Zack Greinke potentially not pitching Opening Day

Zack Greinke came out of yesterday’s spring training game after just one inning of work, having felt some tightness in his groin. He said after the game that he was being cautious, with the affected area being a part of his body that he hadn’t had issues with. He was assessed this morning, and Torey Lovullo said that, while Greinke felt good, the team is going to push back his next bullpen. That, in turn, will push back his next start, and with only two weeks (and likely two starts) to go until Opening Day, probably means Greinke will be out of slot for that first contest on March 29th.

This doesn’t necessarily indicate a major problem, or even a DL stint: Lovullo said that the medical staff described the injury as “minimal”, but had no intention of making Greinke play catch-up. So if everything goes well, and there’s only a couple of days before Zack gets back onto schedule he could end up simply pitching later in the first series (there’s a weird Sunday off-day after the opening series, before play resumes against the Dodgers on Monday). While Lovullo said no formal decision has been made, the most likely candidate for the start in Game #1 would be Robbie Ray, who would be making his first Opening Day appearance.

Via @FoxSportsArizona, here’s Lovullo discussing the situation before this afternoon’s game at Sloan Park: