The season from hell continues for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Prior to the first pitch of the season, this was a team many picked to potentially take the Dodgers off their precious throne. They added key pieces to what was a pretty good baseball team, despite missing the playoffs the year before. Their biggest move was being able to sign Corbin Burnes to a long term deal. But now, Burnes is in jeopardy of missing time and it’s the last thing that this team can afford.

Diamondbacks Can’t Afford to Lose Burnes

Panic immediately set in when you could see Burnes saying what he said on the mound. It doesn’t take an expert lip reader, but reading his lips he went on to say, “my elbow. It’s done.” That’s the last thing you want to see and hear. Upon the conclusion of the game, he described it as tightness, but felt no popping sensation and being it is something he’s never dealt with he said he doesn’t have a basis for comparison. The team has placed him on the 15 Day-IL, but he is getting a second opinion due to the inconclusiveness from the first MRI. Not great, not great at all.

So, this is not ideal for the Diamondbacks as a whole and for many reasons. This is a team that has managed to underperform poorly from a pitching standpoint, while once again having a top five offense in baseball.

To briefly touch on the offense, they have scored the fourth most runs, triples, RBI’s, and home runs, while also having the most doubles. Not to mention, as a team they sit top five in team OPS and wRC+. This is a team that has numerous contributors, most notably the breakout campaign for Corbin Carroll and newly acquired Josh Naylor helping pave the way. It’s a shame to waste away a breakout year by one of your best young stars and also what is a walk year for Naylor. But pointing back to Burnes, his value to this pitching staff is evident.

Burnes had a shaky start to his Diamondbacks tenure, having an ERA north of 4.00 for his first five starts to the season. Finally, he turned a corner and became the pitcher everyone saw a season ago. He finished with a 1.58 ERA in the month of May and has lowered his ERA to 2.66 for the season. Heck, he keeps this up, he is entering the CY Young conversation. He is able to take the ball, give quality starts, and simply deliver. The issue is everyone behind him is not.

Merrill Kelly has been the steadiest pitcher behind him, posting a 3.73 ERA. But when you have Eduardo Rodriguez, who has been so bad it’s entering Jordan Montgomery territory, it’s not looking good. Brandon Pfaadt continues to show growth and promise, despite having the worst outing of his young career against the Nationals. The biggest concern is Zac Gallen, who is a free agent at the end of the season.

Gallen has seen his ERA rise to 5.54 and the WHIP to 1.40. The walks are rising and the strikeouts are notably down from a season ago. Players are feasting off of him and hitting the ball harder off of him. Hes struggling to get batters to chase and to whiff. According to Stuff+ models, Gallen has dropped from 92 to 90 and the Location+ has gone from 104 to 103. It is well a step behind Burnes, but it’s notably frustrating to see a guy who’s important to the rotation just regress this season. Skipper Torrey Luvollo said he can see this type of frustration.

“At this point I know how frustrated he is and I can see it. The inconsistencies of the results have been there and it’s an indication of him grinding and an easy bet to figure this out.”

They need him to and fast. Because the Diamondbacks bullpen has also been a massive disappointment and the revolving door at the closer role is exhausting. Their bullpen has the fifth highest ERA (5.28) and have allowed the sixth most earned runs. Furthermore, they have the fifth most blown saves and blowing games has been hurtful.

The point really stands, that the rotation without Burnes has to be better. The offense is also way too good and it’s almost a slap in the face to them to be this poor. They’ll need to truly pick up the slack without Burnes and need to find a way to go deeper into games and also close the door shut.