There's a lot going on. Minor league reshuffling. Imbalances at the major league level. Losing games to the worst team in the league. The Rockies are playing their next six games in the East, all against teams that have been on the decline, the (apparently) lowly Pittsburgh Pirates of the Caribbean and the confusing New York Metropolitans, whose roller coaster trickery make the Rockies somewhat predictable see-saw of home/road chaos resemble symmetry.
Uhm, what should I say? Win these games?
Oh? Kay. Win these games.
Sigh. Sounds a little uninspired. A pick-me-up from a Sergio Leone film would sure hit the spot right now. Hey, has anyone watched a baseball game to the music of Ennio Morricone?
For those who missed last night's Sky Sox game, Jhoulys Chacin threw 72 pitches. He will not be starting this weekend. The next logical action would be to instead recall Esmil Rogers to take on Paul Maholm on Sunday. Our friend Troy Renck has a source that claims this to be the decision. Chacin's time in the bullpen between MLB rotation and AAA rotation has squished him out of starting length, whereas Rogers has been regularly starting for several weeks now, and hasn't been half bad since he got into a groove. In a way, the Rogers move makes sense, though I'm sure those eagerly awaiting the return of The Nameless Chacin, brutally robbed of his rightful rotation spot by the greedy and corrupt sheriff Aaron "Harmonica" Cook will be disappointed. Rogers may seem a Lee van Cleef to Chacin's Clint Eastwood, but maybe he'll pitch more like a Henry Fonda.
Continuing the disappointments, Wilin Rosario has caught his last game of 2010. His "knee sprain" turned out to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament (known to many more casually as the dreaded ACL tear). Though Rosario is expected to recover fully, it's going to set his development behind. In addition to no more Tulsa, no Arizona Fall League, and no winter workouts beyond physical therapy, according to Jack Etkin of Inside the Rockies, we're looking at Rosario almost certainly starting the season in Extended Spring Training, meaning he may not be seeing official minor league action until mid next year depending on how quickly his recovery goes. Etkin says that April is the likely date that Rosario will likely be ready to get back in action on the field, but it's unlikely he's assigned to the minors until later. Rosario, who will be Rule 5 eligible for the first time this season, will still be purchased to the 40 man roster this December, for a claiming team could put him on the DL and still be allowed to keep him.
More news after the jump (but not more Spaghetti Western references, I promise).
Yesterday we saw Anthony Castrovince break the news that recent waiver claim Wes Hodges had been claimed again... by the Indians, who we had claimed him from. In all my (few) years of closely following MLB transactions, I've seen waiver claims bounce around many times, but never back to their original team mere days after the initial claim. Weird. No big deal.. Hodges didn't fit in anywhere at Colorado Springs and he leaves the 40 man Roster with an open slot. No, Anthony Castrovince is not the name of a Leone character.
Articles from MLB.com's Thomas Harding (here and here) and Joey Nowak (here) give some quotes about road performances. You make the call on whether they're adequate depictions of self-awareness or merely excuse mongering.
"On the road it's not bad, but I know I can do better than that." - Carlos Gonzalez
"That is not anything resembling of the offensive club that just left Coors Field." - Jim Tracy
"That (last road trip in Florida and Philadelphia) was tough on guys that were out there every day. Then they'd want to swing every day. They'd want to take batting practice. They don't want to feel like they're short-changing themselves. I've said, 'It's not short-changing yourself if you don't take BP every day. Just get loose and get ready to play the game.'" - Don Baylor
Some relevant news from around baseball:
- MLB.com's Steve Gilbert interviews Brandon Webb about his future, which may reside in the bullpen (plus other less interesting Diamondbacks news).
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today covers the acquisition of the Texas Rangers by Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg.