The already frustrating Arizona Diamondbacks season got slightly worse on Sunday. The club placed star pitcher Zack Greinke on the disabled list.
#Dbacks reinstate OF Rickie Weeks, Jr. from the Bereavement List and place P Zack Greinke on the 15-day DL (left oblique strain).
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 3, 2016
Right now, this is bad news for Arizona. It can become disastrous news if Greinke is forced to miss extensive time. Fortunately for the Diamondbacks, that doesn’t seem to be the case right now.
#Dbacks Chip Hale is hopeful to have Greinke back not long after All-Star break.
— Steve Gilbert (@SteveGilbertMLB) July 3, 2016
That’s about the only good piece of news for the D-Backs here.
Greinke had a terrible start to the 2016 season but has been stellar since. Greinke has been one of baseball’s best starters over his last 11 outings, going 8-1 while posting a 2.64 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings and seven quality starts. An injury will no doubt set at least some of that progress back.
At 32, Greinke is certainly getting to an age where injuries are to be more expected. The problem is that he just signed a six-year, $206.5 million dollar deal last offseason.
Is this just one injury or the beginning of a trend? Greinke has dealt with injuries before but has mostly been fairly durable throughout his career. Still, considering his age, Diamondbacks fans (as well as the organization itself) will no doubt be a bit nervous until he comes back and looks healthy.