Inside the Diamondbacks Notebook with Torey Lovullo

The manager gave a rundown on the latest happenings with the team, including more concerning news on Eduardo Rodriguez' injury

Jordan Montgomery is confirmed to be the starter on Friday against the San Francisco Giants. The rotation for that series starting on Thursday will be Ryne Nelson, Montgomery, Zac Gallen, and Merrill Kelly. Lovullo did not consider breaking up Gallen and Kelly. This allows Gallen and Kelly an extra day off. "They don't need it," but that is the date that Montgomery's contract called for him to be called up by, Torey Lovullo said.

Gabriel Moreno was a late scratch from the D-backs lineup. Lovullo originally said that the catcher was feeling better and the swelling had gone down in his right thumb. But 35 minutes before the game, Tucker Barnhart was put in the lineup in his place.

Roster Moves

As reported earlier Wednesday Tommy Henry and Luis Frias were optioned to Triple-A Reno. Logan Allen and Justin Martinez were called up to the major league roster, and Eduardo Rodriguez was placed on the 60-day IL retroactive to March 25th.

Eduardo Rodriguez had a setback in his recovery from a right shoulder strain last week. While the team did not make his timeline explicitly clear when first announcing he was being shut down, they knew this was likely. They were holding on to the 60-day option just in case they had to make a roster move. Today Lovullo said Rodriguez will be out at least until June. It's a huge blow for an organization that invested $80 million for four years on the oft-injured starter.

"With Tommy Henry the timing wasn't great." Lovullo said. "I know he's been throwing the ball well, but yesterday it wasn't a great outing for him. We have to make a decision. We know that Jordan Montgomery is on his way and we have to make a decision on a starter."

The question of whether it would be Henry or Ryne Nelson to lose their rotation spot once Montgomery returned has been a hot topic, one which the team did not tip their hand prior to Henry's outing last night. Lovullo spoke about the difficulty of the decision and the time it took to get there.

"We've got to slice it as thin as possible. Sometimes it's a slam dunk decision that's made. These are hard decisions. We've got three young pitchers [including Brandon Pfaadt] are still finding their way. We felt that Tommy's lack of consistency, not really pitching beyond the fifth inning....was the main reason why"

Lovullo also spoke about the lack of consistency from Luis Frias, but expressed confidence "his best time is yet to come here."

Justin Martinez has been throwing more fastballs and working on better location, hitting the edges instead of just firing 100 MPH down the middle. "He's been pretty dominant in Triple-A" Lovullo said. That's an understatment, as the fireballer has struck out 14 in just 6.2 innings while walking three.

Corbin Carroll has had a slow start to his season, batting just .232/.338/.304, .642 OPS with one home run. He's been contributing however by drawing 11 walks and stealing seven bases, including two in last night's game. Lovullo has not yet considered moving him down the order at this juncture.