Monday Rockpile: Man, this was a chilly weekend.

Friday brought us rain, then snow, then a snainout.

Saturday brought us a doubleheader, but our bats were still on rain delay.

Saturday night brought justice, with a complete game from Aaron Cook and a 8-run effort from the bats.

Sunday brought us a touching memorial, a generally uninspired (but effective) pitching performance, and some long balls. Oh, and it got chilly by about the 5^th inning. I'd reflect more on the memorial before Sunday's game, but I feel that Silverblood's Rockies Review covered that quite well, and my gift for gab is nowhere near her level of eloquence.

So the team. The big news yesterday is what Tracy Ringolsby was proposing after Saturday's split: Move Brad Hawpe to the DL, get it over and done with. With that, we saw the obvious promotion to the big squad in Eric Young Jr.

Now, with an already strong bench, this brings us to a concern about how to fit EYJ into baseball games in any more of a capacity than PH/PR in the later innings. Frankly, I don't see that as a problem, but given our management's history for playing bench players quite regularly (and I mean history, not just Jim Tracy's short tenure), EYJ will be a Utility guy and probably get a few too many starts for my taste.

Or will he? The issue with EYJ is that he is essentially playing the same positions as Melvin Mora is: 2B, 3B, LF, RF, and they'll probably stick him in CF because he's fast or something like that. Obviously, this makes no sense, as even losing an OF in Brad Hawpe, he was essentially a 1-position player, while Spilborghs and Gonzalez can regularly play all 3 positions, and Smith (while I wouldn't advise it) can supposedly play RF along with his natural LF. The point is that we have CF, the most critical of the 3 spots, completely covered.

So where do we use EYJ? Well, this is one of those situations where I say just look at his baseball card and see what it says: 2B. We've seen EYJ play the outfield, and it's an ugly thing to watch. While I don't suspect that Mora can do any better of a job, if we're going to face a LHP and try and stack a RHB lineup against him, and for some bizarre reason we aren't starting Clint Barmes (or Troy Tulowitzki), we should probably just put EYJ in his "natural" position of 2B, and see if he can shake it there. MinorLeagueSplits (which I believe uses TotalZone as a defensive metric) has EYJ as a slightly-positive to very-good defender at 2B, so I guess I just don't see a reason to force him out of position more than is necessary. Point being, if we have to sub one of the two into the corner-outfield, let's just make it Mora, and see what EYJ has to offer up the middle.

Links past the jump.

Denver Post: Olivo's performance making lineup decisions a lot easier: This is the part where me, as the Chris Iannetta fanboy, is supposed to have a cow and freak out about playing splits. Truth be told, I really don't care at this point. If my catcher wants to post a .452 wOBA (174 wRC+), holy moly, keep that guy starting. I mean, don't drive him into the ground by starting him 8 games out of 9 or anything, but he's definitely my "starting catcher". Chris, just be ready to jump when the heat inevitably cools, because I know that Miguel Olivo is nowhere this good.

MLB.com: Strained quad sends Hawpe to DL || Thomas Harding and Owen Perkins: The Rockies' beat comes up with a wrap of the weekend, covering Hawpe's injury, Dex' slump, and more praise for our bench depth.

MLB.com: Ceremony gives Rockies strength to win || Thomas Harding: Harding comes with a more in-depth review of Sunday's game, reactions from players and staff, and some uncomfortable news about Jorge De La Rosa. Troy Renck echoes these points.

Inside the Rockies: Friedrich placed on Double-A Tulsa disabled list || Jack Etkin: Elbow soreness is the malady that Jack Etkin is reporting. It's not a new thing in Friedrich's young career, but man does that make me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Boston Globe: Sox must hope that the problem isn't catching || Nick Cafardo: News from Boston is that the other half of the battery is bringing concerns. Reason this affects the Rockies? We have 2 catchers who are both starting caliber.

Fangraphs: Time to Worry about Peavy || Dave Cameron: Sucks not pitching in the most extreme pitcher's park in baseball, doesn't it, Jake?