Brett Anderson out 4-6 weeks with broken index finger

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

So when optimistic projections for the Colorado Rockies were offered this off-season, they read something like this: if Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez stay healthy, this is a dangerous team that could make a run at the playoffs.

And when pessimistic projections for the Colorado Rockies were offered this off-season, they read something like this: Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez will never stay healthy, certainly not at the same time, so this team will stink (insert more colorful verb here, if desired) in 2014.

These are certainly not the only lines of thinking for how the Rockies’ season would turn out; it would awfully lazy, after all, to paint with such a broad brush and place all Rockies fans into two tidy categories (no matter how convenient for argument’s sake). But what these two projections did not account for, at least not primarily so, is a rash of injuries to the starting rotation.

It is April 14th, and already three of Colorado’s four best starting pitchers have missed time with one injury or another. Jhoulys Chacin is working his way back still, Tyler Chatwood made his season debut on Sunday after missing time with a hamstring strain, and now Brett Anderson is headed to the shelf. The reason: a broken left index finger:

It seems especially snarky to point to a broken finger sustained while swinging the bat to say: “See, I knew Anderson would get hurt!” But then again, there are plenty of especially snarky people. As for Anderson, he took to social media to express his frustration.

With Anderson down, Franklin Morales will step back into the rotation, continuing a dance between the rotation and the bullpen that will likely continue for him all season.