So Much for that Gameplan..

 

The luck just seemed to run out at the wrong time for the Diamondbacks. They went into this season looking at their best rotation yet, consisting of Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery and Eduardo Rodriguez. Two of those guys have been lost to season-ending injuries, one has been struggling since last year's injury, one has been battered down more than usual due, probably, to last year's injury, and the other is pitching for the team that beat them in the World Series 2 years ago. And one of the injured guys got traded too. Getting to a World Series with 3 working pitchers is one thing, but now they have like one and a half working pitchers, and it's not getting them out of fourth.

With all that in mind, Ryne Nelson has saved the D-Backs's ass this year. Ryne Nelson came in as a swingman with the possibility of long relief, then once Eddie took more time than needed he was plugged in as a starter and now he's pretty much the only starter the team can trust. Nelson has a 3.20 ERA in 24 appearances, 14 of them starts, and he's 6-3 with 89 Ks throughout. Nelson is just a dominant, innings-eating guy who teams just haven't had much luck getting past. And in a year where Zac Gallen's 9-12 with a 5.31 ERA, you need a guy like that. The current brand of D-Backs starter is someone who's statistically efficient but can't win games or keep down runs. Brandon Pfaadt's like that as well, he's somehow 12-7 with 103 Ks, but he's got a 5.03 ERA and 1.346 WHIP. It's a good line if you like shaking your head a lot. Rodriguez is tanking, Tommy Henry, the next-nearest starting option, is hurt, and so now Anthony DeSclafani's out there every 6 days hoping his arm doesn't fall apart. He's been fine, but like in a year with the promise of Corbin Burnes and Jordan Montgomery, ending up with 'well all we have is Anthony DeSclafani' isn't a very satisfying outcome.

I mean, damn if the hitters aren't still trying to move mountains. Corbin Carroll leads the league in triples this year with 14. Geraldo Perdomo leads the team in WAR with a 3.7. Lourdes Gurriel's been heating up in the past week. Ketel Marte's still hitting .290 and is on the way to a 25-homer year. The one silver lining about all the selling this team did is that they didn't sell the really important stuff. The D-Backs have enough of a lineup for next year that nobody's saying they're fully dead. They're not giving up on Corbin or Marte or Perdomo, at least not yet. If this same thing happens to them again next year, even with the possibility of more Burnes innings, then they'll have to see about that.

The D-Backs knew they were going into a tough year with such a competitive division, and I genuinely think that if the injuries hadn't have happened they'd be right there in the mix with the Giants and Padres. It's hard to compete without good pitching, though. 

Coming Tonight- World's most unlikely guy to become a power DH after 10 years.