Brett Anderson set to return Sunday; Jair Jurrjens sent down

The Colorado Rockies will never know what impact Brett Anderson could have had on their season if they were in the thick of a race for a playoff spot. They will never know what he would have meant for their rotation in meaningful baseball games, if he could have regained his form as a borderline ace for a team that mattered. Sadly, when Anderson returns to the rotation on Sunday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins he will do so for a team that is utterly and completely lost.

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But return he will, even if the team is going nowhere. In unrelated news (I promise it is unrelated), Jair Jurrjens will be sent down to Colorado Springs after two spot starts for the Rockies. Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports the moves:

"Brett Anderson (broken finger) will start Sunday against the Twins in his return to the Rockies. But he’s taking the spot left open by Yohan Flande, who was optioned to Triple-A on Tuesday. The Rockies won’t need to decide on a pitching replacement for Jurrjens until after the all-star break next week, when they go to Pittsburgh. But the spot could go to Eddie Butler."

Jurrjens’ spot is actually going to be taken by Carlos Gonzalez when he returns to the Rockies’ outfield on Friday (and plays right field).

As for the rotation, each move gets us one step closer to a group of five pitchers who are at least competent. That is certainly a good thing because, if nothing else, it allows the Rockies to actually undertake meaningful assessments of what this team can look like in 2015 and beyond.