And Now Chris Nelson Is A Member Of The New York Yankees

It made sense, and now it’s official. The Colorado Rockies have traded infielder Chris Nelson, recently DFA’ed to make room for Nolan Arenado, to the injury-ravaged New York Yankees.

All in all this situation played out pretty well for the Rockies. Arenado had a little extra time to season in the minor leagues. In the meantime the Rockies realized that they might be contenders. That gave them a good reason to call him up, and now they get value in return for Nelson. Whether it is cash or a player to be named or both, Nelson is talented enough that you would want the Rockies to get something for him. The urgency of the situation in New York now guarantees that they will.

Now comes an interesting wrinkle thanks to the new 2013 schedule, in which there is always inter-league play happening.

The mustache is OK. Everything else has got to go. Image: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

And if past experiences are any indication, ranging from Marco Scutaro to Felipe Paulino to Jeremy Guthrie to Jason Hammel, we can expect Nelson to go 8-for-12 in the series with a pile of impressive at-bats, extra-base hits, and otherwise devastating success in his new uniform.

Then again, Nelson might follow the trail blazed by his fellow wronged-by-the-Rockies third baseman Ian Stewart. You know, continuing to underwhelm and under-perform, flatly refusing to make any adjustments at the plate whatsoever, missing extended time due to injury, and tweeting disgruntled things about his former employer. Due to how often we heard about Nelson’s likability, I’ll go ahead and hope that he thrives with the Yankees rather than follow in Stewart’s misguided footsteps.