Diamondbacks Drop a September Surprise, DFA Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

The Arizona Diamondbacks just dropped a mid-September roster bomb by designating veteran outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. for assignment. Cutting a completely healthy, established major leaguer right as the playoff race hits its boiling point is the kind of move that makes you refresh your timeline just to make sure it is not a parody account.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the move is official, ending Gurriel's tenure in the desert abruptly. You do not just DFA a guy with his resume in the final weeks of the season unless the production has completely fallen off a cliff or the front office desperately needs the roster spot for a surging prospect.

"MLB Trade Rumors reported the official transaction."

Arizona has been playing solid baseball lately, which makes the timing even more fascinating. They recently took two out of three on the road against the Kansas City Royals and just blew out the Texas Rangers 9-1 on Friday before dropping Saturday's contest 6-2.

This is a team clearly gearing up for October, and they decided Gurriel was no longer part of that math. For anyone holding Diamondbacks futures tickets, this is a ruthless but telling signal that the front office is not messing around with sentimentality down the stretch.

Without the exact season slash line in front of us, the context clues do the heavy lifting here. A contender looked at their outfield rotation and decided a designated-for-assignment limbo was a better option than giving him another at-bat.

Gurriel now hits the waiver wire, where the baseball ecosystem will decide his immediate future. It is entirely possible a desperate team looking for a right-handed bat takes a flier on him for the final two weeks of the regular season.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks have to keep rolling. They wrap up their weekend series against the Rangers today before welcoming the Miami Marlins to town on Tuesday, moving forward with one less familiar face in the dugout.