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The La Russa Heartbreakometer
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Chase Anderson
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Raisel Iglesias
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| Ender Inciarte - CF | Jason Bourgeois - CF |
| Chris Owings - 2B | Brandon Phillips - 2B |
| Paul Goldschmidt - 1B | Joey Votto - 1B |
| David Peralta - LF | Todd Frazier - 3B |
| Welington Castillo - C | Brayan Pena - C |
| Jake Lamb - 3B | Brennan Boesch - RF |
| Yasmany Tomas - RF | Ivan De Jesus - SS |
| Nick Ahmed - SS | Skip Schumaker - LF |
| Chase Anderson - RHP | Raisel Iglesias - RHP |
Roster move this morning, with Keith Hessler having finally worn out his welcome after eight largely ineffectual appearances. He just couldn't retire righties, who went 10-for-18 against Hessler. Of course, he may well come back at some point (let's face it, he started the season in High-A, so may simply have been promoted beyond his current ability), but since the beginning of the 20th century, 6,261 pitchers have appeared in eight or more major-league games and precisely six have a higher ERA than Hessler's 15.19. One of those was actually this year: #1 is Cory Mazzoni, who pitched for the Padres earlier this year, and put up an ERA above 20!
Replacing Hessler is another left-hander Matt Reynolds, who has a 1.98 ERA over 30 appearances for the Diamondbacks. That's the good news. The bad, is that he now possesses a different UCL from those days, having undergone Tommy John surgery, and his last appearance in the majors was more than two years ago. He has been healthy for a while, and I'm not sure why, given his solid track record, the team didn't bring him back in the same way they did our other TJ'd relievers like Daniel Hudson and David Hernandez, instead consigning Reynolds to toil away in Reno, where the results have been Reno-esque (a 5.58 ERA in 45 games).
The move is most likely because of limited options. The only other left-handed pitcher on the 40-man roster is Will Locante, who has an even higher ERA than Reynolds, facing a grate lower hitters in Double-A. I imagine the team would prefer to have brought someone up who could offer the team a bit more length, with Zack Godley likely out of action for a few days, but having a pitcher who can turn a six-run lead into a save situation, as Hessler did yesterday, is really not much use at all, and leaving Andrew Chafin as our only left-handed option out of the bullpen is also less than ideal. We'll see how it works out as we go for the sweep of the Reds!