Today’s Lineups
Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ active roster is at 28 and the 40-man roster is at 39.
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Recalled from Triple-A Reno: INF Jose Fernandez
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Designated for assignment: OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
The end of the Gurriel era in Arizona. Lourdes came over from Toronto along with Gabriel Moreno, in the Daulton Varsho trade, and made an immediate impression, batting .261 with 24 home-runs in 2023, for a value of 2.9 bWAR. He was a free-agent at the end of the season, but re-signed to Arizona on a three-year contract with a value of $42 million. There was also a team option for 2027, which will presumably now become the (rather expensive) $5 million buyout. This deal will not go down as one of Mike Hazen’s finest, Gurriel’s production plummeting after signing: 1.9 to 0.6 to -0.7 bWAR. All told, $47 million for 1.8 bWAR is a poor investment.
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We’ll see what today brings, yesterday having brought us the latest in “Season over” reactions from a number of fans. I lose count of how many times that has happened before this year. I don’t think, personally, I’ll start losing hope until we are more than three games behind San Diego, at which point the final series would become irrelevant. But that could potentially happen as soon as tomorrow, and the team can ill-afford to drop a home series, with only 12 games to go after today. Time for Eduardo Rodriguez to step up and do Eduardo Rodriguez things, which he has been doing all year long.
The Diamondbacks have gone 22-7 in his appearances. With three outings still remaining, it’s the most team W’s for a starter since Zack Greinke‘s 23 in 2017. If ERod can play his part in two more and reach 24, that’ll be the most since 2011, when the D-backs were 25-8 in Ian Kennedy starts. Unsurprisingly, the franchise record belongs to the Big Unit: in 2002, Arizona went 29-6 with him on the mound. Now, obviously, Rodriguez himself doesn’t have 22 wins. It’s a still impressive 15-5. But over the nine no-decisions, with the Diamondbacks going 7-2, he has a 2.51 ERA. So he has kept the team close enough for the offense to get it done after he left the game. It has truly been an ace-level season.
LeahAZFan will bring you the guest recap post-game, so stick around for that!
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