Diamondbacks make roles official in rotation, bullpen

Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly was warming up in the bullpen on Saturday when pitching coach Matt Herges leaned in to say something.

“Congratulations,” Herges told him. “It’s official. You’re throwing that first game in Texas.”

Like most of the roster news the Diamondbacks finalized on Saturday, the inclusion of Kelly in their starting rotation hardly qualified as surprising.

From the moment Mike Leake opted out of the season late last month, Kelly was seen as the heir apparent for the fifth spot in the rotation. He pitched well in camp, outperforming lefty Alex Young, but the sense was Kelly would have had to pitch himself out of the spot in order to not open the year in the rotation.

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