MONDAY: The Diamondbacks have placed Weaver on the IL, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic tweets. The team recalled righty Jimmie Sherfy from Triple-A Reno to replace him.
SUNDAY: Diamondbacks right-hander Luke Weaver left today’s start with what the team later described as right forearm tightness. As MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert notes, TV replays indicated that Weaver was opening and closing his right hand after allowing a Buster Posey single to begin the sixth inning. Weaver left the game after a visit from the team trainer. Manager Torey Lovullo was spare with further details, telling Gilbert and other reporters after the game that the team was still “gathering information” about the problem.
While it’s still too early to assess the nature of Weaver’s situation, any forearm problem is obviously of major concern given the specter of Tommy John surgery hanging over such injuries. Weaver has never faced any notable arm injuries in the past, aside from a fluky fracture of his non-throwing wrist as a minor leaguer in 2016.
Weaver was in the midst of another strong outing today, continuing what has been an impressive first season for the 25-year-old with the D’Backs. Weaver was arguably the key figure of the trade package (along with Carson Kelly, minor league infielder Andy Young, and a Competitive Balance Round draft pick) sent by the Cardinals to Arizona in the offseason for slugger Paul Goldschmidt, as Weaver is a former top-50 prospect controlled through the 2023 season who had already shown some promise at the big league level. Through 62 1/3 innings for the Diamondbacks this season, Weaver has delivered on that promise with a 3.03 ERA, and 9.82 K/9 against a 2.02 BB/9.
Losing Weaver for any significant amount of time would be a major blow to a D’Backs team that was keeping pace in the playoff hunt, just a game behind the Braves for the final NL wild card slot and 1.5 games behind Milwaukee for the top wild card slot. The strong efforts of Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, and Weaver atop Arizona’s rotation has helped cover up a much shakier performance from the last two starting spots, as Merrill Kelly has been inconsistent and the Zack Godley lost his job altogether after some early-season struggles. Rookie Taylor Clarke has pitched decently well as the fifth starter, and prospect Jon Duplantier could yet get a look in the rotation, though the Diamondbacks’ hopes for a midseason return from Tommy John patient Taijuan Walker were recently dealt a blow with the news that Walker had suffered a sprained shoulder capsule.
Arizona GM Mike Hazen recently said that the team was looking for starting pitching reinforcements, and that search will only intensify if Weaver is out of action. Given how the D’Backs have been trying to walk the line between staying competitive while also saying goodbye to some big names (i.e. Goldschmidt, and departed free agents Patrick Corbin and A.J. Pollock), a splashy trade for a high-end starter didn’t seem too likely. The parameters of a starting pitching acquisition could narrow even further if Weaver does need TJ surgery in a worst-case scenario, as losing Weaver for the season could also change the Diamondbacks’ perspective about buying at the trade deadline. With the Dodgers already out to a healthy lead in the NL West, the D’Backs surely aren’t going to sell the farm just for the coin-flip opportunity of the one-game wild card playoff.
Yikes
not good
Crushing blow to the upstarts, Weaver’s breakout year is one of the biggest reasons why they’re over .500 right now. If he’s gone, their WC hopes are all but crushed….unless they call Keuchel.
Nobody needs Keuchel. He won’t make the difference in anyone making the playoffs and neither will Kimbrel. See Holland last year and Drew and Morales for how players fare once they eventually sign in May.
Dude what
He’s right.
He’s not even remotely correct.
Roger Clemens was able to pull it off late in his career but that may be due to PEDs
Being a reliever, Kimbrel won’t have to build up his innings, though he will certainly need time to get up to speed. That being said, if Kimbrel can shake off the rust in June and July, there’s a much greater chance he can positively impact a contending team’s chances of making the postseason or winning a division title than Keuchel. Locking down high leverage situations in late innings is still very important to winning games.
Absolutely
Weaver had his breakout year two years ago.
Players can breakout at multiple times, stop arguing for no reason.
No they cannot. They can have bounce back years multiple times, but you can only break out once.
Stop making asinine statements that aren’t accurate for no reason.
Oh my, here we go again!
Kelly will be more consistent and successful.
Once I thought Kelly was Yadi’s heir apparent. Then I watched him play. He has strengths behind the dish, but his lateral movement is weak. He has a quick release, but lacks great arm strength, and isn’t particularly accurate. But his bat is average at best with little power. Cards have a slew of catching prospects at the lower level, and Knizner while no wizard behind the dish can really hit. Plus Yadi isn’t going anywhere. I have my doubts he hangs it up after next year. No regression to date. Sorry about Weaver. Was watching when he went down. Did not look promising.
“Taylor Clarke has pitched decently well…” What? Taylor Clarke has pitched VERY well. You don’t see too many young guys that pound the strike zone the way Clarke has and his in-game adjustments have been similar to much older pitchers. I’d lock him in the 5th spot in the rotation and just let him pitch.
They have to figure out what Godley’s issue is, he is important to the team and they’re going to need him this season.
Godley issues is that he sucks. I agree with the Taylor Clarke perspective.
I really hope this turns out well for the young man.