Diamondbacks Favored at Home in Baseball Odds vs. Chicago. Baseball odds shift from the Spring Training parks to the home stadiums this weekend as teams get ready for opening day next week. Arizona will host the Chicago Cubs on Saturday in baseball lines in a Spring Training game that will be played in Phoenix. Baseball odds normally favor the home teams in Spring Training by a small margin. In this case the Diamondbacks could be favored a little more since this is a true home game. With the regular season starting next week you can pretty much count on the back end of the rotation getting work in this game. That could mean Ian Kennedy gets some work for Arizona. It all depends upon how the rotation order shakes out in baseball odds. Kennedy is looking at being the third starter for the Diamondbacks behind Dan Haren and Edwin Jackson. The Diamondbacks won’t have Brandon Webb to start the season so they need Kennedy to pitch well.
The Diamondbacks got Kennedy from the Yankees in a three-team trade with Detroit and they are expecting a lot from him this season. He will be on the board in baseball odds next week. “Obviously, coming in here, the word was I was penciled in at the fourth spot, but you never know,” Kennedy said. “I could have pitched bad and ended up in Triple-A. All I tried to do was pitch well and let them make a decision.”
Kennedy pitched in 14 games for the Yankees from 2007-2009 but didn’t do much with a 6.03 ERA. This is the first season in baseball lines he will have a real chance to show what he has. “[I’m going to] take advantage of it, because I’ve had it before, and when the season came around, I didn’t take advantage of it,” Kennedy said. “This time I will try to go out there and try to do what I did today, just throw a lot of strikes and get ahead of guys. That’s part of my game, that’s what I think every pitcher has to do.”
The Diamondbacks are looking at Billy Buckner, Rodrigo Lopez and Kevin Mulvey for the fourth spot in the rotation that will be on the board in baseball odds. The team also signed Kris Benson who could be in the mix later this month. “We’ve got to lay out our starting rotation,” Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re getting closer and closer to the season. The last spots are difficult to choose from.”