays organization and assist our player development staff in developing championship players and people, on and off the field, is a dream come true for me.'' ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Justin Verlander relished facing Blake Snell on opening day.“I don’t try to hide behind the this-is-just-another-start anymore,” the Houston ace said.The Astros star delivered, beating Snell and the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 in a rare season-opening matchup between pitchers who finished first and second in balloting for the Cy Young Award.“There definitely is more intensity to it Mike Scott Jersey ,” Verlander added. ” It’s kind of somewhere between a playoff game and a regular-season game, so I just kind of used the adrenalin, and you go from there.”George Springer homered on opening day for the third straight year. Michael Brantley and Jose Altuve also went deep for the Astros against Snell, the AL Cy Young recipient who won 21 games and led the league in ERA.Verlander (1-0) allowed a leadoff homer to Austin Meadows on his fourth before dominating a mostly young Tampa Bay lineup featuring just one player — center fielder Kevin Kiermaier — who started for the Rays on opening day last year.“I just hit the reset button real quick,” the 36-year-old right-hander said.“It’s not something you want to do, to lead off the year with a homer,” Verlander added. “But I’ve done it before, so it was let’s go turn the page and try to find it.”Verlander, fresh off signing a three-year contract that added $66 million in guaranteed money for 2020 and 2021, limited the Rays to one run and three hits over seven innings before a crowd of 25,025 at Tropicana Field — Tampa Bay’s 14th consecutive sellout for a home opener.“We ran into a buzz saw. He did a great job having all of us off balance,” Kiermaier said. “For me personally, I feel like every time I thought a fastball was coming it was an offspeed. A couple times I thought he’s going to try to get me to chase an off speed, it was a heater.”Verlander, who improved to 4-1 in 11 opening day starts, struck out nine and only allowed one hit — Yandy Diaz’s seventh-inning double — and three baserunners total after walking a batter and plunking another in the second.Ryan Pressly pitched a scoreless eighth and Roberto Osuna worked a perfect ninth inning to finish a combined four-hitter.Springer gave Astros ace all the offensive support he’d need with a three-run homer in the third off Snell, who yielded five runs and six hits over six innings of his first opening day start.The 26-year-old lefty, who signed a $50 million, five-year contract extension this month, walked two batters ahead of Springer’s home run and finished with three strikeouts.“I was happy with a lot of things I did, but I was upset with sequencing,” Snell said. “Threw first pitch curveballs to Springer twice. Right there credit him. He was waiting for it. I fell in love with the curveball and didn’t mix pitches like I should have been doing.”With the NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom facing Washington’s Max Scherzer earlier Thursday, Snell vs. Verlander became the fourth instance of a reigning Cy Young recipient facing the runner-up for the award on opening day the next season.The other two matchups both occurred in 1979, when reigning AL winner Ron Guidry (Yankees) faced runner-up Mike Caldwell (Brewers) and NL winner Gaylord Perry (Padres) faced Burt Hooton (Dodgers).LATE SELLOUTDespite closing the upper deck at Tropicana Field Alex Bregman Jersey , reducing capacity of the domed stadium to 25,025 for this season, Thursday’s game wasn’t announced as a sellout until late Wednesday. It’s the 14th consecutive season the Rays have sold out the home opener, however the club routinely finishes near the bottom of the majors in attendance, including 29th among 30 teams in 2018. Attendance for the past five home openers was listed as Last year’s opening day attendance was announced as 31,042.“It’s problematic,” Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg said of the late sellout, noting there were far fewer tickets available than for previous openers.“25,000 seats given everything that we are; the way we finished last year; the team we had; the 4 o’clock start, it should be a layup to use a different sport phrase,” the owner added. “It is what it is.”SUBPAR OUTINGSnell’s loss was his first since July 12 at Minnesota, ending a stretch of nine consecutive victories over a span of 10 starts. … The young left-hander didn’t allow more than two runs in any of his 14 starts at home in 2018. He yielded one or fewer in 12 of them.TRAINER’S ROOMAstros: RHP’s Lance McCullers Jr. (right elbow surgery) and Joe Smith (left Achilles’ tendon surgery) were both placed on the 10-day injured list. Meanwhile, SS Carlos Correa (nick stiffness) said before the game that his injury is “nothing major” and that he hopes to be ready to play some time before the end of the four-game series.Rays: To finalize the opening day roster, 3B Matt Duffy (left hamstring tightness), LHP Anthony Banda (Tommy John surgery) and RHP Jose De Leon (Tommy John surgery) were placed on the 10-day injured list.UP NEXTRHP Charlie Morton, 15-3 with a 3.13 ERA in 30 starts last season with Houston, will make his Tampa Bay debut Friday night against the Astros and RHP Gerrit Cole (15-5, 2.88 ERA in 2018). Signed to a $30 million, two-year contract as a free agent by the Rays, Morton won Game 7 in both the ALCS and World Series in 2017 for the Astros.