Arizona signed Junior Spivey to a two-year, $2.7M contract on Sunday. Under the terms of the deal, Spivey will reportedly receive a salary of $400,000 in 2003 and $2.3M in 2004. Spivey was not among the group of players eligible for arbitration this season, but he would have been next year, which is why the second year salary jumps up so much.

I don't feel the Diamondbacks have secured a large bargain by covering his first year of arbitration now. However, I don't believe they would have saved money had they waited until next season to determine his 2004 salary. Spivey has displayed a strong walk rate throughout his professional career, and while his contact rate could still stand to improve a bit, he took a big step in the right direction in that area last year. I don't expect the 28-year-old's power numbers to grow substantially beyond their 2002 levels and the Diamondbacks don't benefit significantly from his basestealing. Nevertheless, he currently offers decent power for a middle infielder and should maintain a strong BA and OBP as long as his plate discipline remains in tact.

Arizona has signed a few more players to minor league contracts, including RHP Paul Abbott, RHP Doug Henry, RHP Scott Service, and IF-S Carlos Baerga. Abbott underwent surgery last June to repair a torn labrum, but the 35-year-old was not pitching effectively before the problem was diagnosed. He has struggled with his command when starting throughout his career and the problem became more pronounced last season. Abbott should spend most of the season rehabbing at AAA, but if he recovers around June, I wouldn't be surprised to see Arizona call him up if they have a bullpen opening. The Diamondbacks should have no need to use him in their rotation at any point in 2003, and I'll be discouraged if any other team uses him as a starter in the future.

Doug Henry signed a two-year, $2.9M contract with the Royals prior to the 2001 season. However Kansas City was so disappointed with his performance in the first year of the deal, they released him before the start of the 2002 season. Henry did not play for any MLB affiliate last year. I don't believe we can expect an improvement on his most recent major league performance, as the 39-year-old was never a particularly competent reliever. Consequently, the Diamondbacks should hope they have no reason to call him up during the season. Nonetheless, they may be tempted to do so given his veteran status, if they have an opening and he's pitching well at AAA.

Scott Service spent last season with Pittsburgh's AAA affiliate at Nashville, where he compiled a 70:24 K:BB with 47 H and 8 HR allowed in 61.2 IP. Despite turning 36 tomorrow, Service appears to still have the skills to provide adequate relief work in the majors. He's not in competition for a job out of Spring Training, but he'd be a much better choice than Henry for a mid-season call-up.

Carlos Baerga has always compensated for his poor walk rate with a high contact rate. The 34-year-old still possesses mild baserunning skills and marginal power, so he can provide some offense off the bench. Unfortunately for Baerga, his fielding skills are deteriorating with age and the Diamondbacks have several superior alternatives. I suspect he'll spend most of the year in AAA, providing Arizona with depth in case of injury problems.

Arizona's Spring Training seems to be going well so far. They've experienced few injury problems. However, the 6'10" Randy Johnson reportedly missed picture day due to car troubles, during which he received a cut to his head after bumping it on a car door. Johnson will be fine, but this incident is further proof that even when you're making $15M a year, you can still have one of those days, though you'd think he would've learned to duck by now.

Craig Counsell's recovery from September surgery to repair a bulging disc in his neck is progressing well and he's on track to be Arizona's starting third baseman on Opening Day. To the detriment of their offense, the Diamondbacks grew attached to Counsell while Williams was out with his broken leg last year. Williams is now expected to assume a back-up role and has even taken delivery of a first base glove for potential work at the hot corner off the bench, presumably in case they want a right-handed batter to cover the position as both Lyle Overbay and Mark Grace are left-handed. He could reclaim his starting job if Counsell's recovery encounters a hiccup or if Arizona decides they prefer Counsell in an everyday utility role.

This spring the Diamondbacks have announced an interesting new policy for the upcoming season. All players with the exception of the starting pitcher for that night's game will be required to sign autographs along the railings down the left and right field lines at Bank One Ballpark night games for the 10 minutes between their batting practice and the start of the visiting team's batting practice. I think this new policy should both bring fans to the game this year and help bring fans to the game for future years, reaching out to the next generation as baseball has done so poorly in the past. It is a particularly good idea in Arizona, where many fans may be put off by the difficulty of obtaining an autograph after years of Spring Training access and easy autographs from the Rookie-ball kids and more recently the prospects in the Arizona Fall League. Hopefully the fans will appreciate the opportunity and behave accordingly, though there have been several troubling incidents in recent years from bopping Chad Kreuter on the head and stealing of his hat while he was in the Wrigley field visiting bullpen, to the father and son attacking the Royals' first base coach at the White Sox game, or even just the swatting of Reggie Sanders with a thunder stick as he tried to field a ball during the World Series.