Diamondbacks middle infielders Jean Segura, Nick Ahmed, and Chris Owings have all thrived offensively in Spring Training, as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. On whether he’d move any of the three for help elsewhere, general manager Dave Stewart told Rosenthal, “Not going to happen. If you make a trade, you’re depleting your depth. One thing we have right now is three major-league middle infielders capable of playing — and in my opinion starting — for a lot of teams at a top level.” Stewart is quite bullish about the D-backs as a whole, saying, “When I look at our team, I don’t have any concerns whatsoever.” Click here to read a newly published, in-depth interview between Stewart and MLBTR contributor Brett Ballantini.
Here’s the latest on some injury situations in the NL West:
- The Rockies expect righty Jon Gray to require about two weeks before returning to action while he rests his strained abdominal, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports. That doesn’t sound too serious, of course, but Gray expressed frustration that he won’t be able to fine tune in camp before the season starts. It seems likely that he’ll open up on the DL, with Christian Bergman and David Hale being the most obvious fill-in candidates. Of course, that might also open a roster spot for another pitcher to slide into the pen.
- Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal is dealing with a right forearm issue and, as a result, isn’t allowed to swing a bat or throw a ball, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports. The Dodgers will limit Grandal in workouts until at least Sunday and then try to ease him back in as a designated hitter in minor league camp games, according to manager Dave Roberts. With the season just 10 days away, that would seem to put Grandal’s status for the opener in jeopardy. Grandal downplayed the injury – saying it’s not “major” or worthy of concern – and an MRI on his forearm “showed there was nothing of significant damage,” Roberts said. Still, Roberts didn’t rule out a season-opening stint on the disabled list for the 27-year-old. “I think if you look at his at-bats this spring, he hasn’t had many,” Roberts stated. “To get him back in a major-league game, optimistically Monday, you’re up against the calendar. That’s taking out any other setbacks.” The Dodgers could back-date Grandal’s placement on the DL to Friday and only lose him for the first five games of the year, per Plunkett.
- Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager looks like a better bet than Grandal to take the field on Opening Day. Seager, who sprained his left knee two weeks ago, took four at-bats in minor league games Thursday and tested his knee on the base paths beforehand. Though Seager didn’t run out of the batter’s box after his four ABs or play defense, he did come away encouraged by how his knee held up in his pregame workout, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. “Everything was fine,” Seager said. “I rounded first, stopped like I did when it buckled the last time, did other little things, no problems so far. No pain, that was nice.” While that’s generally positive news, his presumptive double-play partner, Howie Kendrick, may be another Los Angeles player to keep an eye on; as Gurnick tweets, he was scratched today with calf soreness.
Connor Byrne co-authored this post.
I’m interested to see how Brandon Drury fits in with the Diamondbacks. Back to AAA? Backup Lamb at third, with the capability to play second? Destined for a trade? He’s too quality of a hitter to languish in the minors much longer.
Barring a trade, there is going to be a roster crunch. Nine guys for five spots. Owings, Gosselin, & Brito are pretty much locks. Tuffy likely is the backup catcher. That leaves Drury, O’Brien, Herrmann, Weeks, & Bourgeois for the last spot.. They gave up a top 20 prospect for Herrmann in a trade & he is out of options. O’Brien is a work in progress in the field. Both Weeks & Bourgeois have played well & are on minor league contracts, not on the 40-man roster.
Barring Pollock starting the season on the DL, I imagine both Drury & O’Brien start the season in Reno with Herrmann getting the last spot.
I wonder what Dave Stewart would say about his “farm system”?
That it isn’t as important as the major league club. And to be honest, he wouldn’t be wrong either. They haven’t built their team the way I would have, but at least they are trying something other than just letting the Dodgers and Giants use them as cannon fodder every year like my team. The farm is important, but they have a draft and international signings every single year. Replenishing the farm isn’t all that hard to do if you are really worried about it. As an example, just a few years back the Yankees had an absolute barren farm system and now they have a fairly decent one without going into a massive sell off. Not every rebuild has to be done in the Astros style.
The yankees got their pretty good farm system now by not giving up talent in trades anymore and treating all their problems by throwing money at free agency.
Greinke will take up nearly a third of the Dbacks payroll.
And you are much, much, much more confident in the Dbacks understanding player development and drafting than you probably should be. They gave up Toussaint for nothing and treated Swanson like he was a chip in trade piece. They signed Tomas for nearly $70MM…
And the Diamondbacks can do the same as the Yankees when the time is right. The D-Backs payroll is likely to rise significantly with their new TV deal, at least that is what they seem to be banking on. It’s definitely a gamble. I said it wasn’t how I would build the team, so the rest of the lecture is 100% not necessary.
However since you bring it up, Toussaint and Swanson are still just prospects. The D-Backs are playing for 2016. I’d wager that the D-Backs finish with a better record than the Braves despite the Braves getting those two titans. As far as Tomas goes, yes it looks like they overpaid, but so did the Red Sox for Castillo and so did the Dodgers for Arruebarrena, Guerrero, and Olivera and so did the Braves (in players not money) for Olivera and so will someone else for the Gurriel brothers. Just like cigars, Cuban players are expensive and often don’t live up to your expectations.
“Just like cigars, Cuban players are expensive and often don’t live up to your expectations.”
Okay, I laughed.
If you’re using the app, you can see Segura’s glove…. I didn’t know he switched from Wilson… but that split gray welting on his new Rawlings ala Beltre’s glove is absolutely beautiful.