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Diamondbacks News
The Diamondbacks needed a good start out of Kelly and they received a perfectly serviceable one, especially given the venue was Coors Field. As has been the case of late (outside of San Francisco), the Diamondbacks got plenty of runners on base, but struggled to push them across the plate. Then, with the game still within reach, Torey Lovullo turned to Archie Bradley in the eighth inning, only to watch him give up two insurance runs on three walks and a hit. The Diamondbacks have now scored five runs in the last 20 innings of play.
It wasn’t a pretty outing. It wasn’t even a quality start. However, Merrill Kelly had a solid rebound from his last, quite terrible, outing, surrendering only four runs in 6 2⁄3 innings in Coors Field. Had he come out a pitch sooner, it might have only been two runs allowed. Despite his efforts though, Kelly was still hung with a loss.
Luvollo’s Late-Game Decisions Come Back to Haunt (Again)
First, there was leaving Merrill Kelly in a 2-2 game in the bottom of the seventh despite the fact that he was already over 100 pitches. While that decision might be defensible, turning to Archie Bradley to slam the door on COlorado in the eighth was a true head-scratcher of a move.
No Discussions to Move Bradley to Rotation
Apparently, with all the issues piling up for the rotation, someone actually was curious as to whether or not there had been any discussion about stretching Archie Bradley out to return him to the rotation. Thankfully, that was answered in the negative.
Rotation Woes Testing Arizona’s Depth
Luke Weaver heading to the IL has put the pressure on the Diamondbacks to find some creative solutions for their rotation. With Zack Godley having pitched himself out of the rotation and Taylor Clarke taking the vacated slot, the Diamondbacks were already down one depth arm. The setback to Taijuan Walker cost them a second. Now, with Luke Weaver on the IL, the Diamondbacks need to find a third.
Around Baseball
I’ll just leave this excerpt right here. You need to get down quite a ways to see just how ridiculous their pitching is as well.
You also don’t need me to tell you that the Astros offense is great. Their team batting line so far this year is .275/.349/.488, good for a 126 wRC+. If the entire Astros offense were a player, they’d be a top-60 hitter in all of baseball. Not the Astros starters. Not qualifying Astros batters. The entire team, backup catchers and minor league call-ups and all, is producing slightly better than Ronald Acuna this year.
Dustin Pedroia’s Possible Premature Parting
It’s rare to see a player of such ability play every game all-out all the the time. When they do, it can be something special. When bad luck adds to the inevitable injuries of the playing style though, the world of baseball risks being left poorer as a result.
My hope is that given a full 10 months to rest his knee, Dustin Pedroia will find enough left to be able to resume his career and go out in the fashion he deserves, rendering this article happily completely outdated. If we’ve seen the last of Pedroia at second base for the Red Sox, everybody who cares about baseball will be a little poorer.
The Continuing Dallas Keuchel Saga
The once upon a time Cy Young Award winner is apparently open to signing a one-year deal. I wonder, would it be impolitic to point out he was offered one already (for $17.9 million) and that he turned it down?