The Diamondbacks announced that first baseman Christian Walker has been reinstated from the injured list. He has been out since the end of July due to a strained left oblique. He’ll take the roster spot of outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who is heading the other way. Gurriel has been placed on the 10-day IL due to a strained left calf, retroactive to September 2.
The Snakes get one of their lineup regulars back but lose another. Walker hit 23 home runs and produced a batting line of .254/.338/.476 before landing on the IL, production that translated to a 122 wRC+. He also routinely gets strong grades for his defense at first base, so he’s been worth 2.7 wins above replacement on the year despite his absence, per the calculations of FanGraphs.
Gurriel departed Sunday game due to some tightness in his calf and was sent for an MRI. It’s unclear exactly how much time the club expects him to miss, but the IL placement suggests he needs at least a week or so to rest up. He has 17 home runs and a line of .274/.316/.428 this year, leading to a 104 wRC+. He has strong defensive grades in the outfield as well, leading to a 1.8 fWAR tally on the year.
Subbing in Walker for Gurriel is a slight upgrade for the club in a vacuum, but it will be an interesting roster fit for manager Torey Lovullo to work out. The Snakes acquired Josh Bell to help cover first base in Walker’s absence and he has played well since that trade, with a .283/.356/.453 line and 125 wRC+. The designated hitter slot is usually taken by Joc Pederson, who is hitting .280/.400/.533 for a 157 wRC+ this year.
Pederson is faring well in his limited looks against southpaws this year but has notable career splits and has generally been shielded from opposing lefties. Bell is a switch-hitter and should at least be able to take the short side of a platoon with Pederson, but it’s unclear if he’ll be able to get more playing time beyond that. Pederson is a poor defender and hasn’t been put out into the field at all this year. He got 204 innings in the field with the Giants last year but produced -5 Defensive Runs Saved and -4 Outs Above Average in that limited time.
With Gurriel out, the Snakes have an opportunity to move Pederson out there while opening the DH slot for Bell/Walker, but they will have to weigh the defensive hit against the offensive gain. Randal Grichuk has strong numbers against lefty pitchers this year, 128 wRC+ against them compared to a 96 wRC+ without the platoon advantage. Theoretically, he could take the field against southpaws with Bell as the DH, then Pederson could take the field against righties. Though perhaps they might simply prefer to have Grichuk out there since he’s a stronger defender than Pederson, perhaps factoring in the pitcher and opposing lineup, calculating whether they think the left fielder will see a lot of action on a given day.
Haven’t seen a full lineup yet
PerdomoSS
CarrollRF
BellDH
Walker, C1B
GrichukLF
Suárez, E3B
Del CastilloC
Newman2B
BarrosaCF
Maybe it’s because I’m a fan but this has to be the most injured team I’ve ever watched. 4/5 starters have been on the IL and 6/8 Opening day position players have spent time on IL
DG
Ninth in lost production per this article
blogs.fangraphs.com/river-ryan-jazz-chisholm-and-b…
My comment has less to do about the production then about the sheer amount of players hurt.
Ghost: Dbacks rank 17th by number of players on IL in 2024.
Now calculate injuries within the last month, mojo. SMH….
They’ve gone down one by one within a small time frame. DBacks have battled despite this. Been interesting to see.
Wait until you see the padres and dodgers
lowtalker1,
What did you say?
But I don’t wanna be a pirate!
The Braves and their fans would beg to differ and I’d strongly agree with them.
you might look over the Sporttrac chart on team injuries for 2024
spotrac.com/mlb/injured/_/year/2024/view/team
Walker is exponentially more important to the dbacks compared to gurriel, and gurriel is an important player
I could see an absolutely huge run in September for these dbacks
stnmf
“I could see an absolutely huge run in September for these dbacks”
Yes. A team, unlike the Dodgers, who have absolutely proven they can win when it counts
-lost in the world series
-lost more games than the Dodgers this year
-lost 3/4 at home to LA when trying to catch them for the division
Dodgers bro,
You forgot to mention last year’s sweep, Dbacks over the Dodgers.
You also forgot to mention all the years the Dodgers have choked in the WS.
You also forgot to mention that the Dodgers’ pitching is a major team weakness this year and that flaw will prevent them from winning multiple series and stop them dead in their tracks Again in the 2024 Post-Season!
oh god you just mentioned the dodgers and WS in the same sentence, now everyone is going to be yelling about if 2020 counted or not
well your team certainly proved to be the superior team and pitching staff this week
Scott
“You also forgot to mention all the years the Dodgers have choked in the WS.”
I didn’t forget. I’m just able to discern been relevant and irrelevant information
The Dodgers playoff history has absolutely nothing to do with the DBacks being clutch (or whatever) or not
The narrative was was that the DBacks could “win when it counted” after they beat the Dodgers last year. However,
-they lost the world series
-they are losing the division
-they just lost 3/4 at home to the team that they are trying to beat
-they lost the season series, thus the tie-breaker, to the team they are trying to catch.
So, where is the evidence that the DBacks can win when it counts?
“You also forgot to mention that the Dodgers’ pitching is a major team weakness this year and that flaw will prevent them from winning multiple series and stop them dead in their tracks Again in the 2024 Post-Season!”
I didn’t FORGET to mention it. I’m not arrogant enough to think I know how a short series between one known team and one unknown team over a month from now will play out
ScottAz
Since you mentioned last years sweep, let’s not forget the 2017 NL division series sweep. Wasn’t that long ago. I remember clearly. You forget about that?
Nothing to yell about. 2020 did not count.
Braves: Make up whatever rules you like to make you feel better.
BF
It, literally, counted. What are you even talking about?
Dodgers have not won a World Series in a full season since 1988 and have shown that they cannot win a World Series in a full season since
If only we were playing the next series in the past.
Lowtalker
Do you know the difference between “have not” and “cannot”?
It appears that that is beyond you
And, if you believe that “have not” and “cannot” are the same, do you agree that this DBacks team cannot win when it counts based on the following facts
-they (this team headlined by Walker, Carroll, Gurriel, etc) have not won a WS
-have not won their division?
-have not beat the Dodgers head to head this season
-have not clinched the tie-breaker even though they had a chance to do so at home this weekend
Because the Dodgers’ pitching is so weak, injured, over-the-hill, inconsistent and inexperienced this year, they will probably be ranked 7th by LV oddsmakers to win the NL Pennant.
The Phillies, Dbacks, Padres, Brewers, Braves and even the Mets are stronger overall teams in a 7 game series.
dreams are important. hold onto yours.
Reality sucks doesn’t it?
the reality is you’d be better off looking at the Braves and Mets right now.
Scottaz
“Dodgers’ pitching is so weak, injured, over-the-hill, inconsistent and inexperienced this year”
The Dodgers’ pitching is both inexperienced AND over the hill
10/10 troll job
Here’s some of the attention that you’re seeking
Well deserved
Grichuk, Barrosa and Smith will split LF in Gueriel’s absence. Peterson will not play LF. Peterson will continue to DH vs RHP. Grichuk and Bell will split DH ABs vs LHP. Once Walker is 100%, he will get all ABs at 1B. Until then, Bell will get an occasional start at 1B.