Colorado Rockies DFA Rob Scahill, claim Jorge Rondon from Cardinals

The Colorado Rockies have designated right handed pitcher Rob Scahill for assignment and claimed minor league pitcher Jorge Rondon from the St. Louis Cardinals. This move could signal that the Rockies are less likely to protect their own players this off season and more likely to fill out the organizational roster from the outside.

Scahill had a pretty underwhleming season in 2014, but wasn't exactly given a ton of chances to prove his mettle either, resulting in an incomplete grade from Purple Row's currently running player review series. The news was first announced by the Rockies official Twitter feed.

#Rockies claim RHP Jorge Rondon off waivers from St. Louis and designate RHP Rob Scahill for assignment.

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) November 3, 2014

According to our old friend, Rockies system guru, and mastermind behind rockiesroster.com, Sage Farron:

Scahill wasn't likely to keep a roster spot but that was because of making room for Rule 5 protectees, not waiver claims. Essentially, the implication is that the Rockies were more interested with filling out the roster with outside of the org pitchers rather than protecting from inside. Unless the Rockies choose to pull a Blue Jays and sneak Rusin and/or Rondon through waivers right after claiming them, or the Rockies are willing to outright guys we thought might be safe, it's going to be a pretty thin protection class this year.

And just to fuel the conversation he speculates:

I had expected the Rockies to cut Williams, McBride (both of whom already were), Scahill, Sitton, one of Friedrich/Flande/Rusin and one of Culberson/Ynoa. The Rockies could end up cutting more than one of those sets of players, or could be willing to be more aggressive in the cutting of guys like [Chris] Martin, [Christian] Bergman, [Brooks] Brown, what have you.

In case you were wondering, Jorge Rondon's numbers are probably nothing to get too excited over.

Next year will be his age 27 season and he has pitched exactly one inning on major league ball. His ERA in Triple-A last year was a solid 3.03 and he also struck out 7.36 per nine innings. It's hard to know how much of that is indicative of what he might be capable of at the MLB level and how much of it is him figuring out Triple-A hitters in his third time around.

New Rockies GM Jeff Bridich says the Rockies "are excited to add a power right-hander to compete in our bullpen."