Diamondbacks Notes: Beeks, Graveman, Gallen, Kelly, Miller

Prior to yesterday’s 6-5 loss to the Angels, the Diamondbacks placed left-hander Jalen Beeks on the 15-day injured list due to lower back inflammation, with a retroactive placement date of July 8.  Right-hander Kendall Graveman was activated from the 15-day IL in the corresponding move.

It doesn’t appear as Beeks’ injury is overly serious, as manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro) that the hope is that Beeks will miss just the minimum 15 days, with the retroactive time and the All-Star break factoring into that number.  This means Beeks should be able to return in plenty of time before the July 31st trade deadline, which is perhaps noteworthy if the 46-49 Diamondbacks end up being sellers.

Beeks is just a couple of days removed from his 32nd birthday, and he has a 4.39 ERA, 51.8% grounder rate, 22.9% strikeout rate, and 8.9% walk rate over 41 relief innings this season.  While the K% and BB% numbers aren’t anything special, Statcast has liked Beeks’ work on the whole, and his ability to induce soft contact and keep the ball on the ground have helped the southpaw deliver some respectable numbers.  Beeks’ numbers are somewhat inflated by two nightmarish outings against in the Marlins in late June, which accounted for eight of the 20 earned runs he has allowed all year.

Should Arizona indeed decide to sell, Beeks is a natural trade chip as an impending free agent, and plenty of clubs should have interest in an inexpensive veteran lefty.  The D’Backs signed Beeks to a one-year, $1.25MM just before Opening Day, after Beeks was released at the end of spring camp from a previous minor league deal with the Astros.

An IL stint this relatively close to the deadline could throw a wrench into Beeks’ trade candidacy, as he has now joined the long list of Diamondbacks pitchers sidelined by injuries.  Graveman has been on the IL twice this season, first due to a lumbar strain and then this latest placement due to a hip impingement that cost him a little over a month of action.  These two IL stints have limited Graveman to just 10 appearances and 9 1/3 innings this season.  Graveman’s ERA is 8.68, though one six-run implosion against the Reds on June 7 is largely responsible for Graveman’s ungainly bottom-line statistics.

The D’Backs have faced such a swath of pitching injuries that it may impact their deadline plans as either buyers or sellers.  Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are both impending free agents and oft-cited trade candidates, yet according to the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Diamondbacks “are unlikely” to move both starters at the deadline for the simple reason that the club still needs to fill innings for the remainder of the year.  The Snakes have already seen their starter depth depleted by Tommy John surgeries to Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, and Blake Walston, while Tommy Henry underwent an internal brace procedure in late June.  A shoulder strain has also sidelined Cristian Mena until at least the second week of August, as per his timeline on the 60-day IL.

Gallen is in the last few months of his final arbitration-eligible season, while Kelly is in the last year of what has now become a three-year, $24MM contract when Arizona made the easy call to exercise its $7MM club option on the right-hander last November.  Kelly has been the significantly better of the two pitchers this season with 2.0 fWAR to Gallen’s 0.1 fWAR, though Gallen is perceived to have the higher upside as a former front-of-the-rotation type.  The Diamondbacks figure to receive plenty of offers for both pitchers prior to July 31, so the decision of who stays and who goes will just come down to which offer the Snakes prefer.

In another injury update, Lovullo said Shelby Miller will be visiting Dr. Keith Meister to get a second opinion about the forearm strain that sent Miller to the 15-day IL earlier this week.  Lovullo said that surgery may well be an option for the reliever, but Miller is also still considering treatments that would allow him to return to action at some point in 2025.

At the very least, it certainly doesn’t seem like Miller will be able to return before the deadline, which reduces or (more realistically) wipes out his trade value.  This injury has cast a pall over what had been an outstanding season for Miller, a minor league signing who has delivered a 1.98 ERA over 36 1/3 bullpen innings for Arizona.