Gabriel Moreno Appears On List of D-backs Injuries
Torey Lovullo spoke to the media ahead of the Diamondbacks' matchup with the Kansas City Royals today, with a couple of updates on injuries and some recent roster moves.
Health Updates
Catcher Gabriel Moreno is dealing with low-back tightness, Torey Lovullo said. The manager said this injury isn't anything "to be alarmed at," but that it was important for Moreno to rest up and "be smart" with a potential injury. Moreno was originally slated to catch today's game, but will get some rest instead, with Tucker Barnhart set to fill in today.
Barnhart is still scheduled to catch tomorrow's game. Lovullo said that they would continue on that path, giving Moreno two days off in a row. The absolute earliest Moreno would return is Saturday.
Outfielder Randal Grichuk is still recovering from his ankle surgery. Lovullo said the veteran will take some at-bats in Player Development today, with a potential to start some light baserunning. Lovullo confirmed that Grichuk is still a candidate for the Opening Day roster, and that it has been "discussed" that Grichuk could start out as a DH rather than playing the field.
Starting shortstop Geraldo Perdomo is still out of the lineup. He should begin taking some ground balls and swings tomorrow morning to see if he can play in a game soon.
Reassignments
The D-backs reassigned six players to minor league camp today.
Four pitchers, including LHP Logan Allen, RHP Josh Green and RHP Ricky Karcher were sent down. Each of these three pitchers had struggled in recent outings, all allowing multiple runs in their prior outings.
RHP Humberto Castellanos was the fourth arm reassigned. Castellanos, however, had been having a great Spring so far. The right-hander has yet to allow a run, striking out six and walking two over 7 2/3 innings.
The D-backs also reassigned a pair of position players in infielder Andrés Chaparro and outfielder Albert Almora Jr. Chaparro blasted a pair of home runs in March, but hadn't collected a base hit in his previous five games. Almora has slashed .150/.182/.350 this Spring, and has three base hits and one walk in his last 21 plate appearances.
The D-backs are now down to 40 players in their Major League Camp.
The NL West
The Padres traded for right-handed starter Dylan Cease yesterday. Although not a division-crushing move, another quality player lands with one of the D-backs already tough division rivals.
“I wish the best players would quit coming to the NL West,” the skipper joked, “we know he’s a very good pitcher, and it just made a good team even better. It just means that we've got to continue to hone in on what we’re good at, and just knock it out here at Salt River Fields and not be so concerned about what’s going on elsewhere.”
This move comes as an addition to some significant moves made by NL West teams, the Dodgers' billion-dollar payroll increase being the most potent. Lovullo noted that these moves simply mean the D-backs need to take care of business on their end.
“We embrace it, and we love it. It just means we’ve got to be spot on in our area," said Lovullo, "I don’t hear one player complain about it, I don't hear one player talk about payrolls externally. What I hear is what we’ve got to take care of, these players know what’s in front of them, and when they do things right, we're going to be be just fine.”
The D-backs will face the Milwaukee Brewers tomorrow at 1:10PM.
