The Diamondbacks made a deal today to acquire left-handed starter Dontrelle Willis from Detroit in a move they hope will shore up some of their pitching woes.
Last place in the NL West, the Diamondbacks are hurting for pitching, particularly in their bullpen, which has been atrocious this season. Even ace Dan Haren has struggled through the first two months, although he looked very sharp tonight against the Dodgers. Willis gives them their only left-handed arm in the starting rotation, but expectations certainly should not be high. Since Willis' career year in 2003, he has been nothing to write home about. And he's making $12 million this year. The Tigers are picking up a lot of that salary, but there's no way Willis is worth that much. He's not even worth half that much. Still, it can't get much worse for the Diamondbacks, and the upside of Willis was probably enough to trigger a deal, especially when all the Tigers wanted was Billy Buckner. We'll see how he works out in the desert.
Tonight, any positive energy from that trade died with Matt Kemp's walk-off home run in the 10th to pull the Dodgers within one game of San Diego at the expense of the Diamondbacks. It's just a shame that the Dodgers couldn't score any runs for John Ely again though. That guy deserves to have five wins by now. An early game tomorrow wraps up the series before the Dodgers get the red-hot Atlanta Braves this weekend.
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