Bronson Arroyo

Bronson Arroyo's bid for a comeback with the Washington Nationals appears to be over before the regular season begins because of more shoulder problems.    

Continue for updates. 

The Washington Nationals announced on Tuesday that they agreed to a deal with veteran pitcher Bronson Arroyo. 

The team also revealed it was a minor league contract with an invitation to major league spring training.

Bronson Arroyo is having trouble with a slightly bulging disk in his back and was scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The news first came from MLB.com's Steve Gilbert. 

The payroll numbers don't lie and they tell a very disturbing story for the 2014 Arizona Diamondbacks and their potential fortunes for the upcoming season. 

Leave it to the Arizona Diamondbacks to make a transaction that ought to have you scratching your head in bewilderment.

About said transaction, this happened on Friday: The Diamondbacks agreed to terms with veteran right-hander Bronson Arroyo. Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com had the news first:

Veteran MLB pitcher Bronson Arroyo has reportedly agreed to a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal was first to break the news:

Source: Arroyo agrees with #DBacks.

In most years, the free-agent market would be barren in early February. Roster upgrades would be difficult to find, leaving general managers scouring for low-risk, high-reward options to augment their respective rosters.

This year is different.

Anybody interested in a guy who has logged at least 199 innings in nine straight seasons and has posted ERAs under 4.00 in four of the past five?

Knowing that the guy those numbers belong to is still floating on the free-agent waters, apparently not. And figuring out why that's the case is harder than it should be.

Despite a relatively quiet offseason, the Philadelphia Phillies have not necessarily filled all of their holes. Outfielder Marlon Byrd might be a bust, while starting pitcher Roberto Hernandez is an unknown in a shallow stadium like Citizens Bank Park.

It's hard enough to find five good starting pitchers. But the high occurrence of injuries to pitchers in this day and age commonly forces teams to utilize at least eight or nine starting pitchers to get through a 162-game season.

As a result, certain characteristics have become extremely important when assembling a starting rotation. Without a good combination of consistency, durability and reliability, things can get ugly very quickly.