D-backs Preview #130: 8/27 @ Phillies

Roster move

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster move:

• Selected OF Jake McCarthy (No. 30) from Triple-A Reno

Overall this year, the D-backs have a .341 win percentage - barely one game in three. But you wouldn’t know that if you were a fan of the Reds or Phillies. Against those two teams with playoff aspirations (admittedly, fading fast in the latter’s case), the Diamondbacks are a startling 9-1 this year. Indeed, all told, the Diamondbacks have played... well, let’s just say okay against the other divisions in the National League. Their combined record against the Central and East is 25-34. While still below even, that’s a .424 win percentage, compared to the 18-43 within the West, a .295 W%. [Worst still would be the 1-8 record against the American League]

Indeed, if the Padres miss out on the post-season, they may look at performances against the D-backs and wonder what might have been. They are just 9-7 against us so far: that compares particular unfavorably against their divisional rivals. Both the Giants and Dodgers have lost just twice against the Diamondbacks, in 16 and 13 games respectively. If San Diego had also performed at that level versus Arizona, they’d not find themselves looking up at Cincinnati in the standings, as they are currently. The W% against the Dodgers and Giants (.154 and .125) are currently the two lowest ever for a season by the D-backs against any team in the West, below the previous worst, the 3-16 (.158) against the Dodgers in 2004.

Torey Lovullo notes

Asdrubal Cabrera is now with the Reds. He was informed after 1 P.M. today. Cabby meant so much to this team. He brought such a stable at bat, with stable steady defensive play and behind the scenes in the clubhouse he was always teaching and searching out opportunities to help us get better... he’s going to be missed. On the flip side he’s going to a team that is in a playoff race and we find a lot of satisfaction in that.

Torey could not confirm a corresponding move as of this writing, due to protocols but per twitter updates (and now officially, as above) it’s Jake McCarthy getting called up and he should be in the lineup tonight. He’ll be making his major-league debut, and wearing #30.

Ketel Marte is day to day and available off the bench. He does not require testing.

Merrill Kelly threw a 23 pitch bullpen, and his stamina was good and he felt strong throughout

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT AND DEFENSIVE POSITIONING. The lengthy looks they are getting and will continue to get of the young players are helping them get a head start on 2022 spring training. Josh VanMeter will continue to get some looks at 3B, but Torey emphasized they feel like his defensive metrics have ticked up considerably at 2B in the month of August. Getting to that point was a key part of establishing a foundation, and with that foundation now they want to see what he can do at 3B. [Editorial from Jack: I missed an opportunity for a follow up which should have been since he’s playing good at 2B, why disrupt that? But he preempted my question]

“Defensive versatility is important to this ORGANIZATION You can see what some of the moves are like late in the game where I’m taking several players and moving them from one side of the field to the next. It gives me a lot of opportunity to get the perfect match-up offensively.“

Torey Lovullo audio [or link]