Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #18: 4/18 @ Cardinals

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated LHP Joe Mantiply (left shoulder inflammation) from the 15-day injured list.
• Optioned RHP Luis Frías to Triple-A Reno following last night’s game.

The D-backs’ 40-man roster remains at 40.

Good to get Mantiply back. It’ll perhaps help lift some of the pressure off Andrew Chafin, who is on pace for 76 appearances this season, having pitched in 8 of the 17 games played so far. Mind you, that would still be fewer than when he pitched for the team in both 2018 AND 2019. The man is a workhorse. No pitcher has appeared more often in the majors since the start of 2017, and with an ERA+ of 144 over that time, it doesn’t seem to have affected his performance. I was wondering if Jose “Home-run” Ruiz might be the loser, but the team has chosen to stick with him for a bit longer. Guessing his lack of options is probably a factor in the decision.

Ranking the power rankings

Forgot to do this yesterday, so let’s take a look at where the major media outlets have the D-backs. These are mostly through the weekend series in Miami, except for ESPN, which came out on Friday.

• MLB.com: #16 (#20)
• CBS Sports: #11 (#15). “The first-place Diamondbacks have Andrew Chafin as their dominant, lock-down closer. That’s a fun sentence right there. “
• USA Today: #14 (#15). “Potentially telling seven-game stretch at Cardinals, vs. Padres.” What, I guess the ten-game stretch against the Dodgers and Padres wasn’t telling enough?
• ESPN #14 (#20). “Few teams are built to take advantage of MLB’s new set of rules better than the D-backs, who have already accumulated 17 stolen bases and have been caught only once. They’ve taken the extra base 61% of the time, tops in the majors. With the likes of Corbin Carroll, Jake McCarthy, Alex Thomas and Josh Rojas outfitting the roster, the D-backs are built to run. But they need to create more opportunities to do so. Their on-base percentage sits at just .311, 13 points below the major league average.”
• FOX Sports: #13 (#17). “The bullpen has suffered a couple hits with injuries to Mark Melancon and Joe Mantiply, but the latter is expected back soon. An illness has placed designated hitter Kyle Lewis on the IL, but most of the D-backs’ top contributors have been on the field as they’ve zoomed atop the NL West.”

The last has the aura of someone only casually familiar with the D-backs, or they would know that the losses of Melancon and Lewis both fall into the “minor irritation at best” category. Still, it’s good to see the D-backs generally moving up in the world: they are, in fact, the only NL West team to have improved in the past week, if we look at the...

NL West average rankings

1. Padres 7.6 (4.8)
2. Dodgers 9.0 (6.2)
3. D-backs 13.6 (17.4)
4. Giants 25.4 (20.8)
5. Rockies 26.2 (26.2)