PHOENIX -- With Steven Souza Jr. out for the season, the D-backs are looking at their options.
Souza, who slipped while crossing home plate in Monday night’s exhibition game against the White Sox was diagnosed with an ACL tear, LCL tear, partial PCL tear, and posterior lateral capsule tear in his left knee, which will require season-ending surgery.
“Just a really, really unfortunate situation for him,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “We hurt for him right now. We’re going to be behind him through these tough times and obviously hope for the best through this entire process.”
Souza will have the surgery after the swelling in the knee subsides.
To replace him, the team will continue to look at the waiver wire, but general manager Mike Hazen said that a trade is unlikely right now.
“There’s nothing imminent on the external front,” Hazen said.
The most likely scenario would be that the club adds versatile infielder Ildemaro Vargas to the Opening Day roster.
“We feel like he had a great camp and deserves this opportunity to be here,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said of Vargas. “But the roster’s not final.”
The team has Adam Jones to play right field in Souza’s absence, and Ketel Marte has looked good while transitioning to center. Marte had been expected to play a good deal of infield, but if Vargas is on the team as a backup infielder it would allow Marte to play center field more.
Add backup outfielder Jarrod Dyson to the mix, and the D-backs should have plenty of coverage in the outfield.
“Not specifically,” Hazen said of whether there might be a possible fit currently on the waiver wire. “We’re watching it. If there’s a guy out there we’ll potentially put a claim on, we’ll know by [Wednesday].”
Socrates Brito is not an immediate candidate because he was out of Minor League options and had to be placed on waivers before the injury to Souza. The reason Brito had to be on waivers prior to Opening Day was because he had to clear waivers before Wednesday morning’s 25-man roster deadline.
Souza, who injured his shoulder diving for a ball last spring and was limited 72 games, believed that a return to health would mean he would have a bounce-back season.
“Last night when we came inside -- we kind of all got out of the game together -- and we came in and talked to him,” veteran outfielder David Peralta said of Souza. “And he was feeling really bad because nobody wants to get hurt. We just talked to him and said, ‘We got you, OK? We got you and we’re going to do our best.’ Somebody has to step up and take the spot and take the responsibility. This is on us. We’re a team.”
That’s exactly the message that Lovullo wants to have his team leaders to spread.
“It’s the first of many, many tests that a baseball season offers you,” Lovullo said. “Sometimes those tests tear teams apart. Sometimes they make it strong. I know this group is sticking together right now. These guys are prepared to go and keep moving forward. That’s very pleasing to me. But we’re not going to forget about Steven, that’s for sure.”