The Colorado Rockies made their first trade since moving Miguel Castro to the Orioles at the beginning of the season. The Rockies have acquired Zac Rosscup from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor league reliever Matt Carasiti.
Rosscup was designated for assignment by the Cubs on June 22 to open up a 40-man roster spot. At the time he was pitching for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs and had a 2.60 ERA over 272⁄3 innings in the minors. He made one appearance for the Chiacgo Cubs this season on May 22 and pitched 2⁄3 of an inning.
Rosscup missed all of 2016 due to a shoulder injury that resulted in surgery. In 2015 though he was a part of the Chicago Cubs bullpen and had a lot of success when facing left-handed batters. Right-handed batters had a lot of success against him though. With his extreme L/R splits Rosscup may be an intriguing LOOGY if the Rockies felt like they needed to add a specialist to a bullpen that already has three left-handed relievers.
Carasiti rose quickly from Double-A to the big-league squad last season in part due to the Rockies’ bullpen woes. Despite his success in the minors, his lack of control was exposed in the majors. For the Rockies last season, Carasiti had a stellar 9.8 K/9 but also had a 6.3 BB/9 and allowed 14.4 H/9. After being non-tendered in the offseason, Carasiti re-signed with the Rockies on a minor-league deal. While the Triple-A stats have been impressive this season, his lack of command was still a big concern.
Because Rosscup was on the Cubs 40-man roster before being DFA’d he will now have to occupy a spot on the Rockies 40-man roster. However, the Rockies have had only had 39 players on the 40-man roster since removing Stephen Cardullo from it and will not need to make an additional move to make room for Rosscup.