PHOENIX -- Who's on first? It's not a question that is asked very often by the D-backs. That's because Paul Goldschmidt mans the position and he doesn't take many days off.
In three of the last four years, Goldschmidt has played in at least 158 games. The lone exception was 2014 when his season ended in August after he was hit in the hand by a pitch.
New D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said that he'd like to keep Goldschmidt's games at around 155, or roughly one off-day a month. It's a subject that Lovullo has discussed with Goldschmidt.
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"It took place already and he's reluctant to do it, as we all would have imagined," Lovullo said of his talk with Goldschmidt. "That's what great players are. They never want to miss a moment. But for us to be at our best every single day we're going to need some time down for him. I think he understands that."
The D-backs are looking at a few different possibilities to fill in for Goldschmidt when he does get some time off: Daniel Descalso, Chris Herrmann and Jason Pridie.
"We're spending a lot of time examining that," Lovullo said.
Descalso will likely see the most time there and he also has the most experience at the position with 32 big league games there (16 last season), and another 15 in the Minors. However with Descalso set to play second base in the World Baseball Classic for Italy, the D-backs want to give him most of his reps at second for right now.
Herrmann has played four games in his big league career at first, two of which came last year, and five in the Minors.
Pridie has never played first base in his pro career.
"We need to find a complement to [Goldschmidt]," Lovullo said. "We're watching that and paying attention daily."