Long-range plans in Arizona

Thursday, February 21, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

Arizona general manager Josh Byrnes and president Derrick Hall have received eight-year extensions, as Nick Piecoro writes. To put this in perspective, the only employee in baseball who has more job security than Byrnes is Alex Rodriguez.

And why not? Byrnes took the baton of work handed off by former scouting director Mike Rizzo and has pushed the Diamondbacks' climb upward, to the top of the National League West last season. Arizona went out and added Oakland ace Dan Haren to ace Brandon Webb with a trade, and with Randy Johnson coming back, the Diamondbacks have a chance to have a staff that might be the best in the National League. "If he can stay healthy," Arizona pitching coach Bryan Price said of Johnson over the phone Wednesday, "you'd love to see those three guys at the top of your rotation."

Arizona won't push Johnson, however; there's no need to, with Webb and Haren anchoring the rotation. Johnson's rehab is going well, with no setbacks. "I see a healthy guy," said Price. "You take anything like that with a grain of salt. He's had three surgeries on his back. I don't think we should be expecting [Johnson] to be our No. 1-innings guy.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

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