Jhoulys Chacin: setback or precaution?

Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

Bill Geivett took to Twitter this week to continue the Colorado Rockies’ front office’s campaign to make fans mad. In fairness to Geivo, he did not create nearly the waves that Dick Monfort did with his Twitter chat earlier this off-season.

Hash tag mad visor game.

Like we have come to expect from any member of Colorado’s front office, Geivett was candid and open about a variety of issues (something we should probably appreciate more than we do). The tweet that made waves and had staying power as a story, however, is one that might have fallen through the cracks if you weren’t paying attention. When asked about Jhoulys Chacin‘s progress, Geivett said:

Alarm bells sounded immediately among the Rockies faithful, as that ETA is later than the initial projected return for Chacin. We all immediately jumped to the conclusion that Chacin suffered a setback. Something must have gone wrong.

But did it? Chacin was asked about that estimate and did not seem to be aware of any hitches or delays in his timetable (from the Denver Post):

"I don’t know about that…I don’t know, and ‘Doogie’ (trainer Keith Dugger) hasn’t told me anything about the timetable. I just know what I’m going to do today.”"

Also, Chacin is bored.

"I’m getting bored and I can’t wait to pitch, but sometimes things happen and you just have to go with it. You can’t rush. I’m just looking to get better and help my team.”"

And therein lies the argument for precaution. “You can’t rush.”

Shoulder injuries are no joke. If you let them get serious for pitchers then they get really serious. Is it possible that the Rockies’ front office is proactively pushing Chacin’s return date back a couple weeks? Could that actually be a pretty wise move?

It’s a fine line, because the Rockies cannot afford to get buried in April. That month consists of a crowded slate of games, many in the division, that the Rockies will have to somehow survive with the adventurous trio of Franklin Morales, Jordan Lyles, and Juan Nicasio playing prominent roles. But even that frightening reality does not justify rushing Chacin at the expense of losing him later in the year.

The Rockies might be able to survive April without Chacin, but they definitely cannot survive a season without him. Maybe that is what the front office is thinking here. Maybe this isn’t actually a setback.