Rockies starting pitcher Jhoulys Chacin plans to pitch for his Venezuelan League team, Los Leones del Caracas, in about a month, according to Lideran Deportes.
Chacin told the publication that the Rockies are on board with his return:
Líder: "Los Rockies me van a dejar lanzar este año". Jhoulys Chacín espera estar con los Leones a finales del mes de noviembre.
— Jose Grasso (@josegrasso) October 21, 2014
Loosely translated, that's Chacin saying the Rockies will let him pitch during winter ball, and that he's expecting to do so toward the end of November (please correct me if I'm wrong; use the comments section). That's obviously great news for the Rockies and Chacin, who was injured to begin the 2014 season and struggled through 11 starts before being shelved with a "dead arm" in July.
Next season is a big one for Chacin. The 26-year-old right-hander will be a free agent after 2015, so getting healthy and rediscovering his at-times dominant form would be huge for him. Chacin's motivation has been questioned in the past (though maybe, considering it was done by Dan O'Dowd, that should be taken with a grain of salt), but there's not much more motivating of a factor than money, and Chacin can earn a lot of it if he's able to put together a strong campaign.
That, of course, is something he's proven to be full capable of doing. Chacin has only amassed two full big league seasons, but in those two years he's posted an ERA+ of 126 and 129. That doesn't include 2010, when Chacin finished with a 142 ERA+ in 28 appearances (21 starts). For his career, he owns a 120 ERA+, which ranks second behind Ubaldo Jimenez among starting pitchers in Rockies history (fun fact: Brett Anderson actually ranks first with a 149 ERA+, but he's made only eight starts, so that doesn't really count).
Links
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Tyler Matzek's talent and the hope that he brings to the Rockies' rotation are very real, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.
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Relevant people (read: not me) at SB Nation MLB decide which World Series they'd like to go back in time to watch. I, of course, would prefer to go back to 2007 and inflict bodily harm upon Dustin Pedroia, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Jon Lester, Jacoby Ellsbury, Kevin Youkilis and a host of others. The Red Sox probably still would've won.
Blogpile
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Jough Brasch takes a look at realistic free-agent options for the Rockies this offseason. Brandon McCarthy is definitely interesting, though his performance while pitching for the Diamondbacks scares me.