More roster moves for the Diamondbacks

No formal announcement from the team as yet, but the MLB transactions page for the team lists the following moves by Arizona:

• Activated SS Nick Ahmed from the 60-day injured list.
• Activated 3B Emmanuel Rivera from the 60-day injured list.
• Activated LHP Tyler Gilbert from the 60-day injured list.
• Designated RHP Tyler Zuber for assignment.
• Designated RHP Humberto Castellanos for assignment.

The moves were necessary because the 60-day injured list goes away at this point in the year. Players on it previously did not count against the 40-man roster, but now need to be housed elsewhere. The D-backs had four players on the 60-day IL, but only retained three, with Humberto Castellanos being left without a spot. The 24-year-old, who made nine starts for the D-backs this year, with an overall ERA of 5.68 over 44.1 innings, had Tommy John surgery on August 9th. That very likely means he would not be able to pitch until 2024, and his ability to return to starting is always going to be uncertain, so it makes sense to free up his spot for someone else.

More of a surprise is the departure of Tyler Zuber, who becomes an ex-Diamondbacks without ever taking the field for the team. He was claimed off waivers from the Kansas City Royals on October 26, but perhaps this was the result of Mike Hazen accidentally clicking the wrong box on the page? It’s not as if the team didn’t know they would need to make room for the injured list players. Perhaps he is more likely to make it through waivers this time, with teams needing 40-man roster spots for their own prospects and IL residents. If not... Well, we’ll always have DbacksEurope’s article, telling us Who is Tyler Zuber?

The Arizona roster is now full again, and we can expect more moves to come, in order to free spots up for our prospects. Expect discussion of that topic in... about an hour or so! Looking at the results of our polls yesterday, fans want to see two spaces opened up with the departure of Jordan Luplow and Caleb Smith, but I suspect there may well be a couple more needed. So it will be interesting to see who else might find themselves packing their bags for an early departure from the Diamondbacks.