Diamondbacks' Merrill Kelly: Expects IL stint

Kelly (back) said Friday that he expects to be on the injured list to open the regular season, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports.

Kelly spoke about his chances of making the Opening Day roster following his Cactus League debut Friday. "I won't go into depth on what the tentative plan is right now, but yeah, as of right now, not very good," the pitcher said. That's the bad news; the good news is that Kelly's back held up over 1.2 innings (36 pitches), which was the priority of the day. Stints on the IL can be backdated three days, which means Kelly would miss at least the first 12 days of the regular season. He would be eligible for activation in time for April 7 against the Mets.