After Esmil Rogers got batted around against in the 1st inning on Sunday, I'm sure many a Rockies fan groaned and wondered if the Rockies were ever going to get any decent pitching. Jhoulys Chacin is bookended by Kevin Millwood and Aaron Cook. Even against the Marlins, that's not going to be a pleasant experience.
I mean, didn't we just trade our ACE for some pitching prospects?
The answer here is Alex White, but I feel like there's more to the puzzle that we need to consider. For starters, a lot of people are still frustrated with the Ubaldo Jimenez trade. One of the big reasons for that is the fact that the Rockies haven't seen a return on the trade yet. Everybody we got back is still either in the minors, on the DL, or still technically part of the Cleveland Indians organization. With the Rule 4 draft picking signing deadline approaching soon, we're also getting close to the 1-year anniversary of Mr. Drew Pomeranz getting drafted - which means he'll soon be eligible to be traded.
White just made his 3rd rehab start (with the Drillers) on Saturday. He went 4 innings, struck out 3, walked nobody, and allowed all of 2 hits. His rehab with Tulsa has gone well so far, having pitched 3 games of increasing workload and effectiveness. He's been limited to pretty strict pitch counts, but he's been making the most of it.
White's first 3 MLB starts went well enough for a rookie. We saw good strikeout numbers, good groundball numbers, a 3.60 ERA, yet an uncharacteristically high number of walks - most of which came in the 1st and 3rd starts. You might be able to attribute one start to initial jitters, and the 3rd to the actual reason he went on the DL His second start was promising, going 6 innings, allowing 3 runs, striking out 6, walking just 2, and getting 9 groundball outs to 6 fly ball outs.
Either way we look at it, White is going to be in the Rockies rotation sooner than later. He's going to need at least one more rehab start in Tulsa before the Rockies can evaluate whether or not he's ready to hit the majors, or if he needs to make one more start up in Colorado Springs.
As mentioned above, Esmil Rogers is likely the rotation victim when this move is made. This could involve Rogers being transitioned to the bullpen or demoted to the minors. I see no real reason to keep Edgar Gonzalez on the MLB roster, so he's probably gone - unless the Rockies just want to keep Rogers in the rotation. I'm personally not a giant fan of Rogers as a starter, and I'd rather see him transitioned to the bullpen for good. But as long as he keeps that glimmer of being able to throw out that one lockdown gem against a mediocre offense, that could keep his rotation futures alive.
Twitter / @TroyRenck: Have heard from multiple s ...
In draft news, it sounds like the Rockies are probable to sign 1st round pick LHP Tyler Anderson before the 8/15 deadline. Slot for Anderson (the suggested signing bonus amount for his draft position) would be around $1.6M. As far as his projected ceiling goes, think Jeff Francis. That's a good enough place to start.
Third-base coach gets hit, fractures nose | ColoradoRockies.com: News
Some of you may have seen the clip before Sunday's game where Rich Dauer took a thrown ball from Chris Nelson in the face. Word is that his nose was fractured, but he was cleared to fly on the team plane home to Denver.
Veteran reliever Romero may be joining Rox | ColoradoRockies.com: News
Lefty JC Romero could be joining the Rockies today in time for the Marlins' series. This could be the move that sends Edgar Gonzalez down to the minors and could take some further load off of Rex Brothers and Matt Reynolds.
As you might remember, Romero was suspended for 50 games in 2009 following a failed test for PEDs. Romero claimed that what he was taking was an over-the-counter supplement that was cleared by 2 different nutritionists.
Romero still faces big problems with wildness, but he still dominates lefties, so he'll keep a MLB job, at least for a little while.