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Arizona suffers huge blow right before Opening Day
Saturday’s Say Hey includes a potentially major injury to A.J. Pollock, the idea of retaliation one season later, and Mike Trout’s pranking skills.
Christian Petersen/Getty Images
★★★
There have already been some injuries this spring, but just a day before the season is going to start, this feels like the first big one. On Friday night, A.J. Pollock was taken out of the game with what would eventually be announced as a fractured right elbow. He'll have to undergo surgery. Other details are a bit hard to come by at this point, but we're almost certainly talking about the time he'll miss in terms of months, not weeks. Pollock had already missed some time with an injury to his elbow this spring, and this was his first game back. It became clear it wasn't completely healed when it gave out as he dove headfirst back to third base. Manager Chip Hale delivered the bad news after the game.
Luckily for the Diamondbacks, they do have some solid outfield depth to make up the difference. To start the year, it's likely that Socrates Brito will be taking over center field duties. Although he's clearly not the same player as Pollock, Brito does have a good amount of potential. After a hot end to last season and a strong spring, the speedy young outfielder was already pushing to make the lineup over Yasmany Tomas. Now, for the worst reasons, they will both be in the lineup. The other starting spot will be manned by 2015 breakout David Peralta, but the depth behind the starters is now a bit sparse.
Overall, this is a massive blow for a Diamondbacks team that spent so many resources to jump into contention this season. It was the surprise team of the offseason, coming out of nowhere to sign Zack Greinke and then offloading all the prospects for Shelby Miller. The good news is those pitchers still exist and are, by all accounts, healthy. They also still have one of the best hitters in the world in Paul Goldschmidt, as well as another solid starter in Patrick Corbin. Plus, their division rival Dodgers have also suffered approximately 682 injuries this spring. With that being said, Pollock was one of their two best players and losing him for a significant portion of the year is not what Arizona needed on Opening Day Eve.
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