Let’s start off by acknowledging how great Putz has been over the last two seasons. He’s been lights out for the majority of his time with the Diamondbacks despite a couple of rough patches. This April was one such rough patch. He’s gotten off to slow starts before and has seemingly always got rolling as the season progresses.

Perhaps JJ was about to turn it around, but we can’t ignore the fact that he’s 36 and has thrown a lot of

splitters. Those have been known to put heavy pressure on the elbow and the splitter has long been deemed one of baseball’s most unsafe pitches. In fact, some organizations even refuse to teach it to their minor leaguers.

JJ Putz leaves the game against the Dodgers. IMAGE: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Now that JJ has been diagnosed with “elbow tightness,” we have to wonder if the innings, the age and all those splitters have come back to take their toll. As Ken Rosenthal reported this morning, Putz has a sprained ligament, strained flexor muscle and an irritated nerve in that elbow. Apparently Putz will try to rehab his way back into the lineup, but it appears that surgery is looming should the rehab prove ineffective. In other words, JJ’s future as a Diamondback is in serious jeopardy and we shouldn’t assume we’ll ever see him regain his form again. Could he come back the same? Maybe, but at his age and given the severity of the injury, I’m not betting on it.

Enter Heath Bell. I, for one, did a lot of head scratching when Arizona acquired him from Miami. I was critical of Kevin Towers for taking on Bell’s contract given his age and ineffectiveness. Heath had lost velocity and his strikeout rates were were trending down, plus he didn’t have Petco Park to suppress run scoring. As we all know, the ball can fly in the desert, much more so than in his golden days with the Padres.

Bell has looked better in the desert thus far, though,  especially compared to his time as a Marlin. His velocity is slightly up, the strikeouts are way up and, most importantly, the walks are way down. His 4.40 ERA is misleading as he’s been unlucky thus far (.417 BABIP) and his FIP of 2.64 reflects this. I’d expect the his K/9 to fall a little bit and his BB/9 to rise some, but even with a little regression, he still appears to be capable of being effective as a closer.

To dig a little deeper, let’s take a look at the projections of both players going forward. Here are the ZiPS Rest of Season (ROS) projections for both pitchers: 

As you can see, the projections see them as different pitchers, but both are on the same path in terms of value. Putz and Bell would be set to accumulate 0.6 WAR over the rest of the season, they would just do so in different ways. Putz boasts a better K/BB ratio, but Bell is better at keeping the ball in the yard. Both have similar career groundball rates and both have experience closing out games. If Bell can keep his head and avoid getting rattled if and when he blows a save, there is reason to believe that we should see no major drop-off in the ninth.

Heath Bell notches a save for the Dbacks. IMAGE: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

There’s been some clamoring for David Hernandez to become the closer, but Gibby clearly prefers a veteran in that role. Hernandez is likely the future, but Bell should be able to keep him from taking over this season. The bullpen is old overall and there is sure to be a changing of the guard in the near future, as neither Bell nor Putz are long-term solutions at this point in their careers.

For now, however, we’re going to have to roll the dice with Heath Bell, but there’s hope that he can keep the Dbacks in the thick of the NL West race.

Image: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The D’backs were crushed throughout baseball for the trades that sent Trevor Bauer and Justin Upton packing this offseason. Yet, the main pieces in their haul in those trades, Didi Gregorius and Martin Prado, hit a home run each to give the D’backs their only two runs in the regular nine innings against the Yanks.

Then, after closer J.J. Putz gave up a game-tying solo shot to Francisco Cervelli in the bottom of the ninth, Cody Ross, whose 3-year, $26 million contract he signed this offseason was also panned, delivered the go-ahead single in the 12th to put the D’backs on top for good.

It was sort of a redemption game for GM Kevin Towers as the entire league watches Justin Upton hit home run after home run. Now, nothing can be taken from a one-game sample like today, but it had to feel good anyways.

In the third, Phil Hughes threw a fastball down and in and Gregorius turned on it, driving it out on a line to right field. The home run was Gregorius’ first in the majors and came in his first at bat, and the first pitch, as a D’back.

In the sixth, Hughes tried to go upstairs on Prado, who promptly drove it into the left field bleachers.

The Yanks scored their first run on another mammoth blast off of the bat of Robinson Cano, who was the only blemish on an otherwise outstanding outing from Patrick Corbin.

Corbin went seven innings, only gave up the one run on Cano’s shot, struck out seven and gave up two hits.

In the 12th, Gerardo Parra broke up an 0-for-5 game for him by leading off with a double to right center. After Prado flew out to deep center to move Parra to third, Paul Goldschmidt reached on a catcher’s interference, the second of the game, and Miguel Montero was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Ross.

One of the reasons cited for Ross’ signing in the offseason despite the utter depth of talent in the outfield at the time was his ability to be “clutch.” At least in this case, Ross proved that to be true by hitting a liner into left to score Parra.

Eric Chavez shut the door on the Yanks in the next at bat with a bases clearing double to make the final 6-2.

The win saved the D’backs from the three-game sweep.

The D’backs now travel to Colorado to face the red-hot Rockies, who have won six straight and lead the NL West with an 11-4 record. The pitching match ups look to be Ian Kennedy (1-1, 5.79) against Jhoulys Chacin (2-0, 1.96 and Trevor Cahill (0-2, 3.50) facing off with Jorge De La Rosa (1-1, 3.86). On Sunday, Brandon McCarthy (0-2, 7.47) will be on the bump for the D’backs against a pitcher yet to be determined for the Rockies.

Feb 20, 2013; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks player Tony Campana poses for a picture during photo day at the Diamondbacks Spring Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The Diamondbacks outfield depth is being tested very early this spring training. The team had just received news that newly signed free-agent outfielder Cody Ross would be out two to three weeks. Ross will be out due to a calf injury, and will be limited to just throwing while he is out. The chances of Ross being ready for opening day are now uncertain. When Ross would return from the calf injury he would only have about one week of spring training left to get ready for the season. The diamondbacks do have options of who they want to put in place of Ross should this injury linger on into the season. The options that they have available to them are Tony Campana, Gerardo Parra, A.J. Pollock, and Eric Hinske.

One of these options could potentially be injured. Tony Campana jammed his hand while attempting to steal second base in a Cactus League game against the Brewers. Campana was seen holding his left wrist as he came out of the game immediately. If Campana is out for an extended period of time this would make the team even thinner than they already are in the outfield. The one trait that Campana possesses that the team highly values is his speed. The Diamondbacks are transitioning from a team that in the past relied heavily on hitting HRs, to a team that will use speed. Campana is a player that they could have used off the bench in late game situations. The other options that the team has are that they could do a platoon with players AJ Pollock, Gerardo Parra, and Eric Hinske. Pollock has never hit for a high average in the majors. Pollock just had a .247 in 81 at-bats last season, but that could be because he did not have consistent playing time. The other two options in Parra and Hinske have the most experience in right field. Parra has played 76 games in right field for his career. Hinske has played 160 games in right field for his career, but Hinske is more of a guy that comes off the bench rather than play every day.

The Diamondbacks have the players to use should Campana be out for a long period, but if another one of their outfielders is injured that would severely limit what the team can do.