The D’backs are getting a taste of this dilemma right now as word spreads that they’ve lost yet another starter in Willie Bloomquist heading into the opening night of the regular season.

The Diamondbacks felt they had an advantage with their outfield depth heading in to spring training for the second straight year despite much talk of a ‘crowded outfield.’ With the likes of Gerardo Parra, Jason Kubel, Cody Ross and Adam Eaton the team was excited with the group of guys on their roster.

Diamondbacks shortstop Willie Bloomquist (18) hits a double in the first inning during a spring training game against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch. Image: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Now three weeks later, as spring training winds down this week and culminates with a final exhibition game at Chase Field on Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds it looks as though the team is going to be fielding one of the three expected outfielders and no Willie Bloomquist at shortstop for opening day on April 1.

Below is a breakdown of what the D’backs are up against with just five days before Opening Night at Chase Field.

Cody Ross jogged yesterday for the first time since March 3^rd when he went down with a calf strain that has left him sidelined virtually all spring, his first with the D’backs. All signs point to Ross beginning the season on the DL although Towers hinted that it’s likely he’ll only miss the first five games with the ability to back date the injury. Still, even if Ross does miss just five regular season games, the 32 year old has just nine plate appearances without recording a hit all spring.

Adam Eaton was enjoying one of the best spring starts on the team when trainers discovered a partial tear in his elbow, specifically in his Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) on March 22^nd. This injury, although not requiring surgery, will keep the rookie from throwing a baseball for four weeks and possibly keep him out of games for eight weeks meaning his return may not come until the middle of May.

Jason Kubel, the team leader in home runs and runs batted in last season, rolled his ankle in the batter’s box during Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels and left for precautionary reasons. While the ankle roll turns out to be of little concern after Kubel played on it Wednesday, the left fielder has also been battling a sore knee that stemmed from running into the outfield wall a few days prior.

With the three expected outfield starters banged up and two of them expected to begin the season on the disabled list, the club will likely be looking at a starting outfield of Kubel in left, A.J. Pollock in center, and Parra in right. The fourth outfielder role would likely be Tony Campana or Alfredo Marte while Ross and Eaton work to get healthy.

This scenario is certainly not what manager Kirk Gibson had in mind at the start of spring, however things could be worse. After all, Pollock was the teams first round draft pick in the 2009 amateur draft taking him 17^th overall. Parra has a gold glove under his belt and hopes to carry over his strong spring to the regular season to prove that he can be an everyday outfielder with the Diamondbacks.

As mentioned above, the team will also be without infielder Willie Bloomquist on opening day now as the 35 year old Tuesday night’s game with a right oblique strain that he was not very optimistic about, “I definitely did something,” he said. “We’ll figure out tomorrow how bad it is and make a game plan, and hopefully it’s not too long.” Bloomquist completed an MRI on the muscle this morning revealing a grade two oblique strain meaning he will start the season on the disabled list with no timetable for return at this point.

With Bloomquist forced to begin the season on the DL, the club will rely on Cliff Pennington at shortstop and as Steve Gilbert reports, keep Josh Wilson as their utility infielder to open up the season.

One final issue that the club is closely monitoring isn’t necessarily an injury but rookie of the year runner-up, Wade Miley has been reporting a ‘tired arm’ this spring and was held out of his scheduled start last week to work against the ‘B’ league to see if his arm was OK or if he would require additional time off.

His final appearance this spring will be on Saturday against the Reds when he is projected to throw up to 90 pitches which will give the team a better idea of whether or not the 26 year old will be ready come opening day.

Thus far, the lefty appears to be on track to begin the season as the team’s fourth starter, pitching the first game in Milwaukee next week.

Despite these injuries to key players, in a best case scenario, the D’backs will be back on track by the middle of May at the latest with plenty baseball left to play.

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Former D’backs shortstop John McDonald (16) dives for the ball in the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Angels during a spring training game. Image: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

One of players who began with the D’backs this spring will be playing against them moving forward as word spread yesterday that veteran infielder, John McDonald, was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

McDonald came over in the August 23, 2011 trade that sent second baseman Kelly Johnson to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Aaron Hill and John McDonald. The defensive wizard would finish his tenure as a D’back with a .230/.278/.344 slash line with six home runs in 256 at bats spread over 89 games. He also was part of the 2011 playoff team, the veteran’s first appearance in the playoffs over his 14 year career.

