Arizona
3 Questions Cardinals Must Still Answer
ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals had a pretty successful offseason.
After missing the playoffs entirely following a 6-4 record and lead in the NFC West, figures such as GM Monti Ossenfort and HC Jonathan Gannon faced tough questions approaching a third pivotal season in 2025.
The Cardinals needed to improve – but how exactly should they do so?
With some of the highest cap space in the league, Arizona quickly went to work and signed big names such as Josh Sweat, Dalvin Tomlinson and Calais Campbell.
The 2025 NFL Draft saw the Cardinals snag names such as Walter Nolen and Will Johnson to begin festivities. Six of seven draft picks landed on that side of the ball with the offense’s lone representative coming in sixth-round offensive guard Hayden Conner.
While there still could be a move or two left in the tank, Ossenfort and co.’s job on the roster is mostly done.
Though the offseason can be overall considered a success, there’s still a few questions the Cardinals must face as training camp is nearly two months away:
1. What’s going on with the offensive line?
The Cardinals still don’t know what the right side of their offensive line will look like. Prior starter Will Hernandez is still recovering from an ACL injury and remains a free agent while the same could be said for right tackle Jonah Williams – though he’s still under contract with Arizona for one more season.
Are the Cardinals confident in Isaiah Adams to get the job done? Can Kelvin Beachum still play up to par?
2. Will Continuity Pay Dividends for Cardinals Offense?
Because the Cardinals opted to heavily invest in the defensive side of the ball, Arizona made no major changes or shakeups to their offense.
The Cardinals have been on record, numerous times, expressing their confidence in Kyler Murray and Drew Petzing to take steps in the right direction, though Arizona is still running it back with the same group of players that collapsed towards the second half of the season.
3. How Will Cardinals Handle Massive Depth at DL/CB?
These two position groups were previously considered to be a weakness in years past, though the Cardinals now have successfully bolstered both – to the point where a talented player in each room will be the odd man out.
It’s a good problem to have, though the Cardinals will have to be smart in terms of both identifying who should emerge as starters and who will be utilized on the 53 man roster.
Arizona
A lottery ticket worth $722K was sold at this Arizona store
Powerball jackpot climbs to $1.6 billion, among largest in US history
The U.S. Powerball jackpot has climbed to an estimated $1.6 billion, cementing its place among the largest lottery prizes in American history.
One lucky Arizona resident just got the ultimate surprise this weekend.
According to Arizona Lottery officials, a jackpot-winning Triple Twist ticket was sold in Prescott ahead of the Saturday, Feb. 7, drawing. The winner will take home $722,755.
Triple Twist is a daily game where players choose six numbers from 1-42 and get multiple rows of numbers for one ticket, meaning there are lots of ways to cash in beyond just the top prize. Arizona Lottery officials encourage all players to double-check their tickets.
According to Arizona Lottery officials, the winning ticket was sold at Shell 61, 333 Grove Ave, Prescott, AZ.
Here is when the next drawing will be.
Who won the lottery in Arizona?
One lucky Arizonan won the Triple Twist Jackpot on Saturday, Feb. 7, for $722,755.
Where was the winning Triple Twist ticket sold in Arizona?
According to Arizona Lottery officials, the winning ticket was sold at Shell 61, 333 Grove Ave., Prescott.
How many numbers do you need to win Arizona Triple Twist?
According to the Arizona Lottery, players have to match three or more of their numbers in a single row, either their pick or quick-picked, to the winning drawn numbers. Match all six numbers in a single row to win the jackpot.
Saturday’s winning jackpot numbers were 1, 18, 25, 36 and 41. The next drawing is Monday, Feb. 9, with an estimated jackpot of $205,000.
(Updated with new information.)
Got a story you want to share? Reach out at Tiffany.Acosta@gannett.com. Follow @tiffsario on Instagram.
