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Though the Rockies have made several cuts by this point, the team has made very few changes to their organizational depth. This indicates that at the MLB level and beyond, there are still a lot of player in contention for a lot of roles, all the way down through the MiLB system. While most teams have released several players from their minor league camps, the Rockies have released none.
Thus far, the Rockies assigned the following non-roster invitees to the minors:
- RHP Chad Bettis
- C Lars Davis
- RHP Stephen Dodson
- RHP Mike Ekstrom
- RHP Joe Gardner
- OF Kent Matthes
- C Matt McBride
- LHP Dustin Molleken
- IF Ben Paulsen
- RHP Rob Scahill
- RHP Josh Sullivan
These players occupy spots on their rosters from 2011, or are unassigned. They will be given their full season team assignments after camp breaks. Nolan Arenado, Andrew Brown, Wilkin Castillo, Brendan Harris, Jamie Moyer, Wil Nieves, Carlos Torres, Chad Tracy, Tim Wheeler and Brandon Wood remain in MLB camp as non-roster players.
The Rockies also optioned several of their 40 Man Roster players to the minors. OF Jamie Hoffmann was optioned to AAA on March 14th before being outrighted off the roster two days later. Despite having never being outrighted nor having 3 years of MLB service, Hoffmann was allowed to elect free agency rather than accept assignment, indicating a change in the new CBA's outright assignment rules. Hoffmann becomes the first, and so far only, Rockies player to leave the organization before the season begins.
Other optional assignments:
AAA Colorado Springs
- IF Tommy Field (first)
- LHP Christian Friedrich (first)
- IF DJ LeMahieu (second)
- RHP Zach Putnam (first)
AA Tulsa
- LHP Edwar Cabrera (first)
These assignments will become complete in early April, after 20 days each.