Yes, we know the comments aren’t working. Sorry. :(

Diamondbacks line-up

• Josh Rojas, 2B
• Ketel Marte, CF
• David Peralta, LD
• Eduardo Escobar, 3B
• Stephen Vogt, C
• Nick Ahmed, SS
• Trayce Thompson, RF
• Domingo Leyba, DH
• Wyatt Mathisen, 3B
  + LHP Madison Bumgarner, RHP Jon Duplantier, RHP Matt Peacock, RHP Stefan Crichton, RHP J.B. Bukauskas, LHP Ryan Buchter

Due to technical issues, both with SB Nation and my internet, I’m scurrying to get this up, so sory for eny tpos. Yep, the first spring start for MadBum, and also the first spring game to be televised on Fox Sports Arizona. So we can all tune in and stare intently at the radar-gun results for Bumgarner. If I was him, I would troll us by throwing nothing but breaking pitches the entire afternoon. But it is worth remembering, in his first spring game last year, his velo wasn’t too bad, sitting at 91-92 mph. The problem was that, by the time the season began, it was down to about 88 mph.

The D-backs made a not-really-a-roster move today, in that they added a non-roster invitee to spring training. This was right-handed pitcher Anthony Swarzak. The 35-year-old veteran made his debut back in 2009, and has pitched in the majors for eight clubs, most recently as a Brave in 2019. Overall, he has a 96 ERA+ over 641 innings. His 2019 performance was about in line with that (ERA+ 101), though his FIP was a troubling 5.71, in part due to allowing 12 home-runs in 53.1 innings. He’ll likely compete for a spot at the back of the bullpen, but if he’s seeing high leverage innings, something has either gone very right or very wrong.

Torey Lovullo outlined further the Locastro situation and confirmed that his diagnosis is definitely not a false positive. He tested positive on March 1st. Torey talked about how he is not involved in the contact tracing of course, MLB and the club handles that, but they are confident that the spacing in clubhouse and other measures are effective. So far so good, and no other positives have been detected. Kole Calhoun also spoke to the media, and said he hopes to be back by mid-April. However, we’ll see exactly how that plays out.

Now, go turn on the television and watch your Arizona Diamondbacks!