I’ll be honest. When we published Thursday morning’s article about the Rockies re-signing Carlos González, I thought it was a solid article but an unlikely idea. Well, it turns out that the Rockies may be close to bringing CarGo back for 2018. Jon Heyman reports that he and the club are close to a one-year deal.
Read the article linked above for the most pertinent questions. Mostly, where do the Rockies intend to play him? If it’s a major league deal, it probably means Michael Tauchman will start the year in Triple-A. Unless the signing means that Gerardo Parra’s hand injury is worse than initially thought. If he’s out for an extended period of time, then González could slide right in to be one of the team’s five outfielders. While first base is a possibility, it still seems unlikely given that two left-handers don’t make a great platoon, and lefty Ryan McMahon still looks like he has the inside track. Or, CarGo could push Desmond to first base to split time with McMahon.
Nothing’s official yet, but it sounds like one of the greatest Rockies players of all time could return for his tenth season with the club. He may not be the player he was a half-decade ago, but his smile hasn’t changed.