At the time of the trade, it seemed as though McDonald would provide a nice buffer zone for the club as he is easily one of the best defensive shortstops to play the game and the team had lost Stephen Drew just a month earlier to a season ending ankle injury. Looking back now, that may have been Kevin Towers’ best trade to date. McDonald’s swift work on the infield helped the club finish just .001 behind the Braves for the best fielding percentage in the N.L. in 2012 and Hill was likely the team’s most consistent player over the entire 2012 season.

Still, as Tower’s continually brought over shortstop after shortstop this winter, the move that would send the 38 year old to another team was practically inevitable. Just to recap quickly, this winter saw: Cliff Pennington, Didi Gregorius, and Nick Ahmed come over to compliment Willie Bloomquist, John McDonald and Chris Owings, the team’s top shortstop prospect before the acquisitions of Gregorius and Ahmed.

The issue that this team still faces is that even with all six of these players, they still don’t have an everyday shortstop. Sure, Gregorius, Ahmed, and Owings weren’t expected to be ready for 2013 anyway and we all know that Towers is all about developing talent from within the farm system rather than buying free agents starters so we can omit them here from even making the opening day roster.

Willie Bloomquist, in my opinion, is hands down our best option and in 2012 the veteran did more than a sufficient job at manning his position. Kirk Gibson’s concern throughout much of last season was his longevity over the course of a 162 game season and whether or not the 35 year old could withstand the daily grind. This led to Bloomquist typically playing two days, off the next. This was frustrating as a fan since he seemed to have a multi-hit game every other night and even if he finished 3 for 4 the previous evening, Gibby would sit him.

Then, to make my case even worse, Bloomquist did indeed begin to have health issues sometime in late July and missed nearly the entire months of August and September with an ailing back. So, now a year older can we really expect Gibson to trust him in 2013?

It looks like we’ll just have to hope that Pennington’s paltry 2012 season that saw career lows in just about every offensive category was just an enigma in a career that typically sees an on base percentage upwards of .320 rather than his .278 last season. With Bloomquist and Pennington, the team should be OK getting through the 2013 season, barring an injury that would shake things up once again.

Either way, with McDonald now gone, the club will surely miss his presence in the dugout as well as his sure-handedness while roaming the infield. Here’s what manager Kirk Gibson had to say about the him:

“He’s the ultimate professional. Great leadership on and off the field. Really helped drive us to a different place as a team. Contributed a ton.”

Take a look at this spinning play by McDonald last season and how fast he gets rid of the ball on this play.

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Oh, and don’t forget about the stellar defense from Bloomquist.

So far this spring, through three games in which he has played in, Willie is batting .400 with an OPS of 1.000. After an injury-filled year in 2012, the best thing for Bloomquist to do is start strong and show this team what he is made of. Bloomquist has recorded at least one hit in every game this year and through 10 at-bats, has only one strikeout. If there was a mold for a lead-off hitter, Willie Bloomquist would fit it pretty well. No stolen bases yet this year, but Bloomquist has six total bases (it really should be seven because he was incorrectly called out after trying to tag from 1st to 2nd). If you mix speed, high OBP and constant hustle, what could be better? Bloomquist, who was the recipient of the Diamondbacks Heart And Hustle Award in 2012 is starting right where he left off. The hustle is there and always will be but as far as the “heart” is concerned, well, that’s there too.

Throughout this off season, Willie was adamant about putting time into his charity, the Abe and Max Fund. This charity provides electronics to kids who are undergoing treatment at hospitals. If there is one thing that Bloomquist realized during his back surgery, it’s that spending all day in a hospital is not the most thrilling of times and he is doing an awesome job by doing what he does.

It’s early. There is a lot of season left, but with more at-bats and more repetitions, Willie will become more comfortable and his injury-filled season in 2012 will be a thing of the past. As we enter 2013, Willie Bloomquist is doing a lot of great things both on and off the field.

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