News out of camp this morning that the Diamondbacks have signed Luis Urias. For some reason, I thought this was a pitcher they had previously signed this spring, then let go, but turns out that was… someone else [Two minutes of low-intensity Googling turned up nothing] This one is a 28-year-old infielder, who brings eight years and 582 MLB games of experience with him, mostly with the Brewers. He played 96 games last season for the Athletics, with an OPS+ of 96 and 0.5 bWAR. It is a minor-league contract, so I doubt he’ll make the Opening Day roster, but does give the team better depth behind the likes of Tim Tawa and Ildemaro Vargas.
After Ryne Nelson, expect to see some of RHP Kevin Ginkel, RHP Ryan Thompson, RHP Taylor Clarke, RHP Drey Jameson, RHP Kade Strowd, RHP Isaiah Campbell and RHP Bryce Jarvis. It will be Nelson’s fourth start of spring. Over the previous outings, he has a 5.63 ERA but a very respectable K:BB of 10:1 across eight innings. After this game is over, we will have the second WBC semi-final, which sees the underdog match-up of Italy and Venezuela. Before the tournament started, those two had odds of 80/1 and 9/1 respectively for the title: now, one of them will be playing for the championship. That one gets under way at 5 pm Arizona time.