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Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:
Wait, what? There weren’t any? Are you quite sure? I was certain we’d want to throw in another bullpen arm or six, to cope with the toll a series in Coors Field will take. Admittedly, getting swept in Los Angeles meant Arizona never had to pitch the bottom of the ninth there. That’ll save some wear and tear on arms... But the 2021 “Voyage to the Bottom of the Standings” tour by the Diamondbacks now makes its next stop in Colorado, having failed to win any games in Florida, New York or LA. The resulting 10-game losing streak on the road has not been surpassed by Arizona in almost eleven years. In May-June 2010, the franchise worst streak of 14 straight road losses took place, across six cities and four divisions.
The last time the D-backs won away from Chase was almost a month ago. It was that glorious day on April 25th, when the team blanked the Braves twice, holding them to one hit across both games combined. The team scored 12 runs that day. Over 10 road games since? A total of just 18, thanks to the offense hitting just .175, with a road OPS of .506 over that time. The overall home/road splits are now almost identical to the ones put up by Arizona last season, differing by five OPS points or less.
- 2020: Home = .765 OPS; Road = .642 OPS
- 2021: Home = .770 OPS; Road = .646 OPS
However, one thing I did see is that the team’s road BABIP is 17 points lower this year, while the home BABIP is 18 points higher. There probably aren’t enough games under our belt for these to be statistically significant as yet. But it’s something perhaps worth keeping an eye on as we go forward.
Torey Lovullo notes
- Madison Bumgarner will start on Saturday. His Bullpen went well, with no issues.
- Taylor Widener is still a possible option for Sunday’s start, he’s not been ruled out. He won’t require another rehab stint. It’s just a matter if he starts Sunday or next Tuesday at this point.
- Christian Walker is taking BP, and he sent some videos to Torey and they exchanged texts. It’s still TBD as to when he gets back on the field though.
- Carson Kelly is taking BP, and going through catching activities and remains asymptomatic with his toe (i.e. no pain).
- Luke Weaver is still “gathering info and 2nd opinions”. I asked if he was considering conservative vs. aggressive treatment options, and Torey said all options were conservative. (i.e. not considering surgery)
- Zac Gallen has begun playing light catch.
- J.B. Bukauskas is getting treatment on his elbow. He should be able to rehab his way back.
- Chris Devenski is still weighing options and 2nd opinions.