D-backs manager: No Greinke at L.A. Dodgers by chance, not design
Mar 1, 2016, 4:50 PM | Updated: Mar 2, 2016, 12:10 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Greinke warms up during a spring training baseball workout Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Part of the allure that came with Zack Greinke signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks was how the D-backs would then get to start him against his former team.
Like, there has to be some sense of satisfaction that the D-backs were able to lure one of the best pitchers in the game away from the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers, and it will truly be a sight for Arizona faithful to behold when the right-hander gets to mow through that L.A. lineup.
It just may take a while.
D-backs manager Chip Hale not surprisingly named Greinke the team’s Opening Day starter, and if every one of the team’s five hurlers makes their regularly scheduled starts, the ace will next take the mound on April 9 against the Chicago Cubs.
His next start after that? April 15 against the San Diego Padres, the team’s first game after a three-game series in Dodger Stadium.
Some may think this was by design, letting Greinke miss his former team early in the season while he gets settled in with his new team. However, D-backs skipper Chip Hale said that was not at all the case.
“Our big horse is going to pitch the first day, so however it goes — and we’re not going to skip anybody early in the year,” he told Burns and Gambo on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Tuesday. “Everybody needs their rest.
“As we get deeper in the season we may need to start Zack on his fifth day when we have an off day, we may do that.”
Hale, though, understands that Greinke is not scheduled face the Dodgers in that initial series.
“This has nothing to do with any type of matchup or anything like that,” he said. “It was just by chance.”
Of course, if Hale wanted Greinke to pitch in that series he could make it happen. The D-backs are off on April 11, and could use that off day to skip a different pitcher’s start. When Greinke would take the mound then in L.A. he would be doing so with his normal amount of rest.
But the second-year manager reaffirmed how he has no plans to skip anyone in the rotation early in the season in order to try and maximize the amount of rest for everyone.
“Health is the main thing with this ball club, and if we can stay healthy with the horses we have we should be in good shape,” he said. “But if we start pushing guys too much early, it will hurt us late in the year.”
