Evergreen Park Diamondback veteran pitcher Ed Sochacki was looking forward to reporting to the team’s Spring Training facilities at the beginning of March but rather than heading south, he’s heading north two weeks earlier to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for a comprehensive health evaluation.

Sochacki cut his 2009 baseball season short, foregoing Lombard’s Fall Ball league due to an undisclosed medical ailment that had been ailing him since September 2008, despite going 8-0 with a 2.43 ERA over 11 appearances with the D-Backs last summer.

According to team sources who asked to be unnamed, Sochacki’s announcement of his four-day trip comes at a surprise and at an interesting time in the franchise’s history as their core group of players are aging/retiring and there’s little progress in signing younger talent because of the team’s financial situation. Sochacki said that on numerous occasions, his agent attempted to contact manager Sergio Senese to apprise him of the situation, but that none of the calls were returned. Said Sochacki “if (Senese) cares about my status, he can pick up the phone and call me, or my agent. He has the number.”

This situation isn’t the first time something like this has been seen on Chicago’s southside. In 2005, after spending eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Maggilo Ordóñez signed with the Detroit Tigers after the Sox were unable to reach his agent for a report on the extent of a knee injury suffered when colliding with infielder Willie Harris.

Former Diamondback manager Joe Cipolla weighed in on the situation from his home in Lombard. Said Cipolla, “If Senese remembers history correctly, he might want to contact his player, or risk losing him to free agency. Maybe he should ask Ozzie Guillen if he regrets any of his decisions in ’04,” he said.

According to several Diamondback players, the relationship between Sochacki and Senese could be described as “tepid” at best. The two exchanged words via their respective websites last year; Sochacki authoring the now-famous video “Argentina Not Crying for Senese” (in response to Senese’s tyraid against his players last June), Senese rebutting (July ’09) by removing Sochacki’s 2008 pitching stats from the team’s website – in addition to removing the link to TomJalana.com, and finally this past fall, with Sochacki modifying a scene from Tom Cruise’s “Valkyrie” poking fun at the lack of current information on the team’s website.

With the team’s annual candlelight bowling fundraiser coming up on February 27, Sochacki’s attendance, or lack there of it, will give Senese, other teams in the league, and the public a good indication on what jersey, if any, he will be wearing at the start of the 2010 season.

Tomjalana.com will be sending a reporter to the Mayo Clinic to provide coverage on the situation surrounding Sochacki’s health and any breaking news on his future with the team. For the most up-to-the-moment coverage, fans are encouraged to follow @tomjalana on Twitter or Tom Jalana on Facebook.

The Diamondbacks come into the 2009 season with nearly the same line-up from last year. Leading the attack are veterans Pete Gubricky and Jim Cesak. Gubricky lead last year’s team in batting average (.426) and on-base percentage (.518) while Cesak placed first in home runs (2), doubles (6), RBI (21) and slugging percentage (.587). Thad Sochacki is expected to be fully recovered from a partial ACL tear and should post improved number over those of last year (.348 BA; .424 SGL%; 18 RBI) even though he led the team in Runs Scored (24).

According to manager Sergio Senese, those three are not the only ones that the D-backs are relying on. “Martin Will, Eddie Milas and Matt Flavin are big parts to our offense and we are looking for these three guys to have a huge impact in 2009,” he said. “The success of these three will determine how well we do this year, mark my words.”

The team’s forecasted batting order will consist of Flavin leading off and Milas batting second. These two will be the table-setters for the rest of offense. Cesak will bat in the three position followed by Sochacki in the four-spot and Will, protecting Sochacki, will hit fifth. According to Senese, these first five spots in the order are “chissled in stone” and the rest of the line-up, based on who has the hot bat.

For the last four spots, look for Gubricky to bat in the sixth spot and veteran first baseman Ted Andrysiak to hit seventh. With uncertainty as to who will be reporting to camp this Spring, look for the remaining two spots to be filled by Senese, Don Myczek and Nate Glass.

While the Diamondbacks have heavily relied on their veterans, former manager Joe Cipolla said that the team is actively pursuing younger talent this Spring to help the team get through the dog days of Summer. “It won’t be easy, and it won’t always be pretty,” said Cipolla, “but it will be Diamondback baseball.”

If not, look for this to be a long, long Summer for the Diamondbacks and their offensive output to match that of the Nation’s 2008 fourth-quarter Gross Domestic Product – down, 6.4%.