Baseball

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

2005 finish: 77-85, 2^nd place in NL West

Manager: Bob Melvin (2^nd season)

Free agents: SS Royce Clayton, LHP Shawn Estes, RHP Tim Worrell, LHP Buddy Groom, OF Quinton McCracken, C Kelly Stinnett

On the block: 3B Troy Glaus, OF Luis Gonzalez, RHP Javier Vazquez, 1B/OF Shawn Green

Looking for: Starting pitching, relievers, catcher

What’s going on: Josh Byrnes can be grouped in the young, new wave of general managers, but unlike many of the others, he has a dozen years of experience in the game, including time as a farm director. With much of a projected $60-65-million payroll already committed, they are trying to deal one of their four huge salaries — Luis Gonzalez $11.5 million, Javier Vazquez $11.5 million, Troy Glaus $9.5 million and Shawn Green $8 million. Vazquez has asked to be traded as part of his rights after being dealt in the middle of a long-term deal, so he is the likeliest to go, especially with so many teams looking for quality starting pitching. Gonzalez has 10-5 rights and has said he doesn’t want to be dealt, and Green has a no-trade to everywhere other than the three Southern California teams. Glaus has been tied to a three-way potential deal that could land him in Boston. One way or the other, they need to ease the logjam at the four corner positions, where Chad Tracy, Tony Clark and Conor Jackson also need at-bats. They could try to re-sign Royce Clayton and Shawn Estes, but the other free agents aren’t high priorities. The bullpen must be upgraded.