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As we’ve discussed, today sees the expansion of rosters, with teams able to bring up any players that are on the 40-man roster. In the case of the Diamondbacks, that means five players have been added. Three were expected, one was a bit of a surprise, while the fifth was not on the 40-man roster at all, and didn’t even make Michael’s look at potential call-ups from there. Let’s see who we’ve got, with the official announcement from the D-backs.
The Arizona Diamondbacks recalled RHP Silvino Bracho, RHP J.J. Hoover, C John Ryan Murphy and RHP Braden Shipley from Triple-A Reno and selected INF/OF Kristopher Negrón from Reno. To make room on the 40-man roster, Arizona released RHP Rubby De La Rosa. The D-backs have 30 players on their active roster and the 40-man roster remains at 40.
Bracho, Hoover and Murphy were all generally expected, being #4, #5 and #1 on our list of potential call-ups. Shipley is definitely unexpected: I’m wondering if he will be used as a long reliever, or if the plan is to go to a 6-man rotation down the stretch and rest our starting pitchers a bit. Murphy will be making his debut with the D-backs, and will wear No. 36, last worn by Enrique Burgos.
The big surprise is Negrón, who will wear No. 45 (Matt Buschmann had it last year). He last appeared in the majors in 2015, and has played mostly at second and third base there, but has started at every position bar shortstop, despite having only 56 starts in his career. He hit .300/.366/.501 over 120 games with the Reno Aces, including 13 home-runs and 64 RBI there. He has also played every position for Reno this season, except catcher. And that includes pitcher, as he allowed two runs over an inning for Reno on July 4. Daniel Descalso might have some competition...
It’s also a little bit of a surprise that the team opted to release Rubby De Le Rosa entirely, rather than moving him to the 60-day DL. However, he had Tommy John surgery by Dr. James Andrews on August 21, so I imagine this is about ensuring his service time clock is stopped. [Otherwise, he’d continue through the arbitration process] The team did the same thing with Daniel Hudson as I recall, releasing him and then signing him back to a contract off the 40-man roster. I am guessing we will presumably aim to do the same with De La Rosa.