Brett Anderson, Nolan Arenado set to start rehab assignments

The Colorado Rockies just needed to tread water. They did not even need to be a .500 team; they just needed to avoid the big losing streak, the swoon that would effectively eliminate them this season for long enough until they had key players return from injury.

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It is in that endeavor, I regretfully report, that the Rockies failed miserably. To say that they failed miserably is actually a pretty charitable way to describe what is happening. But hey, I bet Milwaukee Brewers’ fans are OK with it. That is now five easy wins in the bag and the most wins in baseball for those Brewers, thanks in large part to the Rockies.

But hey, even if the replacement players did not hold up their end of the deal, those injured players are still going to return. On that front the Rockies have a bit of good news this weekend, as Brett Anderson and Nolan Arenado are set to start a rehab assignment.

Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports the following:

"Arenado will make his first rehab start with Colorado Springs on Sunday. If the broken middle finger of his left hand checks out after a few Triple-A games, he could be back in the Rockies’ lineup in time for their next homestand……Anderson, out since April 13 because of a fractured left index finger suffered during an at-bat, threw an impressive bullpen session Friday at Miller Park. He is scheduled to throw another bullpen session Sunday in Milwaukee, then make his first rehab start Wednesday with the Sky Sox. He needs to build up arm strength, so there is no exact timetable for his return to the Rockies’ rotation."

The good news for Anderson: he will return to a rotation with the bar set unspeakably low in terms of results. It literally cannot get any worse, and I don’t say that lightly.

As for Arenado, the Rockies need his bat especially badly, not to mention the fact that their defense went from elite to ‘meh’ without him around. It might be too little too late for this season, of course, so here’s an Arenado GIF to make us all feel better about life even if the Rockies have now lost 11 of 12 games.

Did that work? If not, I’m sorry. I don’t know else to do. It’s pretty lousy for us right now.