Arizona Diamondbacks place Alex Avila on DL, return Robbie Ray

It was known that Robbie Ray was going to come off the 10-day disabled list for this afternoon’s game in Miami. As a result, a roster move would be needed to replace him - the obvious candidate was the bullpen arm who had been added to the roster since Clay Buchholz went on the DL after his last starts. Braden Shipley, no wait, it’s Jimmie Sherfy now, isn’t it. But the Diamondbacks appear to have gone in a different direction:

This was a bit of a surprise, because no-one (as far as I know) was aware of there being a problem with Alex Avila and his hamstring. Admittedly, it was kinda weird that he had not appeared in a game since June 21, especially as he had probably his best game of the season that night in Pittsburgh, with a home-run, a double, three RBI and a walk. But we presumed this was a result of things like pitching match-ups, with Jeff Mathis being Zack Greinke’s personal catcher. etc.

The D-backs had been carrying three catchers since the beginning of the season, but it appears they will go down to two, and carry an extra bullpen arm for a bit. With both Ray and Shelby Miller returning from injuries, and potentially having shorter than usual outings for a bit (as we saw on Monday), this makes sense. Sucks for Avila, of course, who didn’t get the chance to show if he had truly turned the corner. That will now have to wait until he returns to the active roster.