Arizona Diamondbacks ‘challenged’ ahead of first full-squad workout

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It’s become tradition.

On the first day of full-squad workouts, members of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ front office, as well as other personnel, address the entire team in the clubhouse.

In those 45-60 minutes a message is delivered and a tone set for the upcoming season, one that traditionally has spoken of playoffs and occasionally a mention of the World Series.

Hard to utter those words when you’re coming off a 98-loss season.

“We’ve challenged them,” said team president Derrick Hall, who took the lead talking to the players. “I don’t think you’ve heard me talk about playoffs or about World Series publicly. People have asked, ‘are you optimistic?’ because in the past, I’ve said I’m very optimistic about the season. I’m not overly optimistic. I’m not pessimistic. I’m just trying to be hopeful, more than anything, because in baseball anything can happen, you know that.”

It’s a good bet that the expectations from within are much different, much higher than from those who look at the 2015 D-backs from the outside.

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