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Arizona
2026 Arizona Diamondbacks Roster Dark Horse: Mitch Bratt
We already discussed one part of the return for Merrill Kelly in this series, when we covered Kohl Drake. Bratt was also received from Texas for their short-term loan of Kelly. While he is three years younger than Drake, having turned 22 in July, and is less likely to reach the majors this year, Mitch is still seen as among our better pitching prospects. Fangraphs had him in their top 10 arms, while Prospects 1500 were even more bullish, ranking Bratt as Arizona’s fifth-best pitcher (and it was perilously close there: Bratt was #13 overall, with the pitchers ahead of him occupying spots #9-12).
Mitch’s best talent is his control. He just doesn’t walk many batters: last year at Double-A, he issued only 21 free passes across 122.1 innings of work. His K:BB for the year was better than seven, and he actually improved on that after the trade. Small sample size warning, but in Amarillo, he had a K:BB ratio of 42:5 across 31.2 innings for the Sod Poodles. That 8.4 ratio was easily the best of any Arizona prospect in 2025 – nobody else, regardless of innings pitched, was able even to reach 7.0. Purely on walk rate alone, Bratt was tied for the lowest figure of anyone with 10+ IP in the D-backs’ system.
That’s the good news. The bad news is, his strike-throwing comes with a cost: a lot of hard contact. All told, Mitch allowed almost as many home-runs (18) as walks (21) last year. His fastball typically sits around 91 mph, and none of his pitches appear to be particularly outstanding at this point. Fangraphs rates them all 45-50, with the latter grade seen as the ceiling across the board. It seems that Bratt is going to need to learn how to pitch, in order to be successful, because he won’t be blowing the ball past batters based on stuff alone. That mean mixing up his offerings and locations, in order to keep hitters off balance, while continuing to show the good control he has done thus far.
While the fact he is a left-handed pitcher certainly raises his profile, the addition to the 40-man roster in November was likely more to do with Mitch being Rule 5 eligible, rather than immediate plans for him in the big leagues. Despite his young age, Bratt has already completed five years in the minors, having been drafted out of high school. He was picked by Texas in the fifth round of the 2021 draft, out of Georgia Premier Academy. I think he may start the year in Double-A again, mostly because the Reno Aces rotation appears full: Cristian Mena, Kohl Drake, Dylan Ray, Spencer Giesting and Yu-Min Lin are probably ahead of Mitch on our current depth chart.
As mentioned in our World Baseball Classic articles, Bratt is Canadian, though his appearance in the 2023 WBC did not go well. If he reaches the majors here, he won’t quite be a pioneers, but it’s close. The D-backs have only had one pitcher born in Canada across their history. It was Adam Loewen, who made eight appearances in relief, as part of the 2016 squad. It didn’t go well – a 15.00 ERA. So Bratt definitely has a shot at becoming our most successful pitcher from North of the border. [Since you ask, there have been three such position players. Most recently, of course, was Josh Naylor: but before him, Arizona was home to Jamie Romak and Danny Klassen]
Arizona
$3M in federal funds will go to University of Arizona mineral processing plant near Sahuarita
The federal government is providing $3 million to support a new mineral processing plant at the University of Arizona. The facility will be connected to an underground mine near the town of Sahuarita.
The facility will serve as a training lab, with students, faculty, and industry partners using both traditional and experimental methods to crush rocks and separate materials.
The federal funding comes after the school also received an $850,000 award from the Arizona Legislature.
Kray Luxbacher is the executive director of the School of Mining Engineering & Mineral Resources.
“It’ll prove a fertile training ground for those engineers, and it should bring research to the University of Arizona, allowing us to train metallurgical engineers at the graduate level,” she said.
Luxbacher says the goals of the facility are aligned to train students and increase mineral production in the U.S.
“If you look at the United States right now, we’re graduating only about 200 mining engineers every year across the country, and we estimate that we need between 400 and 600 a year just to fill industry needs,” she said.
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