Byrnes, Diamondbacks come of age

0 Comments | USA TODAY, October, 2007 | by Greg Boeck

PHOENIX -- Young?

Josh Byrnes doesn't like to dignify the label anymore. Maybe it's time the Arizona Diamondbacks didn't either.

Yes, at 37, Byrnes is among the youngest general managers in baseball. Yes, with five rookies on a roster dotted with 20-something talent, the Diamondbacks are among the youngest teams in the game.

It is the popular label to hang on both the club's GM and the refreshing playpen he has supplemented with veteran talent.

But this isn't April anymore. Or August. It's October, with 162 regular-season games and 90 wins in the book along with a baseball-awakening, three-game NL Division Series sweep of the Chicago Cubs.

From the front office to the field, this is an organization that has grown up -- only not...