Last time, we talked to Kevin Towers about his arrival in Arizona, rebuilding the bullpen and the turnaround the Diamondbacks experienced in 2011. But, wait! There's more... In this installment, we discuss topics including the post-season, this winter's moves by the organization, how he views the rest of the division and what to expect from spring-training at Salt River Fields this year...

AZSP: You mentioned Miranda there. Credit for the season has rightly gone to yourself and Gibson. But were there any "unsung heroes" behind the success?
KT: Jerry DiPito, who's no longer here. Without some of Jerry's great moves the year before, ones that brought on Daniel Hudson, who was a big part of our rotation; part of drafting Wade Miley, who won a bunch of games for us. He gave us a depth in our system, not only though the draft, but some of the tremendous trades that he made at the deadline, that really set up our club very, very well. Jerry was just as big a part as a lot of us that are getting credit right now for turning this organization around and helping us win.

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Well, since it's the centennial... Figured it might be kinda fun, to follow up last week's discussion on the best things about being a Diamondbacks fan, to throw out a similar kind of thing about living in Arizona. I asked Mrs. SnakePit for suggestions as to what I should put, but most of her suggestions were, while true, a little Mrs. SnakePit-centric to be honest, e.g. "Mrs. SnakePit cooks for me." We'll take those as read, and instead, go for ones that might have a little more general resonance. I admit there are large chunks of the state which are entirely unknown to me, so the list after the jump will certainly reflect this ignorance.

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Today's is the 100th anniversary of Arizona becoming a state, so I figured it'd be nice to commemorate the occasion by picking an all-time team of players who were born here. I vaguely recall having done something like this some time ago, but couldn't locate the details - I know I certainly discussed Flame Delhi [the search function on the 'Pit doesn't go back far enough to locate it]. Regardless, I started this one from scratch. though apologies if any of this is familiar - given the centenary, it seemed particularly appropriate to do!

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Name: Bryan Shaw
Age on Opening Day: 23
Salary: $414,000 (pro-rated portion)
2011 stats (MLB): 33 games, 28.1 IP, 2.54 ERA, 24:8 K:BB
2010 stats (Double-A Mobile): 33 games (13 GS), 101.1 IP, 4.26 ERA, 75:43 K:BB

In 2010, the Arizona bullpen was a disaster. What's that? Tell you something that's new? If you insist...

Much of the credit for Arizona's bullpen renaissance in 2011 has been given to GM Kevin Towers and three of his key acquisitions - J.J. Putz, David Hernandez, and Joe Paterson - and rightfully so. However, I'd like to take a brief moment from handing out the deserved praise to the current regime and take a look back, giving some appreciation to former D-backs scouting director Tom Allison. Thankfully, Allison hasn't been completely forgotten - I'm sure some remember Nick Piecoro's article on Allison from last October.

Still, one could argue that the impact of a great scouting director is nearly as significant for a franchise as the value of a great GM. After all, a GM can only make decisions in a free-market system, hoping to squeeze small margins of extra value out of any given move. A scouting director and his staff are given the luxury of working in a highly-controlled system in which costs are deflated by the league, and thus have the potential for values to vastly exceed costs on a regular basis. Allison drafted and signed several key pieces of Arizona's 2011 campaign and future, including seven players who debuted in the majors in 2011: Paul Goldschmidt, Wade Miley, Collin Cowgill, Josh Collmenter, Jarrod Parker, Ryan Cook, and, of course, Bryan Shaw.

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With the Fanfest yesterday, there wasn't any time to do a Snakebytes, so let's get caught up as we gallop towards pitchers and catchers reporting for the Diamondbacks, in about a week. It feels like the winter has flown by, but it still can't come quickly enough...

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