The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.
I thought the bullpen chart had misfired and not loaded any data for yesterday’s game. But it’s actually accurate. The only relievers used were Diaz and Abner, who are both no longer on the active roster, plus position player Ildemaro Vargas. The currently active bullpen all got the day off, not something you often see when your team conceded 16 runs the previous day. I do feel slightly badly for Abner, who gave the team 2.2 scoreless innings. But having thrown 44 pitches, he would have been dead space in the bullpen for several days. Hence the return of Kohl Drake instead, who like Cabrera, will be making his major-league debut.
Be fun if they both did so in the same game. From what I can see, the last time the D-backs had two debuts on the same day was on April 1, 2019, when Merrill Kelly and Jon Duplantier both made their first appearance in the majors. Meanwhile, Diaz may be toast. His ERA is 94.50, tied for third on the franchise single season list. Edgar Gonzalez had a 108.00 ERA in 2005, and Matt Koch had an undefined ERA in 2017, allowing three runs without retiring a batter. The math nerd in me is amused by the exponential progression of Diaz’s ERA. 3.81 in 2024, became 9.00 last year, and now 94.50 this year. If he pitches in 2027… I dread to think.
Cabrera is actually in his 6th professional season, though if you’ve never heard of him, that’s probably not a surprise. He is not to be found on MLB Pipeline’s top 30 Arizona prospects list, and was listed at #48 on Fangraphs pre-season rankings. He’ll likely have the advantage of surprise, since I doubt the Twins will have much in the way of advanced scouting information on him, but whether he can spin that into a decent outing, will have to be seen. He only needs an ERA of 6.00 to be better than Zac Gallen, so the bar for “success”, at least in relative terms, isn’t exactly high.
Today’s game is on Peacock. You have fun with that. I have to go get a haircut and call my Dad (it’s not Father’s Day in Scotland, but the principle stands, I guess), so we’ll see. Or maybe won’t see. Memo to guest recapper TheRealRamona: cancel that Instacart subscription on game completion. 🤔