Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is now at 40.
- Reinstated from the Restricted List and placed on the 10-Day Injured List: INF Ketel Marte (left knee inflammation)
Yeah, that happened on the off-day, following a lengthy discussion between Marte and management. The details of the discussion remain between them, and at this point, I kinda feel like I’ve gone through the Five Stages of Grief regarding the situation, and have finally reached acceptance. Me knowing or not knowing what went on in Boston and/or before and/or after, isn’t going to make the slightest difference.
It’s the team – from Mike Hazen down through Torey Lovullo to his colleagues on the roster – who are the ones it impacts, and will have to come to terms with it (whatever that means). Me? I’m over it, and am literally drawing a line under the matter.
Probably be a fair bit of scoreboard watching going on tonight. We start play with the Phillies in the second wild-card spot, and two up on the Padres, with the D-backs a further game back. All three teams are at home this weekend, and are also playing teams below them in the standings. Philadelphia are playing against St. Louis, while San Diego host Minnesota. At time of writing, the Phillies are 5-4 up against the Cardinals so that’s a close one. Realistically, it feels like the Diamondbacks need to take at least two of three in this series to keep up. Hopefully it does not end up being another “trap” series like the one against the Rockies.
After a rough outing against San Diego, Eduardo Rodriguez has bounced back with quality starts against good opponents, in the form of the Dodgers and, last time up, the Braves. He held Atlanta to two runs over six innings, allowing five hits and walking none. Hopefully, this one will go a little bit better than the last time E-Rod saw the Reds. That was the infamous start in June where he couldn’t complete the third inning, but still ended up throwing 85 pitches while recording only eight outs. The D-backs did end up winning that one, but if they can do so without requiring 6.1 innings from the bullpen, that would be the preferred option!
