There’s a new catcher in town…
Roster moves
- The Arizona Diamondbacks signed C James McCann (No. 8) as a Major League free agent and is active today.
- In a corresponding move, the D-backs designated C Aramis Garcia for assignment.
The D-backs’ 40-man roster remains at 40.
When McCann makes his Arizona debut, it’ll mark the start of his 12th season in the majors. He was a Tigers draftee, reaching the majors for them in 2014. He also played for the White Sox, Mets and Orioles, and was in the minors with the Braves when the D-backs came calling for him. All told, McCann has an 83 OPS+ across 917 games, and he turned 35 years old a couple of weeks ago. The signing does suggest to me that Gabriel Moreno might be out for longer than initially thought. It’ll be interesting to see how playing time gets split between him and Jose Herrera. Also, spare a thought for poor Garcia, who has been DFA’d for the second time this month by Arizona. Who’d be a back-up catcher?
Eduardo Rodriguez starts for the D-backs, and has certainly been better since he came off the IL. Across three outings since then, he has given up only five runs across 16 innings of work. Though in Toronto, his efficiency left a good deal to be desired, needing 98 pitches to get through only 4.2 frames. But if he goes short again today, we should be able to crank up Disco Desclafani for a bit. The White Sox in general are not as bad as last year, but are still not good. They’re also a team the D-backs have historically handled very well, with a franchise record of 17-7 against them. They haven’t lost a series against them since 2011, and went unbeaten against them for nine years, winning 10 in a row from 2014-2023.
The Corbin Carroll injury situation continues to rumble on. Reports from Chicago indicate he won’t be available off the bench tonight again, meaning only three position players for Torey Lovullo to use. At time of writing, we haven’t heard word about the MRI results, but if they lead to an injured-list spell, that would certainly be a blow for the team. Corbin has been posting a 1.099 OPS in June, though remarkably, that figure is currently only good enough for third on the team, behind NL Player of the Week Eugenio Suarez (1.106) and Ketel Marte (1.112). Among players with fifty or more PA for the month, that gives Arizona three players in the top eight across all MLB.