The Arizona Diamondbacks generated a good quantity of excitement yesterday when they promoted Yasmany Tomas. After the experiment to play Tomas at third base had failed, or at least been tabled for awhile, during Spring Training, Tomas was sent to Triple-A Reno where he'd been playing right field. With A.J. Pollock in center field, Mark Trumbo in right field, and Ender Inciarte off and away to a fast start in left field, there didn't appear to be a location for immediate playing time for Tomas, fueling speculation that perhaps another move was at the offing. Excitement and speculation soon yielded to confusion as Tomas was not within the starting lineup and news that Tomas had been brought up like a bench bat.
The
Graham Gano Jersey Diamondbacks called up their $68 million investment to sit around the bench, the i sue arising due to a unique roster construction and injuries to 2 from the three catchers on their 40-man roster with significant experience in the position. When the season started, Arizona put 12 pitchers and 13 position players on the 25-man roster. After Gerald Laird hit the disabled list, the Diamondbacks chose to supplement the bullpen with an additional arm for some games, calling up A.J. Schugel.
After a few games using the loaded bullpen and shorthanded bench, the Diamondbacks decided to return up to the more traditional setup of getting 13 position players and 12 pitchers on their own active roster. Because of injuries at catcher, the Diamondbacks experienced a hard decision on their roster. Before you make a move the active roster appeared as if this (Players around the disabled list in italics):
CatchersInfieldersOutfieldersStartersBullpenTuffy GosewichNick AhmedA.J. PollockJosh CollmenterAndrew ChafinJordan PachecoPaul GoldschmidtMark TrumboRubby En RosaRandall DelgadoOscar HernandezAaron HillEnder InciarteJeremy HellicksonDaniel HudsonGerald LairdJake LambDavid PeraltaChase AndersonEvan Marshall Cliff Pennington Archie BradleyOliver Perez Chris Owings Patrick CorbinAddison Reed Brad Ziegler A.J. Schugel David Hernandez Matt StitesJordan Pacheco started the season being an emergency catcher of sorts, playing 41 of his 317 games at the position entering this year. Pacheco could play catcher if nece sary, however the teams was free to use him as a utility player in the infield without the Diamondbacks having to worry about not having a catcher after games when they brought in a backup when that player was injured. After Laird transpired, Pacheco was elevated to backup catcher and the Diamondbacks lost that flexibility, leaving the Diamondbacks effectively with only three available hitters around the bench. The Diamondbacks needed to take action, but were limited within their options.
With four players on the disabled list, the Diamondbacks were left with ten players around the 40-man roster the Diamondbacks could call up once they sent A.J. Schugel to the minors. Of those ten players, seven are pitchers leaving the Diamondbacks with only three options. While the Diamondbacks injuries ultimately put them in this predicament, the Diamondbacks decision to structure their
Cam Newton Jersey 40-man roster with an alignment heavy towards pitcher contributed greatly to their problem. Here is the roster construction for all teams 40-man rosters divided between pitchers and position players.
No team has more pitchers on their 40-man compared to Diamondbacks. Most teams po se s a full 40-man roster. The Mets have fewer position players than the Diamondbacks, and they're down a roster spot with Jennry Mejia not counting against them throughout his suspension. The Chicago Cubs are down a roster spot right now, although Kris Bryant waits in Iowa to consider that spot. The Pirates also have the symptoms of retained some flexibility with their roster. The Diamondbacks do not have exactly the same flexibility. By putting 23 pitchers on their 40-man roster with only 17 position players, the Diamondbacks left themselves susceptible to injury with only four extra players in addition to the standard 13 of all rosters. Committed to carrying Rule-5 pick catcher Oscar Hernandez for the whole season, his just right those with disability list at the start of spring appeared like what about a convenient way to keep him around the team without giving him an area on the 25-man roster. That apparent convenience has disappeared as choices for the active roster have dwindled.
The Diamondbacks had several options, all of them unappealing. The first choice to clear space is always to take one of the players on 15-day disabled list and transfer that
Damiere Byrd Jersey player to the 60-day disabled list. They'd two options in Patrick Corbin and Matt Stites, but Arizona expects each player to return before the 60-day period expires and thus were not considered options to clear roster space. Whether pushing back their return by a couple of weeks really was worth this is up for discu sion, but Arizona clearly didnt think so.
The second item is to take a pitcher currently around the 40-man, although not the active roster, and put them through waivers. This risks losing those players and also have another team claim them. The options, in addition to their age and current level are highlighted below.
AgeCurrent LevelEnrique Burgos24AAWill Locante25AAKevin Munson26AAAVidal Nuno27AAARobbie Ray23AAAMatt Reynolds30AAAAllen Webster25AAAThere is not a large amount of potential there, however the Diamondbacks may be factual that all the pitchers could be claimed given the need for bullpen arms close to the majors. The additional consideration when potentially losing a person to a different team or losing a major league players services for over nece sary around the 60-day disabled list is the player that would be put into the 40-man. Presumably they would add among the catchers in Reno in 31-year old Blake Lalli or 32-year old Matt Pagnozzi. Neither choice is enticing, and catcher from the future Peter OBrien happens to be getting a mental break in the position after developing the yips.
The last option, and also the one the team selected, was to promote among the three position players on
Andrew Norwell Jersey the 40-man roster to be a bench bat around the major league team. Brandon Drury and Socrates Brito really are a pair of 22-year-olds currently in Double-A. Drury was ranked fourth by Kiley McDaniel in the look at the Diamondbacks prospects, but neither player looks ready to handle major league pitching. That left the busine s without any other option but Tomas, valuing the present roster construction over getting their prize free-agent acquisition plate appearances to develop. This move is another puzzling one, something becoming more and more common for the Diamondbacks organization.