The way things were looking last season, the Diamondbacks were likely gonna be sellers, start over a bit and see if Carroll and Burnes could make it long enough to see the next stage of the rebuild. The idea was that Kelly wasn't coming back, Gallen wasn't coming back, Marte was getting traded and the dream would be over soon. And then during the offseason, the D-Backs surprised everybody by not punting. Virtually no big pieces were traded. Merrill Kelly, broken as he may be now, was re-signed. And what's more, the D-Backs even got Nolan Arenado and Michael Soroka to pad the roster.
And that led to a 3rd place, 15-12 start where you can not only see the Lovullo era still thriving, but the next steps beginning to lock into place.
Now, 1st base is already a wild twist, because logically it should be as simple as getting Pavin Smith to do it, but he's hurt. So Carlos Santana started the season as the primary 1st base option. Then he got hurt. And then...the single strangest 1B platoon of them all came along. Cause Ildemaro Vargas has somehow pulled a Donnie Barrels and reinvented himself as an everyday player, hitting .367 with 6 homers and 20 RBIs. Yes, ILDEMARO VARGAS is doing this. I'm just as shocked. And the other guy playing 1st is rookie Jose Fernandez, who hit 2 home runs in his first game, then didn't hit anymore until this past week.
I'm...dumbfounded, honestly. Two solutions out of absolutely nowhere that were like Plan C and D. And also throw in Nolan Arenado still being decent at third after Jordan Lawlar was moved to the outfield to make room for him [only to get hurt]. Arenado is hitting .286 with 4 homers and 14 RBIs. It's not as pretty as it used to be, but it's more of a batting exclamation point than, say, Evan Longoria in a similar role. Throw in Carroll, Marte and Perdomo doing their usual stuff and you've got a strong lineup somehow. Only real weak spot is catcher with Moreno injured, but James McCann's doing what he can I suppose.
This team's also lucky they caught Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez and Mike Soroka on the upswing from their respective injury comebacks, cause they've made for a great starting three. The hope is that Corbin Burnes comes back unharmed in a little while and someone, hopefully Brandon Pfaadt, calms down to provide a steadier fifth choice.
The D-Backs are surprising people so far, including themselves. We'll see how far they're able to take this, but if the stars, like Carroll especially, can stay hot they definitely have a chance to stay embedded in the NL West picture.
Coming Tonight: I always found it very fitting that right after Manny Machado was traded, the Orioles' next savior, Cedric Mullins, arrived. Well right after Mullins was dealt, they called up this guy, and now he's surprising people.
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