Offseason
During the 2005 off-season, the Diamondbacks made several key moves to bolster a disappointing pitching staff and improve the team defensively. Highly regarded pitching coach Bryan Price (who was already a resident of nearby Scottsdale) was hired not long after he resigned from the Seattle Mariners after 19 years with that organization, the last six as pitching coach; he served with Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin when he was manager at Seattle in 2003 and 2004.
Key player acquisitions included catcher Johnny Estrada; right-handed pitchers Orlando "El Duque" Hernández and Luis Vizcaíno; outfielder Chris Young; second baseman Orlando Hudson (a Gold Glove Award recipient in 2005 with the Toronto Blue Jays), for whom Troy Glaus was traded; right-handed pitcher Miguel Batista (previously a member of the Diamondbacks from 2001–2003, including the 2001 World Series team); free-agent outfielder Eric Byrnes and veteran free agent pitcher Terry Mulholland (who would go on to spend two separate terms on the disabled list and get released in late June).
On December 8, 2005, future all-star Dan Uggla was drafted by the Florida Marlins from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2005 minor league draft. In January, the Diamondbacks signed highly touted 18-year-old shortstop Justin Upton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, to a $6.1 million contract that included a trip to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Upton began the regular season at Class A South Bend.
The D-Backs posted a respectable 18-14 record for the 2006 Cactus League spring training campaign.
Read more about this topic: 2006 Arizona Diamondbacks Season