Hey Diamondbacks, it’s time to call up Trevor Bauer

There’s no doubt the Diamondbacks have considered it.

Hell, there’s a good chance they’ve agonized over the idea
for a while now.

And you know what? The time is now.

The team must call up Trevor Bauer.

Bauer, the team’s much-heralded pitching prospect out of
UCLA, has fared well since being promoted to Triple-A
Reno. He’s put together a 2-0 record with a 2.53 ERA,
striking out 31 hitters and walking 12 in 25 innings of
work.

In a word, he is dominant. In another word, he’s been
wild. But in a final, and maybe even more important word
for the 2012 Diamondbacks, he is hope. Hope that the
season, which is spiraling out of control, can be turned
around on his right arm.

The Diamondbacks are 25-30 on the season, nine games back
of the Dodgers and in danger of becoming irrelevant. Any
buzz the team had around it when the season began is long
gone, replaced with an apathy not seen around these parts
since, well, 2010.

Winning, of course, would change that. Calling up a top
prospect and inserting him into the starting rotation
would change that, too, at least for a little while.

The good news is the two are not necessarily mutually
exclusive. Calling up Bauer could lead to more
wins, and while the guy he’d most likely replace (Joe
Saunders) had an excellent April for the team, his May and
June have been quite awful.

Saunders cost the team Monday when he allowed three runs
in the first two innings against the Rockies. Momentum?
Gone. Good feelings? Gone. Reason for still being in
rotation?
Of course, that does not mean Saunders has no value. A
lefty with a solid track record and postseason experience
will be in demand, and there have been numerous reports
that the D-backs will look to make a deal. It all works
out perfectly, because it’s time to free up that spot in
the rotation.

In fact, any deal to move Saunders would be made not so
much because of anything the lefty did, but to get the
younger Bauer into the rotation. After all, what does he
have left to prove in the minors?

That’s not to say Bauer will show up and dominate major
league hitters. The 21-year-old will most certainly have
his rough moments, where he looks every bit the rookie and
nothing like a savior.

Thing is, he’s not meant to be the team’s savior.
Arizona’s problems go far deeper than just one starting
pitcher, and Bauer’s presence alone won’t all of a sudden
make the team a contender again.

But it won’t make them worse, either, and at this point
the team has nothing to lose and everything to gain by
bringing the Golden Spikes Award winner to The Show.

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