Saunders, Galarraga to round out D-backs rotation
According to Fox Sports Arizona’s Jack Magruder, the Arizona Diamondbacks have settled on the back end of their starting rotation (emphasis on settled).
Righty Armando Galarraga will be the fifth starter for the D-backs while right hander Aaron Heilman will return to the bullpen.
Galarraga didn’t exactly shutdown opponents this spring posting a 7.36 ERA with only 12 strikeouts in 22 innings of Cactus League play. He benefited from Zach Duke suffering a broken hand earlier in Cactus League play.
In fulfilling an offseason promise the Diamondbacks gave Heilman a chance to start this spring. He had a slightly better ERA, 7.03, than Galarraga and struck out 13 in 24.1 innings of work. His value in the bullpen, where he posted a 4.50 with 6 saves last season, seems to have been significantly higher than at the back end of the rotation. His experience should be beneficial to many of the young arms in the pen.
South paw Joe Saunders, who has had an awful spring, is slated to be the team’s number four starter entering the season.
No matter how you slice it when the battle for who will be the fifth man in your rotation is between Galarraga and Heilman you probably have bigger problems than who had the 7.36 ERA and who had the 7.03 ERA.
