Diamondbacks Finalize 40-man Roster

The first casualty of the 40-man crunch came down around mid-day when the Atlanta Braves claimed Tuffy Gosewisch off of waivers. Then the waiting game began to see who else would fall vicitim before 8:00 ET. Not long after the Gosewisch news was announced, it was revealed that the Diamondbacks had lost Dominic Leone (aww schucks) and Tyler Wagner.

I’m not sure which is more surprising, that the Diamondbacks lost Tyler Wagner, or that Dominic Leone was actually claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays. The loss of Wagner stings some from a depth perspective, but his limited innings in 2016 and no word on how he has recoverd from his labrum surgery do help to explain why the Diamondbacks chose not to retain him on the 40-man roster.

Edwin Escobar was announced as claimed about an hour later. At one time there were some rather lofty expectations with regard to Escobar. Now it would sem that his lengthy sojourn to the majors has left him to finish reaching whatever eventual potential he is going to rise to for someone else.

Kyle Jensen was designated for assignment, but it seems that no team has elected to grab him just yet. Hopefully the Diamondbacks will be able to sneak the slugging right-hander through. I still think there is something to be said for having him available.

Additions to the 40-man roster were made in the form of Jack Reinheimer, Anthony Banda, Jimmie Sherfy, Dawel Lugo, and Ildemaro Vargas. The only name on the list that is somewhat surprising is possibly Vargas. Vargas is a surprise more for who was left unprotected though than that the team likes what they see in him. In order to protect Vargas, the team was forced to leave Daniel Gibson, Victor Reyes, and Domingo Leyba unprotected. Leyba and Reyes may be far enough removed from MLB-ready that it would be difficult for any team to meep them all season on a MLB roster, but Daniel Gibson looked like he might be near to ready for a shot as a lefty out of the bullpen. The fact that Vargas was protected over Gibson should say something about how close to MLB-ready Vargas is viewed as. He did get 49 games and 189 at-bats in for Reno in 2016, so it is possible he might be ready by the break.

With the GM meetings in two more weeks, the 40-man roster stands poised to see some major changes. Is the fact that Reinheimer and Vargas were both protected a sign the team is going to shop Jean Segura, Chris Owings, or Nick Ahmed? We shall have to wait and see.

Update. Two more late D-backs moves. Domingo Leyba was indeed added to the 40-man roster, with Gabriel Guerrero designated for assignment to make room for him.