D-backs Rotation Order Announcement Causes Questions

The D-backs starting rotation composition has long been all-but decided so once it was officially announced it wasn’t expected to be a surprising event. That is, until the order of the rotation became clear.

Manager Kirk Gibson and his staff decided to go with Ian Kennedy as the ace which was already announced followed by Daniel Hudson, Josh Collmenter, Trevor Cahill and finally Joe Saunders.

The order actually does not matter much in the long run considering Gibson’s penchant to not skip pitcher starts but it was still telling about why Collmenter was third and Saunders was fifth. Collmenter was expected to be slotted in the fifth spot considering his regression at the end of last year and, frankly, the lack of quality pitches.

Collmenter relies almost entirely on a deceptive arm slot to succeed; but it becomes less and less deceptive, and in conjunction, less effective after a couple of turns through the batting order. He is most likely headed to the bullpen at some point this year which would be a perfect chance for the D-backs to call up uber-prospect Trevor Bauer.

Is it possible that the front office and Gibson foresee this scenario and would like to slot Bauer into the third spot in the rotation once they move Collmenter into the bullpen? It’s not like GM Kevin Towers and Gibson sat in the back room and decided to give reporters and bloggers like me something to talk about.

Or did they?